THINGS TO DO!

A list of our current projects and where they are at and who is responsible for them:

- Pins [ORDER BY MONDAY] ... Ginna
- Shirts [ORDER BY MONDAY] ... Neli --> See shirt design!
- Website [FEB. 12] ... Ida
- Budget [ASAP] ... Ida
- Executive Summary [FEB. 19] ... Ida/Sherri
- Chairman's Essay [FEB. 19] ... Ida/Sherri
- Chairman's Video [FEB. 19] ... Arushi
- Business Plan [MARCH 12] ... Team effort

--> Fundraising: We need around $5,000. Contacts, anyone?

We're back!

So, after a 2.5 year blogging-hiatus, the operations team is back and blogging again. Essentially, we did not disappear, but our blogging tendencies did, as operations was a one-man job last year. This season, however, we have a legit team of people, lots of things to do, changes to handle, and a recession to deal with... so we're going to need all the help we can get!

A few things we should probably explain right off the bat:

1. It's the Operations Team now, not Non-Technical. Basically, it's always been a bit embarrassing for the non-tech team to explain its name to judges and others at robotics competitions. It undermined our credibility and didn't exactly line up with FIRST's missions of promoting technology and engineering... Hence, this season we changed it to the less derogatory, more appropriately slick "operations".

2. In the 2.5 years since the last blog post, the constituency of our team has changed! Allison's off at Tufts, Hannah at Princeton - we've got a whole new set of people now. To meet us all, check out our webpage on Gatorbotics.com. The team has grown a bit larger than it was in previous seasons due to expanded responsibilities (See #4).

3. It's already week 5 of build season! Oh my. Yes, that's right, the bulk of the season's already transpired, but that's okay, because Operations does much of it's work over the off season anyways. We've done a lot, but we still have lots to do.

4. Our responsibilities have changed a little bit since we were "non-tech"... Operations is currently in charge of the website, pins, shirts, chairman's essay, the woodie flowers essay, the chairman's movie, the business plan, public relations, dealing with sponsors and fundraising; this is a bit of an expansion on what non-tech was responsible for in past seasons. More on that in the next blog post.

it's a new season...

so i added allison and lauren to the admin status, so you guys should have editing capabilities now. feel free to change the look of the page/make a lot of posts. we should also get christina and meredith on here as we plan to use this a lotttt

can we figure out how to post a calendar on here or something? cool.

WELCOME BACK!!

Hey PR/Fundraising!
Welcome back! Our first meeting is tomorrow afterschool at douce. Today Lauren and I met with Mr. B and went over the following:

LAST YEAR:

Thank You Notes-
handwritten notes on Casti stationary (we already got it from the admin) and a plaque with a picture (like a soccer team sponspor)

these need to be out within the next 2 weeks!

sponsors ($5000):
IDEO**
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (mr. berger)
Intuitive Surgical**
Evolve Machines**

supporters:
Mr. Schoendorff
Izzy's
Beppo's
Lulu's

*=thank them for their committed support to THIS year already

THIS YEAR:

Intuitive Surgical: get them the packet, arrange tour

Food: one Thurs a week? contact Chrissy or Kersten

Logos: from Google and Evolve to put on all our stuff

Contact info-

Google-
Emily Nishi
emilyn@google.com
650-253-7288
fax: 253-0001

Evolve-
Paul Rhodes
paul@rhodesholdings.net

Google Press Release: I already got it from Teebie Bunn in admin

Binder: we want to get a binder to organize stuff

to think about...The Chairman's Award Essay!!!


NEXT MEETING: TOMORROW!!!

-allison

Please do keep us posted with fundraising!

Dearest PR and fundraising,

Please keep us on the robotics team posted with your fundraising efforts! For example, I was unaware that we were graciously sponsored by Intuitive Surgical until I ran into a former co-worker AT the Silicon Valley Regional competition.

Also, I have forwarded to jrock emails from Greg Hurst, Alecia's father, who is interested in working to get Altera (the company he works for) to help sponsor Gatorbotics. Here's the dilemma - Greg got in touch with the electronics and build team because he could make a better case for Altera sponsoring us if there's an Altera microprocessor or chip in the devices that we use.

I am looking forward to working more closely with fundraising and PR next year, because I believe we can help you bolster your case to your potential sponsors with our close knowledge of the technical stuff that we use!

All the best!

Em

How are we doing for Atlanta?

Atlanta is an expensive trip: How are we doing with finances? Have we gone back to our sponsors? How much money do we expect to be able to raise?

Time for PR

Now that we have completed the Portland regional, we need to get the work out!

Please coordinate getting some PR out about the team's performance in Portland and the upcoming Silicon Valley regional. In particular, we should:

1. Put together an article on the Portland regional. It is especially important to recognize our winning of the entrepreneurship award. Work with Ms. Alioto and Ms. Pringle to get it into both Casti publications and external publications.

2. Invite our sponsors and others that have supported the program to the Silicon Valley Regional. Make sure your provide them with all the specifics - date, time, directions, etc.

3. Promote the Silicon Valley regional to the Casti community. It would be great to get other students and teachers to come and see the team compete. (Could we show the animation as a way of promoting the team at US meeting?)

If you have any questions or would like me to review any of the material, please email me. I trust that Hannah or Meg will coordinate who does what.

Scrapbooking tomorrow

Scrapbooking party tomorrow (Saturday) at my house from 3-6pm. Everyone is invited, but please leave a comment or drop an e-mail so I know who's comming.

Also, the Chairman's essay, short-answers and pictures were submitted yesterday without a hitch.