955
While the media team may not build a robot or the pit, we are of prime importance to the success of Team 955. The media team has quite a few responsibilities, making us not only the glue that holds the team together but also the foundation and substance. We buzz about like bumblebees, completing such essential tasks as redesigning the team logo and spirit-wear, using social media sites to communicate with the public and alumni, sending weekly communications, planning and making arrangements for events, and working on many media related awards. We’re constantly on the prowl for more ways to promote Team 955! There are three important members on the media side of the team that handle most of the essential work on the media team. The Business Manager is the lead student on the media team, responsible for sending out weekly communications, managing all other students on the media sub team, ordering spirit gear, working on the Chairman’s Award, and working with FIRST Force to schedule the scrimmage and other events. The Media and Communications coordinator works with social media sites, contacting and interacting with the community (like the Bob Projects), working on the Chairman’s video, and redesigning the team logo, working with logo standards and all that jazz. The Event Coordinator helps plan and coordinate the FIRST Force scrimmage and other things. She also helps plan and design the logo as well as the design on the bumper and the actual fabrication thereof. The media team is hoping to introduce lots of new items at the regional competition, including all new spirit gear and even a new team flag. The bond that is not only omega but also supreme between the four leading students on the media team really holds them together and ensures that we will be able to stay on the tracks toward competing well at the regional and Chairman’s Award, running our team, and spreading the message of first.
3711
Builder, builder, builder, media liaison – Ah! We do have someone on the team who isn’t building the robot. Out of the thirteen team members, three are not involved in robot manufacturing. They are media liaisons, expert paperwork-filler-outers, excellent photographers and website extraordinaires. One person fills many roles, and with a lot of hard work, late nights and lots of laughs, they get their jobs done. The non-tech team is working on team brochures, essays, articles, press releases, photos, grants, our new website and t-shirt designs. An ambitious project they are taking on is what we call ‘Operation Notebook.’ It is basically the book that contains all team information from current and past budgets to team member profiles. They hope to have it completed by the Portland Autodesk Regional. They are also designing and writing a completely new website. At the competitions, this team will switch gears to scouting, taking photos and interviewing team members about the experience. After the regionals numerous articles must be written and of course, thank you letters to every sponsor and donor. Our robot build team is amazing, but our PR team is fantastic as well, and both parts are essential to the overall robotics team.
4127
In our second year of FIRST our team is having its first year with very active non-engineering members. We have four members that have helped our team with marketing and public relations, including making logos, button designs, ordering bracelets, designing t-shirts, creating our displays for our pit, and designing our website—www.loggerbots.org. By coincidence, all of our public relations people are girls. Not that it has anything to do with anything, but still. We have also been working on our submission for the Chairman’s Award. Our public relations people have been working hard to get us sponsors and funding for our robot. The engineering team may have built the robot, but without our public relations team, we wouldn’t even be bringing it to regionals.
We have quite a few stories to tell about our public relations team, but for now, we will stick to one. While Bailey, one of our Media Liaisons, was looking up bracelets, she found a company that offered a free t-shirt with every order. After she and Heather, one of our other media people, got into an argument over the free t-shirt Bailey won the argument and it was decided that she would get it. Just a bit after that we were submitting our order. We discovered free things aren’t always free, and there was a handling charge for the shirt. The team decided we weren’t going to spend the extra money. You can imagine Bailey’s disappointment when she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to get a free t-shirt.
