Question to prepare for FTC Judging

Improving your Judging script for Impact

You walk into a judging room filled with strangers and you have ten minutes or less to convince them that your team stands out among all the other teams at the competition. It’s easy to understand why preparing for FTC judging can be one of the most challenging aspects of the program for most teams.

Most teams start on their judging by thinking about the highlights from a robot and outreach perspective. If you are a team that already has a basic judging script ready, this set of FTC judging questions may spur you to think about areas where you could refine and differentiate your story.

Bragging with Gracious Professionalism

Last year, I was exposed to a book called “Brag!: The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It” in the context of performance reviews at work. While I liked several of the ideas in the book, the thing that stood out to me were a set of questions that you could use to frame the discussion. Applying a similar framework to FTC robotics, here are twelve questions that you could use to review your FTC journey and and start the conversation with the judges. These are not necessarily the questions that the judges will ask you, but it may help you look at your judging script through a lens that you may have missed and add to it in new ways.

The intent is not that you answer all of them or in any particular order, but rather give your team a different perspective to identify and then prioritize the top items to hit during judging session.

Twelve FTC Robotics Judging Questions

Here are the questions to help you prepare for FTC robotics judging:

What is unique / cool / different about your team’s FIRST journey and how you ended up at the competition?
What do you most love about Robotics / FTC / First / Your Team? Why are you passionate about Robotics / FTC / First / Your Team?
Which of your accomplishments are you most proud of as a team?
What are some obstacles/challenges have you overcome to get to where you are? Identify some of the “Ah-ha” moments you have had during this season. Highlight the essential learning’s from those challenges.
Which skills have you/your team learnt this year and how did that help set your team up for success?
Which new mentors / sponsors / role models did you meet in your journey? Why was it impactful? How did they help you/your team grow?
What do you think is the coolest feature / capability / part about your Robot? And why? – Think about software, control, hardware design, build, design process and more.
Outreach: What was an impactful or memorable moment from your outreach?
How did you impact others? In what way have you made a difference in the FIRST Robotics community?
What do others say about your team? Do you have examples of positive feedback from your mentors, sponsors and/or mentees.
Go through Game Awards criteria: What have you done to qualify for each of the different award?
How do you help (or want) the judges to remember you when you have walked out of judging? What is your team’s story?

When you go through this list, look for elements that you have done in each one of the areas of the program. For example, accomplishments you are proud of could be in any one of the aspects of the program – Robot design, build, software, electrical, programing, testing, outreach, mentors/mentoring, business plan, funding or sustainability, etc.

Sharing your Journey in FIRST

Also think about your overall journey in FIRST or FTC. Most teams have a stronger story when they are conveying their impact over multiple years in the program. Sometimes it takes a few years to develop the capabilities and programs to excel and inspire others. So don’t limit yourself to just the current season.

After you have compiled a list of answers, filter through them to figure out which of the items are unique to your team and help your team stand apart. Then prioritize the list and revisit your judging script and see if your script captures the top items.

Bragging Graciously – The Claim, Impact and Story

Bragging graciously is a skillset that will last you a lifetime. And I believe that this is one of the many key learnings from the FIRST FTC program. To brag with credibility and grace, there needs to be three elements to your pitch – the claim, data to support the impact and the supporting story.

The Claim is statement about how you stand apart from the rest of the field – “We have one of the most reliable high scoring autonomous you will see at the competition today”. The claim becomes reliable if you can support it with the data or show impact – “Our autonomous score 150 pts reliably”.

And the last piece is the story which is what most judges will likely remember – “At the last competition, we scored maximum possible 150 pts reliably in 9 of 10 matches”. Then add more about how you got to where you are with such a strong autonomous, an “Ah-ha” moment, something about your inspiration or creativity, or your learning’s from all the iterations on the program.

Often teams make broad claims without clear supporting details. It becomes very difficult for the judges to figure out the impact. For example if you make a claim around doing a lots of outreach, unless you provide data around the size and scope of your reach and impact the judges don’t know whether you shared your robot with your siblings FLL team or you were presenting at STEM night at a local school where you had 100s of people come by.

During judging, the judges are trying hard to understand your story and key data points to support it in the limited time they have with you. You can see why they may tend to favor teams that can clearly articulate impact.

Prepare for Judging and Q&A

Once you have answered the questions, you could also think about which elements you want to focus on in the judging presentation where your team presents the pre-prepared script, vs. which items you want to add through your Q&A. The Q&A elements can also be part of your follow on judge interviews at the pit.

Well prepared teams come across as a cohesive unit during the judging and Q&A. Often one team member will start the conversation and others will build upon that seamlessly. For that to happen, all the team members need to be well prepared and be ready with their own unique perspective and view that adds to the overall story of the team’s journey.

Every team wants to showcase their accomplishments, and prove that they are the best team at the competition. I hope this discussion gives you a framework to add details, showcase impact and connect with the judges.

Hope these questions for preparing for FTC judging gives you a framework to review and improve your judging. Good luck and feel free to provide feedback if you have other things to consider during judging.

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