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The Organization phase could be the busiest time of the season. This phase runs from September (or
just after school starts) through January and during this phase you prepare your team for the construction
and competition phases, organize your team, learn about your teammates, continue the sponsorship and community outreach
programs that were started in the last phase. The FIRST Team planning timeline has over 40 tasks outlined for this phase of the season. Teams that use this time wisely to organize, train, and
get financial support will be in better position to enter into the construction and competition phases.
Safety System
A safety plan is
now starting to be implemented during this phase of the season. Everyone on the team should be understanding the safety
guidelines of the team and reading the FRC team handbook writeups on safety. Safety training should be conducted in the shop on each of the machines that could be used during
the construction. Organizating the shop, make sure there are sufficient safety glasses available, tools are in good
condition and the machines are maintained and operational.
 TEAM SYSTEM
Team building is key to this phase of the season. Organize team events both social and working meetings.
Learn about the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates and personalities. Conduct team training and workshops on
programming, the media events, and what to expect at competitions. Have fun with organizing the team theme for the year
along with logos, nicknames, and styles.
Do not forget about the rest of your team which includes the school administrators, community leaders, alumni,
and expecially the parents of the students. Organize and invite the rest of your team to events and activities.
Keep them informed!
 Archive System
Now you have all this documentation, what are you going to do with it? Review what you had learned from
last year's team and graduating seniors, use the lessonslearned in your training for the team reviewing past software programs
and designs that worked and did not work. Make sure that the archives are organized for easy retrevial during the construction
and competition phase. You past history may be key in developing your Chairman's award submittal.
Robot System
Review construction and design techniques and processes. Perform machine shop training with your construction
crew. Have your design team review past designs, look at the clue and see if you might be able to anticipate the game
requirements. Train your drive crew on previous robots or look at simple off the shelf remote control toys for training.
Create a construction schedule that leaves adequate time for validation and tesing. Look at using the fall to sponsor
lego leagues and maybe participate or sponsor a VEX team. Form a test robotics game and have groups run through
the design process and present results. The more you use can use the design process, the easier it will be for your
robot team to design, build, and validate during the six weeks.
OUTREACH SYSTEM
Implement your community outreach plan and start the organization for a Kick-off event inviting
alumni and community and school leaders to participate. Also plan a robot roll-out event where you "introduce" the robot
to your school and community and explain the game along with your strategy for the game.
Implement any events for media, elementary and middle school age demonstrations, Lego and/or VEX
competitions. Develop news releases and personal contacts with the local and state media. Start planning
the outreach programs that you will be doing at competition including generating spirit teams, and your team ambassadors to the rest of the teams at the competition. If your team
makes buttons, it would be a good time to get a design and start making them.
Financial System
Working with the outreach system, you need to use this organization phase to secure the sponsorships and other
financial support. The teams are going to start spending some real money if shop tools and machines need any maintenance or new tools need to be bought. Also the
registration fees will have to be paid for the season. Travel plans and travel budgets will need to be developed for
the competitions. Some parents and team members will have to get individual sponsors to participate and the sooner they
can get a ball park figure of costs, they can plan their personal budgets.
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