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Understanding the Key Concepts:

~Misconceptions~

Why teams think they should do outreach:

for the judges
for the awards
requirements
college applications
recruitment
fundraising

Why teams don’t end up doing outreach:

it’s boring
it costs too much money
it’s too much time away from the robot
they don’t want to mess with it

If you are doing outreach for these reasons, you’re harming yourself and your team as well as missing a great opportunity to learn and grow.

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Understanding the Key Concepts:

~The Right Reasons~

What we do outreach for:

to inspire kids and adults to…

want more
be lifelong learners
be anything they want

to give people an opportunity to learn, grow, and be apart of something (even if it’s just for twenty minutes)
to learn from experts and broaden our knowledge
promote and spark curiosity
to grow yourself and your skills

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Understanding the Key Concepts:

~The Right Reasons~

Understanding these concepts is what makes all the difference. You MUST do it for the right reasons. FIRST is not about winning, it is about learning, growing, and community. Once you prioritize these, you’re already a winner. A trophy is just a shiny piece of metal; our experiences and skills will stay with us forever.

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Superior STEAM Outreach Toolbox

“How I measure the success of the program is by what the club members can teach to strangers at outreach events. If they can teach it, they know it”

-Tyson Chase, Lead Mentor of Superior STEAM

Outreach itself is a toolbox for our students, teaching them…

public speaking
relationship-building
communication
networking

It provides opportunities to kids by…

unlocking endless possibilities
teaching more life skills for the students future then the robot ever will

Physical robotic skills like bolting, wiring, and programming can only be applied to their field while these social skills can be applied to all aspects of life.

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Superior STEAM Outreach Toolbox

~The Three Types~

The three types of outreach are Community, Technical, and FIRST outreach. All three are important to the teams development. The goal is to attend events of all three categories regularly and evenly. All events are for the growth/development of current club members.

Community Outreach

these are events in the community where you have interactive displays for visitors and teach-based activities
the focus of these events is the people attending them

Technical Outreach

these events are learning-based as well as teach-based

when your team visits a professional to learn from them (i.e. machine shop, printing studio, etc.)
during these events, it is important the the students share the clubs mission and purpose in return

FIRST Outreach

lastly, these events are surrounded by the FIRST community, like todays forum

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What’s Required for an Event

Students must be interested in events

they should know why we are doing the event and be excited

The event must be interactive/hands-on

find a way to put the robot remote in the visitor’s hands (including the adults)
make it FUM
expanded the demo to include other STEAM activities

Always improve your demo’s

do improvement cycles on how to improve your outreach participation just like you do with your robot

don’t do the same things every year at the same event, mix it up, try new things

Build lasting partnerships with the event host

let them know they can count on you to be there for the next event, they’re usually annual

Make media posts of event

share the experience

Track your outreach

document it; if it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen

what you did, when you did it, why you did it, and who you talked to (count attendees)
list members attended and how many hours total (add up each kid’s hours)
ask “would you do this event again”
events should also not be several years old in your portfolio, keep it recent

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What’s Required for an Event

~Most Important Rule~

“Kids Do the Work”

-Danny Daugherty, founder of Superior Kiln and Mill and Superior STEAM

The most important rule of outreach is that the kids do the work. Of course, mentors are there to help when needed, but the kids should be the ones explaining the demo’s and talking to the visitors. Under no circumstances should there be an outreach event ran just by mentors.

1950-2016

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How to Get Involved in Community Outreach

“A strong image is everything. Everyone knows me as the girl in pink, therefor I can be recognized and remembered by the community.”

-Emily Chase, 7 year member and mentor of Superior STEAM

A good gateway into community outreach is to reach out to local organizations like schools/churches that host events
From there, you have to be loud and proud about who you are and what you do at events, thus you will be remembered

this includes a strong image and brand

You have to create a spark with your audience and give them something to rely on

this happens by using hands-on fum demos

Making an impression is equally important

you can do this by being kind, patient, and answering all the questions

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How to Network with Professionals for Technical Outreach

“We like to make technical outreach an equal exchange; if we learn something from them, we hope they learn something from us.”

-Owen Schmitt, 7 year student and mentor of Superior STEAM

The best way to connect with professionals is to simply ask them
If you have mentors that work in fields the team is interested in, they can help you network
Ask to go on tours
Make sure you take any opportunity to learn hands on

i.e. learning to solder, weld, make t-shirts, etc.

Companies will want to connect with their community as much as you want to connect with them
You can form partnerships that will help your students in the future
From those partnerships, you can also ask these professionals for help when needed

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How we Represent FIRST in Outreach

We attend the annual Statehouse FIRST Day s)

it is one of the best events to expand student opportunities and network with professionals

We host a FIRST LEGO League Scrimmage

our FTC team members run this event from hosting, judging, and refereeing
most FLL teams only get to compete in one event each year, this gives them another event

We volunteer at FIRST events

this is both for older club members and mentor development

Student Board representation

Provides endless opportunities to the students

We find teams/kids that need help at events

this makes lasting friendships between kids and teams (it’s a great resource to be able to help one another)

We’re always improving

“We’re not using kids to build robots, we’re using robots to build kids.”

-Dean Kamen, co-founder of FIRST Robotics

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What Outreach Looks Like When it’s Working

Past event hosts will reach out to you and ask you to come back
Visitors will ask you at one event if you will be at another event
A company you worked with will ask for you to come back

they will also look for more opportunities to work with your club or reach out asking to schedule an event

FIRST will ask your team to help promote events or volunteers
Your community will recognize your team/organization as a pillar of the district
People will be excited to see you at events
Kids and adults will walk away from your booth with a good experience

“You don’t look for outreach; outreach looks for you.”

-Tyson Chase, Lead Mentor of Superior STEAM

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How Outreach Unlocked Endless Opportunities for Us:

In the last 3 years we…

Met Dean Kamen
Connected with 2 Governors
Connected with State Secretary
Connected with 2 Mayors
Outreached in Texas & Kentucky
Worked with John Deere
Worked with Disney
Connected with members of the Space Force
Worked with close to 200 Business owners
Testified in front of the State Senate for FIRST
Asked to represent FIRST for the Mira Award
Have 2 World Dean’s List Finalist
Students have gotten a combined total of over 75,000 dollars worth of scholarship
4 club member job opportunities through outreach
3 years in a row different club members have been honored as 4-H’er of the year in our county

Have 2 World Dean’s List Finalist
Students have gotten a combined total of over 75,000 dollars worth of scholarship
4 club member job opportunities through outreach
3 years in a row different club members have been honored as 4-H’er of the year in our county
participated in over 100 events yearly
had over 5,000 kids participate in our demos each year
had over 20,000 people play with our demo robot, Baby

Today, the club has 8 STEAM activities that can be used for outreach events, and we’re currently working on our 9th. We consider outreach one of the most fum parts of our club.

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