08/23 – Business Meeting

Budget

• Took every receipt from last year to figure out budget

• Categorized within engineering, marketing, operations, FIRST

• 52k budget

• Need sponsorships and grants to cover budget

• Immediate need for money – rent & FIRST fees

• $5000 buffer – start and end with $5000 every year

Grants

• When grants ask how much money you are looking for

  • About $5000 for big companies and corporations

  • Use your judgment and ask for much smaller amounts with smaller businesses

• Qualcomm – National Sponsor, cannot sponsor individual teams

• United Therapeutics – Rahul and Peter

• Lowes – Yanis

Fundraising

• Cisco parents – max out volunteering hours for money

  • IBM and other companies may also match for your volunteering

• Go to a PTSA Board Meeting and ask for money – Bhargav

  • They have given money in the past and have many overlooked scholarships

• Find companies that specialize in solar powers for sponsorships

  • Mr.B worked with solar power over the summer, contact him with any questions regarding it

• Contact BMW USA and other large companies for sponsorship, also universities

  • This may require a meeting or presentation with certain companies

• Go to the websites for other FRC NC teams and contact their sponsors – Zuha

  • Can also be found on The Blue Alliance

• Contact smaller companies for smaller amounts of money

  • www.ati-ia.com, robotics company hiring a lot of people

  • Ask your dentist, doctor, orthodontist, physical therapist for small donations, they will typically want their companies advertised on the back of shirts like ours

• For one day go door to door for gift cards and small donations – Isabelle lead (small groups)

  • We can use the gift cards for money in a silent auction

• Cold calling script to contact businesses – Isabelle

• Gamma Tech – Ameer

  • Has the best relationship with the company

  • Will most likely help out after having to leave their build space

  • Cortech is also sponsored by them

• Use new members and new parents for fundraising

  • “Team Dinner” after parent meeting as a celebration – Isabelle

    • Need to plan place and time – plan for 9/18

  • Sell old t-shirts to new members

    • $15 or $12?

  • Team Dues (still dynamic and has to be decided)

• Mentors helping with fundraising – Lynn and Tammy

• Isabelle planning other events

• Carwash

  • Autozone – sometimes says they can’t do it, keep trying

  • September 9th and a day in October, avoid homecoming

New Members

• New team shirts must be approved by the school!

• Estimated about 50 students

  • To estimate price of team dues

• Team dues and paperwork – Due October 1

• Student interest meeting

  • Purely for student interest

  • September 6th during lunch – give freshmen time to settle into school

• Interview

  • Between the interest meeting and parent meeting, we must finish all interviews

  • Set a schedule for interviews- last year students stood outside a classroom for multiple lunches

  • Use to filter through people that do not seem committed enough to even pay team dues

• Parent Meeting

  • 9/13 or 9/14

  • Hand out all FRC paperwork – Due October 1

  • Hold a dinner after for celebration and fundraising – Isabelle

    • Details in fundraising section of email

  • Sell old t-shirts (determine price – fundraising section)

  • Parents must register at a school as a volunteer – even if they are just driving students

• Bhargav will give list of student roles during student interest meeting and parent meeting

Competitions

Choices for 2018 events:

1. ECU District Event – March 9-11

2. Winston Salem District Event – March 29- 31

   1. Will miss the first Friday of spring break

3. ** (possible) the University of North Carolina at Pembroke – March 16 – 18

4. ** (not very possible) University of North Carolina Asheville – March 23 – 25

5. State Championship at Campbell University – April 6 – 8

   1. Will miss the end of spring break

6. World Championships in Houston – April 18 – 21

This year’s drive team and pit crew will have to be informed ahead of time and be chosen based on commitment because they will not be able to leave for the entirety of spring break.

See all competitions, meetings, and other events on the team’s calendar: https://ghrobotics.org/calendar/1/

Outreach/ Giving Back

• FRC Workshop – Marie will send out information

• Mr. B signed us up for US 2020 at the Frontier – he will find out the dates and times

• We must try to give back to the community

  • Only education and STEM based volunteering will count towards Chairmans

• FLL

  • Cary Academy’s FLL team would like our mentoring and would like to meet us within the next few weeks

  • Contact Davis Drive FLL, previous connection – Angy

  • Follow up and contact more FLL teams – Zuha, Ryan Shah, Charvi

  • Provide grants and kits to FLL teams that we cannot take the time to mentor

  • Next Door Reserve was looking for local FLL camps, someone should look into it

• Marie will start sending emails with opportunities

• Look for opportunities to give presentations and workshops related to STEM instead of only showing off our robot

  • Helps people better understand what we are doing and get interested

• Find a “real-world” use of robotics like the prosthetic leg

  • This example has been overused as our main real-world accomplishment

  • This was made during a Google competition in Virginia Beach – try to find something like it

• FIRST Pitch – Daylong workshop with rookie teams on how to market your team

  • Lots of praise and positive feedback from this in the past

• Try to show ourselves as an older team

  • This is our 5th year, we can no longer expect to be treated like rookies

  • Continue shooting for Gracious Professionalism and Engineering Inspiration, they are stepping stones to Chairmans

• Find lots of outreach opportunities this year

• STEP – RC Car Race, November – Dean and Yanis leading

  • Donate parts for car

Communication

• Failure in communication across the team

• Clear who is responsible for what roles at certain events

• Meetings in Mr. B’s room during school to keep everyone up to date with information

• Meetings with student leaders, coaches, and Mr. B for ground rules – Sameer

• Potentially extending Saturday meetings until 3 pm and focusing Wednesdays on marketing and planning

• Email Blasts, consistently from one person – Ash

  • Clear coach and leader notes included

• Put all spreadsheets in one central location

• Update spreadsheets to avoid miscommunications

  • Grants and Master Spreadsheets

• Sign up for future events: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YECT0beKEFc2LBdztTalMoEKIgcPE4d5JzpYzpTBuOo/edit?usp=sharing

• Sign up for grants and fundraising: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18oxO-2JkVIT-OIZ8r7gSRSSvb8c5YWl4-xMEzEuOk8M/edit?usp=sharing

Upcoming Meeting Topics: Things to Discuss Later

• THOR Prep – this Saturday

  • Student roles, strategy

  • Robot decisions

• Topics to discuss at parent meeting

  • Parent packet with information

• Student training

• Sub-team leaders

• Turning parents into mentors

• Price of Dues

• Grants/ Fundraising

• Outreach

• Freshman Onboarding

  • Find someone to welcome them – not Bhargav

Attendance: Bhargav, James, Isabelle, Charvi, Zuha, Rahul, Maxwell, Ankit, Peter, Ali, Yanis, Neel, Ryan, Ash

Y’all, we are a student led organization. We cannot run with this level of attendance. I know summer is coming to an end and we all want to enjoy our last days of freedom, but we ask that you attend these meetings because we always can use the help.

Thank you,

Ash Dhungel