1. Team Exhibits & Interviews
Introductions:
Introduce yourself & session
How many of you have competed in a BEST robotics competition?
How many of you are new to the BEST robotics competition? (Yay!)
The purpose of this presentation is to provide you with some insight as to what you are going to be evaluated on in this category of the competition, to walk through the score sheet, and to be able to ask any questions that you might have.
All of the information that we are going to be talking about can be found in your teacher’s Kick-Off packet or on the NDSU BEST robotics website in the Awards & Judging Documents (part 1 &2) and in the score sheet.
If you have any questions, you may contact our Awards & Judging Coordinator, Briana Nupdal, at
Bison BEST Robotics
Kick Off Session
2016

2. BEST Program The competition is comprised of two segments
Robotics Competition
The BEST Award (optional)
Note: The Project Engineering Notebook is required along with the robot for the robot competition
The BEST program is split into 2 categories – the Robotics Competition and the BEST Award. The BEST Award is optional for teams to compete for. The Team Exhibit & Interview points contribute to the BEST Award.
NOTE: The Project Engineering Notebook is required for EVERY team competing at Bison BEST! Even the teams that are not competing for the BEST Award.

3. Breakdown of BEST Award
All teams are eligible for the BEST Award
Judging is based on five criteria (100 points possible)
Project Engineering Notebook (30 points)
Marketing Presentation (25 points)
Team Exhibit and Interviews (20 points)
Spirit and Sportsmanship (10 points)
Robot Performance (15 points)
So how much does the Team Exhibits & Interviews contribute to the BEST Award?
The Team Exhibits account for 1/5th (20 of 100 total points) of the BEST Award.

4. Purpose
The purpose of the Team Exhibit & Interview is to creatively communicate an understanding of the game theme and to demonstrate how the team has promoted BEST in the school and community.
As you are constructing your team exhibit and preparing for your interview – you will want to keep the overall purpose of the exhibit and interview in mind.
You want to make sure that you are creatively communicating an understanding of the PayDirt game theme and demonstrating how your team has promoted BEST Robotics in your school and community.

5. Purpose
Communicate through an exhibit & through discussion with judges information about the team’s efforts
Communicate an understanding of the game theme
Show how you strategically built your robot to be able to accomplish certain tasks
Demonstrate how the team has promoted BEST within the schools & within the community
Share information and/or technology resources
Marketing efforts
Recruiting and mentoring other schools
How can you be sure to communicate an understanding of the game theme? (ask students for ideas)
Easy way: talk about how you strategically built your robot to complete certain game tasks. (Shows that you had to strategically look at the game and game objectives that you wanted to master to build your robot to complete these tasks.)
Through your talks with the judges, you can communicate an understanding.
Promoting BEST within your school or community
Some easy ways – posters, newspaper articles, robot demonstrations, going to visit businesses, etc
Make sure you are sharing these things with the judges – bring the poster or newspaper clipping to share! 

6. Guidelines DO NOT exceed the space allocated by the hub! (10 pts!)
Teams are encouraged to avoid using expensive store-bought display boards and structures, but instead opt for more creative and hand-made display props
Any audio-visual equipment and extra extension cords will be the team’s responsibility
A single electrical outlet will be provided to each exhibit – If a team requires additional outlets, the team must supply their own power strip. It is recommend that each team bring at least one extension cord to ensure power to reach their exhibit.
EASIEST 10 POINTS!! – Do not go outside of the 8’x8’x8’ space allocation! Yes, we do go around and measure! 
Be creative – those are just as interesting to see than the expensive store-bought display!
You will be provided a single electrical outlet – if you should need anything beyond this outlet, it is your responsibility to provide these materials. It is recommended that each team bring at least one extension cord to ensure that power reaches your exhibit.

7. Guidelines
Each team is responsible for the security of its own material
Each team is also responsible for breakdown of its team materials and the clean-up of its display area
You cannot give out candy, food or drinks as a complimentary handout
There should be no texting, iPods, Gameboys, etc. in judging area as you should be active in your exhibit and try to bring people into your exhibit
You are responsible for the security of all materials in your team exhibit
You are responsible for the breakdown and cleanup of the display area – this year there is space in the track complex for the exhibits to be set up through Saturday’s robotics competition as well! You may chose to tear down your team exhibit on Saturday from 12-1 (during the lunch break) or upon completion of the awards ceremony. There will be an announcement made on Game Day involving team exhibit teardown.
Some teams decide to give out something promoting their team from their team exhibits – such as pencils, stickers, necklaces, etc. You cannot give out food, candy, or drinks as a complimentary handout.
Keep in mind that there will be judges walking around at all times during the judging period and it is open to the community to come and look around. You should actively be trying to bring people into your exhibit to share what you have learned! There should be NO texting, iPods, Gameboys, etc. in the team exhibit area.

