Tuesday, March 27, 2012

World Festival Tip: Connections

Between judging sessions and rounds on the competition table, your team will be really busy. Ahead of time, create a pit coverage schedule so that someone representing your team will be in your pit at all times. It can be disappointing to be ready to visit a team and find that there is no one in the "booth" area.

Parents and mentors can be easily prepared for "pit" duty when your team members can't be there. They should welcome people into your display area, be able to give a little team history, give a brief overview of your project, and to be able to say when team members will be back to the pit area to give more information.
If you have any giveaways, your "pit" crew should be generous in sharing these with visitors to your area. Also, your pit crew should make a note of visiting teams' names and pit numbers so that members from your team can go introduce themselves between sessions. Taking time to make connections with other teams from around the U.S. and the world is one of the great advantages of your World Festival experience. Make meeting other FLL teams a priority - you'll always be glad you did.