Remote Judging Tips and Tricks

We know that this year looks different than most FIRST Tech Challenge seasons, and we’re here to help make the remote season as easy as possible. We’ve put together a list of best practices to think about when you’re putting together your remote judging presentation and getting ready for your remote judging sessions. We’d love to add your ideas to the list! If you have any suggestions for teams in regard to successful remote judging, add them in the comments and we’ll incorporate them! 

As you get ready for remote judging this season make sure that you think through these topics! 

• Make a PowerPoint – Making a PowerPoint can help your team stay on track with your judging presentation and is a useful tool for sharing information, pictures, and videos with the judges. Make sure you practice using the technology ahead of time so you’re not wasting your time, or the judges time during your presentation. 
• Create an agenda – Teams have 5 minutes for uninterrupted presentations. Make sure you make the most of it! Creating an agenda ahead of time can help your team focus on what topics are most important to you and help you figure out how much time you can allocate to each topic. Plus, the agenda is a helpful visual for the judges so they can see what topics your covering as you present.  
• Give everyone a job – You’ll want to make sure that each of your team members contributes to the overall presentation, to best reflect your team.  
• Practice makes perfect – Make sure your team practices your presentation and answering questions so that you’re prepared for your presentation with the judges. The goal of the presentation is to showcase your team to the judging panel, and you want it to sound confident and sure of yourselves when you’re presenting. Practice makes perfect and can help you feel more confident in your presentation.  
• Practice with the technology - Make sure your entire team can get into the remote judging room ahead of time. You also want to make sure that each team member  is comfortable with their technology, that your cameras work, and your microphones function properly. You don’t want to waste precious moments of your judging session fiddling with your tech controls.  
• Team Judging Self-Reflection Sheet – Make sure your team fills out our Team Judging Self Reflection sheet. Self-reflection is an essential life skill so we created a resource to help you out! To help teams maximize the benefits of their judging experience, FIRST Tech Challenge recommends (but does not require) teams to complete a Judging Interview Session Self-Reflection Sheet. This document is for the team’s use ONLY and will not be collected by the judges or any other event day staff. Judges do not use this document in any way as part of their deliberations or decision-making. Self reflection is a great way to take another look at your presentation and look for areas of opportunity to improve.  

• Judging Feedback Form – Teams can also fill out and submit our Judging Feedback Form to their event judges in order to receive feedback. This form covers topics from how prepared your team is to how well you display Gracious Professionalism with each other and with the judges, to your outreach, and engineering portfolio.  

• Have fun! – FIRST Tech Challenge is fun. This presentation is your chance to show the judges what your team has been able to accomplish this season, but don’t let it stress you out. Some ways to make your presentation more fun is to include a PowerPoint, wear your team shirts, have a team mascot, show photos of your robot to the judges, and showcase whatever makes your team unique.