8. Guidelines
All material should be clearly marked with appropriate identification and contact information
During the interview, you should be able to answer any questions on the robot design and construction, marketing efforts, promotion of BEST, mentor involvement, etc.
Bison BEST teams will be visited by at least 2 different sets of judges
Though you are responsible for your own materials, it is always a good idea to clearly mark your items with your school name and contact information. (So that if a power strip gets left behind, we can return it to the right school)
The judges are able to ask any question regarding robot design and construction, marketing efforts, promotion of BEST, mentor involvement, etc… You are provided your judging time prior to competition, so it might be a good idea to have knowledgeable people in your exhibit during your judging time. NOTE: questions may be asked outside of your judging time by other schools, judges, volunteers, committee members, etc…
You will be visited by at least 2 different judging teams throughout Friday afternoon

9. Important Information
Set-up is from
Bison BEST - 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Friday, October 21st
Judging is from
Bison BEST – 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM on Friday, October 21st
The exhibit should have a student present at ALL times during judging period!
Each team will be provided a standard 8 foot table (approximately 30 inches wide)
Tables will NOT have a cloth or a skirt
Maximum allowed floor space is 8’ x 8’
Maximum allowed height is 8’
Set up for Bison BEST is from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM
Judging is from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM… you will be given your specific judging time prior to game day
Your exhibit should have at least one student present at all times during judging period! (1-5)
Each team will be provided an 8’ table – these will not have any cloth or skirt
Team Exhibits must stick within the 10’x10’x10’ space allocation (10 easy points!)

10. Scoring Information Walk through Score sheet 
(no changes on this page from last year)
Score sheets are provided to teams in the Kick-Off packet that their teacher received
I always say that this is their test – you are given your test ahead of time, study it! 

11. Scoring Information CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEARS:
Evidence of students’ learning experience enthusiasm, learning experience, and understanding of game theme – has been split into 2 separate judging categories.
Used to be 20 points altogether – now it is 20 points for learning experience and understanding of game theme and 10 points for students enthusiasm about BEST experience
Evidence that students were the primary designers and builders of robot, team exhibit, and all materials – dropped from 40 points to 30 points

13. Sample Topics
Demographics – How many students are on the team? What grade levels are represented? How many are returners?
Location – Where is your school? How long did it take to travel here?
Roles – What were some different roles people had on your team?
Talk about the exhibit – Why did you choose to include these different items in the display?
Construction of the robot – What equipment did you use? Were you familiar with this type of equipment?
Strategy – What is your strategy to score points? How did you develop this strategy? How did you build your robot so it could do these tasks?
These are some possible questions or topics that the judges might ask questions about.
Please note that teams should prepare a short presentation for the judges – such as an introduction of themselves/teams, a little about what they have done this season, and address some of the different judging categories on the score sheet.
Judges only have a short period of time to judge your exhibit and they should not have to ask a lot of questions to get the information. If the judges run out of time and you have not given them the information that is needed to score a category, they can award a 0 for that category. You have the score sheet ahead of time and know what you are being judged on – so use this to your advantage.
Run through topic areas

14. Sample Topics
Publicity – How did you promote BEST and your team in your school and community?
Mentoring – How many schools did your team mentor? Who were they? How did you help them? Where they new schools or returning schools?
Knowledge – What have you learned from your experience on this team? Has it influenced you positively or negatively in regard to engineering and science?
Sportsmanship – Which schools have demonstrated good sportsmanship toward your team or others? How?
Experience - What have your enjoyed most and least?
Safety - Did your team have any safety training?

15. Examples of Team Exhibits
The upcoming slides contain some different team exhibit ideas – remember to be creative
This team incorporated their school mascot (the knights) their theme
Also note that their team exhibit is easy to identify with the clear “Knights” flags on the outside

16. Examples of Team Exhibits
A great example of using creativity vs. a store bought display

17. Examples of Team Exhibits
Very creative and well-constructed display

18. Examples of Team Exhibits
Another example of a route your team could take –

19. Examples of Team Exhibits
Some creative displays! These have an interesting construction and I would be drawn to visit them to simply see what they are all about! 

20. Examples of Team Exhibits Examples of Team Exhibits
Different uses of media and displays of information

21. Examples of Team Exhibits
Very well-planned out exhibit… you can notice that even the boxes under the table are labeled to fit the theme, sometimes the little details are just as important!

22. Questions?
Questions?
If there are any that you can’t answer – they can always ask Awards & Judging Coordinator, Briana, either at Kick-Off or by ing .
Best of luck this season!! 
See you in 6 weeks!