1. FIRSTFare
October 27, 2012
CHAIRMAN’S
AWARD
Anne Gilleland & Marina Dimitrov
FRC Team 1540 – The Flaming Chickens

2. AGENDA
 Introductions
 What is the Chairman’s Award?
 How Teams Qualify
 Components of the Application
 Sample Judging Questions
 Questions?

3. OVERVIEW

4. “FIRST’s most prestigious award, it
honors the team that best represents
a model for other teams to emulate
and best embodies the purpose and
goals of FIRST. The award helps
keep the central focus of the FIRST
Robotics Competition on the goal of
inspiring greater levels of respect and
honor for science and technology.”
- FIRST

5. RECOGNIZES A TEAM THAT…
 Is a role model for other teams
 Has a strong year-round and multi-year program
 Impacts its community
 Spreads its enthusiasm for FIRST in innovative
ways
 Has a strong partnership
 Students/corporate sponsor/engineers
 School/university sponsor/engineers
 Students/adults
 Community/team

6. GENERAL INFORMATION
 Regional Chairman’s Award
 Can apply at one regional
 Qualify for Championships
 In the running for Championship’s Chairman’s Award
 Championship Chairman’s Award
 Trip to White House? Dean Kamen’s House?
 Traveling Clock Trophy
 FIRST Hall of Fame
 Allaire Medal (Nominated Jr. or Sr., scholarship and
medallion)
 Hall of Fame members (teams that have already won the
Chairman’s Award) cannot compete for the Regional
Chairman’s Award for five years

7. ROOKIE AND NASA GRANT TEAMS
 Rookie teams
 Cannot compete for Chairman’s Award, but are
encouraged to create a Chairman’s Award submission
and print it so judges can evaluate it for the Rookie
All-Star Award
 NASA Grant Teams
 Must provide a copy of Chairman’s Award submission
as part of the grant

8. ENGINEERING INSPIRATION
AWARD
“ Celebrates outstanding success in advancing
respect and appreciation for engineering within a
team’s school and community.”
Unlike the Chairman’s Award, all teams attending
a regional competition are considered.

9. POTENTIAL ACTIVITIES
 On Your Team
 Organize your team to maximize learning
 Student leadership
 Year-round program
 Alumni
 FIRST Community
 Organize events (informational, scrimmages)
 Mentor other teams
 FLL
 Kick-offs

10. POTENTIAL ACTIVITIES (continued)
 School Community
 Addrobotics to curriculum
 Demos/build awareness
 General Public
 Use your robotics knowledge to help an organization
 Demos
 Community service
 Fundraisers
 Sponsor relations
 Media
 Local, state, national, and international presence

11. THE APPLICATION

12. AREAS TO ADDRESS
 How strongly does the submission document the impact FIRST has
on the learning experience of the students, school curriculum,
engineers, and/or community during the 2012/2013 team year as well
as in prior years?
 Has the team explained/demonstrated why/how it should be a role
model for other FIRST teams to emulate?
 How well has the team communicated its excitement and impact
within the entire school, community, and beyond (state/nation)
through participation in FIRST during the 2012/2013 team year as
well as in prior years?
 Has the team documented an innovative way to spread the FIRST
message?
 How strong of a year-round team partnership effort is reflected
during the 2012/2013 team year as well as in prior years? (You can
define partnership in many ways, including: the partnership among
the team’s students/corporate sponsor/engineers; school/university
sponsor/engineers; students/adults; community/team)
 As a whole, does the content of the documentation exemplify the true
meaning of FIRST?

13. SUBMISSION COMPONENTS
 Executive Summary (online)
 Essay (online)
 (both above) 2013: due Feb. 21 – two days after ship
 Presentation (at regional/championships)
 Video (at regional/championships)
 Roving Judges (at regional/championships)

14. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Each 500 characters (including spaces)
 Briefly describe the impact of the FIRST program on team
participants with special emphasis on the 2012/2013 year
and the preceding two years
 Examples of role model characteristics for other teams to
emulate
 Describe the impact of the FIRST program on your team
and community with special emphasis on the 2012/2013
year and the preceding two years
 Team’s innovative methods to spread the FIRST message
 Describe the strength of your partnership with special
emphasis on the 2012/2013 year and the preceding two
years
 Team’s communication methods and results
 Other matters of interest to the FIRST judges, if any

15. ESSAY
 10,000 Characters ~ 4 pages
 Submit online (with Executive Summary)
 Submit at one regional
 May include up to four pictures

16. ESSAY TIPS
 Clear headings and sections
 Concise
 Good flow
 Relevant facts/numbers
 Focus on the FIRST experience and its impact
 Address questions judges want to know
 Define your mission
 Explain how you accomplish your mission
 Explain your work from this year, and the last two
 Write early, then revise – language is important!
Maybe involve your English teacher to help edit
 Have non-involved adults read it and tell you the
main points they got

17. PRESENTATION
 10 minutes
5 minute presentation
 5 minutes of questions from judges
 2-3 judges
 3 representatives from your team
 Any presentation style
 Team must provide special equipment

18. PRESENTATION TIPS
 Practice!
 Make sure you can say everything in 5 minutes
 Be memorable, but communicate your main
points
 Incorporate other points when answering
questions
 Ideas?

19. ROVING JUDGE TIPS
 Have documentation to show judges when they
come
 Make sure you have knowledgeable team
members in the pit to talk to them
 Develop a list of main points to cover; work these
into the questions

20. SAMPLE QUESTIONS
 What was the hardest part of robotics this year?
 What do you wish your team was better at?
 What was a challenge your team faced? How did
you solve it?
 How does your team raise money?
 How do you keep in touch with your alumni?
 How has robotics impacted you?
 Why should you get the Chairman’s award?
 How is your team run?
 What will you do differently next year?
 What does gracious professionalism mean to you?

21. VIDEO
 1-3 minutes long
 Clean audio
 No copyright infringements
 May consist of:
 Video tape footage
 Voice over/music over pictures
 Animated presentation
 PowerPoint converted to movie file format
 Required for judging
 When two or three teams have been chosen, video is
observed to check it meets requirements
 Often shown when recipient is announced

22. MORE INFORMATION
 Award guidelines, sample championship videos:
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/awar
ds
 2012 Flaming Chicken video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqRp-gkgcE8
 Feel free to email us with questions!
 gillelanda@catlin.edu
 dimitrovm@catlin.edu

23. QUESTIONS?