Business & Outreach¶
Non-build work is a first-class track. Sponsors fund the season, awards recognize the program, outreach grows the pipeline, social media compounds all three. Treat this subteam like any other: named owners, cards on the board, gates, retros.
Rule: outreach is a deliverable, not a hobby. If nobody's name is on it, it does not happen.
Scope¶
The Business/Impact subteam owns:
- Sponsors — pipeline, asks, thank-yous, mid-season updates, in-kind coordination.
- Awards — FIRST Impact Award submission, Dean's List, Woodie Flowers, judged-interview prep. See 14_awards_and_submissions.md.
- Outreach — school demos, community events, mentorship of younger teams (FLL/FTC), STEM nights.
- Social media — build-season posts, event coverage, sponsor tags, alumni network.
- Media / press — photo/video assets, press releases, local news outreach.
- Merchandise / identity — team shirts, buttons, pit banner, business cards.
Explicitly NOT scope: robot design, code, driver practice. Business subteam supports build team; does not replace it.
Sub-Roles (under Business/Impact Lead)¶
Business/Impact Lead is one student, mentor-advised. Below the Lead, four sub-leads. On a small team, one student may hold two.
Sponsor Lead¶
- Owns sponsor tracker.
- Sends asks. Sends thank-yous. Sends mid-season updates.
- Coordinates in-kind (machining hours, material donations) with Purchasing Lead.
- Artifact: sponsor tracker (spreadsheet or board view) with status per sponsor, ask amount, ask date, response, contribution, thank-you sent.
Awards Lead¶
- Owns Impact submission (essay, executive summary, video).
- Owns Dean's List + Woodie Flowers nominations.
- Runs judged-interview prep before each event.
- Artifact: Impact submission packet + nomination essays.
Outreach Lead¶
- Owns outreach calendar.
- Logs every event: date, audience size, hours, photos, quotes.
- Coordinates with school admin, community orgs, other FRC/FTC/FLL teams.
- Artifact: outreach log (see templates/outreach_event_log.md). One entry per event, no exceptions. Impact submission draws from this.
Social Media Lead¶
- Owns team accounts (Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn — whichever team uses).
- Posts cadence: minimum 1 post/week build season, event-day live coverage.
- Cross-posts build blog highlights.
- Tags sponsors in relevant posts.
- Artifact: social calendar + post archive.
Cadence¶
| Cadence | Deliverable | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Daily (build season) | Cross-post build blog highlight to social | Social Media Lead |
| Weekly | Sponsor tracker update; social post minimum | Sponsor Lead, Social Media Lead |
| Weekly | Business Subteam Lead reports at stand-up + weekly all-hands | Business/Impact Lead |
| Monthly (offseason) | Sponsor newsletter | Sponsor Lead |
| Per outreach event | Outreach log entry within 48 hours | Outreach Lead |
| Per event | Media kit ready 48 hours prior | Awards Lead + Social Media Lead |
| Per event | Judged-interview prep session, 1 week prior | Awards Lead |
| Post-season | Sponsor report (season summary, photos, thanks) | Sponsor Lead |
Sponsor Pipeline¶
Four tiers. Adjust dollar values to team scale.
| Tier | Contribution | Recognition |
|---|---|---|
| Title | $10k+ or equivalent in-kind | Logo on robot, shirt front, banner, all press |
| Gold | $5k–10k | Logo on shirt, banner, social tags |
| Silver | $1k–5k | Logo on banner, thank-you |
| In-kind | Materials, machining, mentorship | Tier-matched by market value |
Pipeline stages: Cold → Contacted → Meeting Set → Committed → Received → Thanked → Reported. Sponsor tracker enforces this. A sponsor is not "closed" until Reported (post-season summary sent).
Awards Track¶
See 14_awards_and_submissions.md for full submission timeline. Summary:
- FIRST Impact Award — highest team award. Rewards year-round program, not robot. Submission = essay (10k char) + executive summary (500 char) + video (≤3 min) + judged interview at event. Draws entirely from outreach log + sponsor record + team history.
- Dean's List — 2 sophomore/junior student nominations per team, per event tier.
- Woodie Flowers — one mentor nomination, student-written.
- Other judged awards (Innovation in Control, Excellence in Engineering, etc.) — build team owns the artifact, business subteam owns the submission narrative + interview coaching.
Impact submission is a Week-3 draft, Week-5 lock. Missing this deadline means missing the award for the year.
Social Media Rules¶
- Every sponsor tagged at least once/month during build season.
- Every outreach event gets a post within 48 hours.
- Build blog nightly post gets a social cross-post the same night, curated (best photo, one sentence).
- No student faces without parent media release on file. Media release template in
templates/. - Never post the robot's competitive strategy before your event. Reveal videos post-bag equivalent — usually week before event 1.
- Voice guide — students write, mentor reviews for tone + release compliance. Not the other way around.
Integration With Other Docs¶
- Board (12_tools_and_tracking.md) — business cards tagged
subteam:business+ type (type:sponsor/type:outreach/type:social/type:award-submission/type:media). Deadline-tagged where FIRST submission dates apply. - Stand-up (11_build_session.md) — Business Subteam Lead reports alongside build subteams. Same three questions.
- Timeline (09_timeline.md) — Business row runs every week. Gates GB1–GB4.
- Team Structure (08_team_structure.md) — Business/Impact Lead is one of four Subteam Leads, not an afterthought.
- Retrospective (10_retrospective.md) — sponsor retention rate, outreach hours, award results reviewed alongside robot performance.
Minimum-Viable Team Variant¶
Small team (6 active students): collapse Business sub-roles onto one Business/Impact Lead + one mentor. Cut in this order:
- Cut merchandise beyond team shirts.
- Cut mid-season sponsor newsletter; keep post-season report.
- Cut social platforms down to one (Instagram usually).
Never cut, in order: - Sponsor thank-yous. - Impact submission if pursuing the award. - Outreach log — even at 3 events/year, log them. - Judged-interview prep before events.
Common Failure Modes¶
- Business subteam treated as "not real engineering." Kills sponsor renewal + Impact chances. Business/Impact Lead sits in stand-ups with equal weight.
- Outreach happens, nobody logs it. Impact submission has no evidence. Fix: log entry within 48 hours or event didn't happen.
- Sponsor asks go out, thank-yous do not. Renewal rate collapses next year. Thank-you within 7 days of receipt, no exceptions.
- Social media becomes personal accounts of one student. Handoff at graduation impossible. Team owns credentials in shared password manager.
- Awards Lead surfaces two weeks before event. Judged interview goes poorly. Prep starts Week 3.
- Robot reveal leaks strategy. Fix: pre-post review by Team Lead + Strategy Lead.