Chairman’s
What is Chairman’s?
Chairman’s is a prestigious award given by FIRST for teams that demonstrate how they have impacted their communities through STEM and outreach. It basically takes into account everything else the team has done besides building the robots.
Chairman’s is super important! You submit it every year! :)
FIRST explains what the Chairman’s Award is in their Submitted Awards Resource Library. This page will also have the specific requirements for submissions that year, so READ IT CAREFULLY! You should also check the Chairman’s submission format on the submission portal. Check out the Submission Process section to see how to do this.
How is Chairman’s Broken Up?
Chairman’s typically has three parts: the essay, the video, and the interview. All three of these help judges see the impact of your team in promoting STEM. So to give you some tips, we are going to break down each of these parts and go over how to conduct them.
The Essay
The Essay is the first part you should start working on RIGHT AWAY. Essays provide an overview of the team’s history and activities over the past three years, anything ranging from middle school demonstrations to hosting STEM events. The max character limit for the Essay is 10,000 characters, so plan wisely. Below is a general idea of what info you want to include.
Possible Topics:
When and how the team was started
Noteworthy demographics/numbers of the team (gender, ethnicity, diversity, etc.)
FIRST loves specific numbers
Programs started by the team
Outreach activities/events
Student Leadership
Partnerships or impact on other robotics teams
Anything else about the team that the judges might find interesting
Read the “Submitted Awards” page for specific requirements for the essay.
The Video
The Media Lead and other team members always help with the video portion of the award. The video typically includes footage and interviews from team members about their experience in the team. Every video is different, but the main message of the video should be about how our robotics team has impacted students and other youths in our communities by spreading word about STEM.
You should storyboard the outline of the video and figure out who you want to speak in it first. Then pick a few days to film, and give your Media Lead at least 1-2 weeks to work on editing. A week before you submit Chairman’s, review the video with some mentors and give feedback to the Media Lead.
Read the “Submitted Awards” page for specific requirements for the video.
The Interview
The interview is conducted at competitions. Judges will interview 1-3 student members on the team about their Chairman’s submission. Interviews allow for judges to see more of a personal perspective of how involved with STEM and outreach you were as a student. Only one mentor can be present during the interview, and they must be silent the entire time.
Interviews (last I checked) take 12 minutes total: 7 minutes for the student members to speak and 5 minutes for questions from the judges. Make sure you practice and time what you want to say at least a week before the interview date. You should make an outline of what you want your 1-3 members to mention.
Possible Topics for the Interview:
Introduce yourself
Clarification on past team events/activities
Expanding on current team events/activities
Members’ experiences on the team
How the team promotes STEM
Anything interesting you were not able to include in your essay
Anything else about the team that the judges might find interesting
Read the “Submitted Awards” page for specific requirements for the interview.
Submission Process
The essay (and video) must be submitted by a student through the FIRST Dashboard, so make sure you have your account on the First website all set up and ready to go. Below is a screenshot of the login page.
This is what your FIRST dashboard will look like. Click on the “Certificates & Awards” part under Team Options.
This is where you will submit various FRC awards. You may need the lead mentor to grant you access as a student award submitter.
Remember to check the submission deadline and submit 2-3 days before the deadline! This is so we don’t have to worry about time zone issues. FIRST usually uses PST for all its deadline times, so you should always aim to submit early to avoid any mess-ups with deadlines or with figuring out how the FIRST Dashboard website works.