1. BEST Practices Survey
presenter: Mike Bright, Wolverine BEST Hub Director
results of a last-minute survey!
thanks to:
Steve Marum, North Texas BEST
David Kwast, Cowtown BEST
Terry Grimley, San Antonio BEST
Ann Balaban, Dallas BEST
Bill Stamm, DC BEST

2. Recruiting Teams
We try to make personal contacts or phone calls with teachers rather than relying on or snail mail.
Try to get teams signed up before summer break.
Get buy-in from both a teacher and an administrator. If you only get one, the other side could give you problems.
Contact school district science administrators. They can contact multiple schools for you.
Teachers often recruit other teachers.

3. Recruiting Teams
Maintain contact with teams. That makes them more likely to return each year.
The regional STEM coordinator has been a great advocate for BEST.
We try to provide a personal visit to each school that expresses interest. We encourage them to invite teachers, administrators and students to see the presentation.
We don't have a formal registration process and we should.

4. Recruiting Volunteers
We recruit most of our volunteers through the University of North Texas College of Engineering because we have great contacts with the professors and administration.
Ask friends and coworkers. Network as much as you can.
Military personnel often need community service hours and are good volunteers.
Always maintain contact with previous volunteers.

5. Recruiting Volunteers
Former participants, parents of participants and employees of sponsors make good volunteers.
We haven't had much luck with online volunteer services.
Our Alumni Office sponsored a mailing to all regional alumni which generated a lot of volunteers and several sponsors.
We try to rotate volunteers in leadership positions so no one gets burned out. The new and old leaders are co-leaders for one year.

6. Fundraising
Create a "Friends of BEST" donation category for gifts under $500 and be sure to mention their names.
We are struggling with fundraising since losing our corporate sponsor a few years ago (so don't lose your corporate sponsor!).
Mailings have not worked for us.
Find executive level people who are willing to contact others at their level. These folks often support each other's 'causes.'

7. Fundraising
Find champions within companies. They can encourage colleagues and companies are more likely so fund activities where their people are engaged.
Find diverse sponsors at lower levels (say $1K to $3K). If someone drops out it is much easier to replace than if you lose a major sponsor.
Cold calls/blind requests don't work well. You need to have some prior contact with the company.
We recruit volunteers the first year, then ask for money later.

8. Kick-Off Day Logistics
We are fortunate and can display our field in the same area where we build it because we have a dedicated classroom.
Make sure your kits are prepared prior to the event.
Pass out whole kits; i.e. don't have teams go place to place for different parts or portions of the kit.
Provide some optional training classes before or after the event.
Make sure there is a clear flow in the kit distribution area.

9. Kick-Off Day Logistics
Have enough room to distribute all the kits and have teams do their inventory before leaving the area.
Allow extra set-up time to adjust the field, since this is often its first complete set-up. Separate the field from the presentation area.
Hand out kits directly from a truck. This saves you moving all the kits inside.
Have experts available to explain the return kits to new teams one-on-one.

10. Mall Day Logistics
The set-up and crowd control for Mall Day were too difficult, so we now have practice days for each team individually.
Allow extra time for set-up.
Make sure your field is 100% functional beforehand.
Allow both unstructured practice time and timed matches.
Use this event to train referees and scorekeepers. Look for potential Game Day issues.

11. Mall Day Logistics
Have kit experts available with spare parts to help the teams.
Have volunteers around the perimeter to explain what is happening to passers-by. Have a small handout in case anyone is interested.

12. Game Day Logistics
Pre-plan and set up things as early as you can. Do robot compliance the night before the competition.
Scorekeepers should run through an entire simulated contest before Game Day to work out questions and problems.
Keep paper backups of all game results in case the computer crashes.
Have a manual scoring plan in case the computer crashes.

13. Game Day Logistics
Get as many returnable kits back on Game Day as possible. Teams are harder to track down once they leave.
Use crowd control barriers.
Use team members to help with Pit set-up.
Provide power at every table in the Pit.
Have large displays near the game field.
Don't use a high school gym.

14. Game Day Logistics Have a clean flow in and out of the field area.
Music during the games keeps things lively.
An energetic announcer is important.

15. Off Season Activities We don't have any off-season activities.
Test batteries to verify their capacity. Replace weak battery packs.
We have done summer training sessions, but attendance has been poor so we will likely drop them.
Maintain contact with volunteers and teams.
Have monthly (or so) planning meetings with volunteers.

16. Off Season Activities Prepare and plan ahead.
We offer to do Career Day presentations, sponsor student visits to our college, and forward announcements about related STEM opportunities. We do anything to continue making 'touches.'
Replace the white battery connectors. They do not hold up to repeated use. When they fail the problem is hard to diagnose.

17. Our Hub is Special Because...
Our core team volunteers make a special effort to get to know and work with the teachers on the participating teams.
We have some schools classified as poverty level and make a special effort to get them good mentors and donated equipment such as computers.
A local chapter of the Society for Technical Communication sponsors the notebook competition. They provide judges, certificates and small cash awards ($100, $75, $50) for the top teams..

18. Our Hub is Special Because...
We offer some special awards, like a $25 gift card to Home Depot or Lowes, for some of the standard awards.
We serve as a communication path for schools in our hub when their kids win other scientific events.
We often hold an 'Early Bird' practice session at the 3 week point. This encourages teams to get something moving that they can drive.
We have an extra nice field build and cool demo bots.

19. Our Hub is Special Because...
We have a timely Game Day that usually finishes early, even with 8 seeding rounds.
We put a lot of emphasis on Returnable Kit maintenance.
We provide extra practice time between Mall Day and Game Day.
Our people are special.

20. BEST Practices Survey
what about your hub?