FIRST Canada Live: Chairman’s Tips

We’re Excited about the New Questions & Definitions

Did you miss the Tuesday, January 25th episode of  #FIRSTCanadaLIVE! twitch.tv/firstcanada, or maybe you wanted to rewatch it to hear what the FIRST Hall of Fame team representatives talked about.

Here are just some of the tips discussed. 

• Collecting Data
  • Collect information year around.
  • Document as many details as possible, especially ones you might want to chart from year to year.
  • Keep documents in a team account (not a personal account) so you can access them from year to year. 
• Essay and ES
  • Don’t be repetitive, make good use of characters available in both the essay and executive summaries.
  • Share both your impact & story. Sometimes a good method can be to include numbers and facts in the Summary questions, and more of the story elements in the essay.
  • Remember that the judges receive both the questions and the essay in one document and see the executive summary questions first, just like these examples: 503| 4613 | 1902 | 1816 | 3132
• Presenting Team
  • Some criteria to consider about choosing your presenting team members: effective speaker, good understanding of team history, enthusiastic about your team and FIRST, have good stories to share, and comfortable with changes as they develop. 
  • Drill your Chairman’s presenting members like you drill your drive team. Pepper them with questions regularly for them to be better prepared to answer the judges questions confidently.  
  • Practice. Practice. Practice.
• Video
  • Think about the approach your team wants to take. Look at videos you like that effectively convey the message and, importantly, the emotions you want viewers to come away with (does not have to be a FIRST video).
  • The video is not viewed as criteria for your submission, but is reviewed to make sure it is appropriate and does not violate intellectual property rights or the privacy of the kids’ names.

Visit this link for examples of essays and videos from the FIRST Hall of Fame teams. 

 Click here to watch the YouTube video or just scroll down.