The Connect Award: Metrics that Matter

Everyone does outreach. Everyone goes to the local library. Everyone does a “robot demo.” But not everyone wins the Connect Award.

The teams that win aren’t just doing things; they are connecting things. They connect their robot to professionals, and they connect their community to the world of STEM in measurable, impactful ways.

Quality > Quantity

A common trap is the “Laundry List” approach: listing 50 events where you just stood next to a robot. Judges see right through this.

What Judges Want:

• Depth: Instead of 10 school visits, did you start a curriculum at 1 school that ran for a whole semester?
• Two-Way Street: Did you just ask a company for money? Or did you ask their engineers to review your CAD? Did you present back to them?

The Metric That Changes Everything: “Conversion Rate”

Stop counting “people reached.” It’s a vanity metric. If 10,000 people walked past your booth at a county fair, did you really impact 10,000 people? No.

Start tracking Impact Metrics:

• Conversion Rate: “We spoke to 50 students, and 5 of them joined an FTC team.” (10% conversion).
• Retention: “We mentored a rookie team, and they are now in their 3rd season.”
• Skill Transfer: “We taught a CAD workshop, and 12 students submitted a final CAD project.”

[!NOTE] Data Tracking: Use a simple spreadsheet to track these meaningful numbers. When you present to judges, say: “We don’t just count handshakes; we count future engineers.”

Professional Connections: The “Engineer’s Perspective”

The Connect Award explicitly asks about your connection to the engineering community. This isn’t just about getting a check.

1. Design Reviews: Invite a professional engineer to a Zoom call. Share your screen. Let them tear your design apart. Document their feedback and implement it.
2. Industry Standards: Ask your sponsor: “How do you organize your files?” “How do you manage version control?” Adopt their methods.
3. The “Reverse Pitch”: Go to your sponsor’s office and present your season recap. Show them their logo on the robot, but also show them the code they helped you debug.

Using Tools to refine your Story

Your outreach narrative needs to be tight. It needs to flow from “We saw a need” to “We took action” to “We measured the result.”

[!TIP] Plug: FTC Coach breaks down judging feedback for outreach and connects initiatives to impact metrics. Use it to ensure your portfolio speaks the language of the judges.

Initiating the Cycle

The best Connect Award teams create a self-sustaining cycle. You get mentored by professionals -> You build a great robot -> You use that knowledge to mentor younger students -> Those students eventually become the pros.

Show the judges you are part of this cycle. That is how you win.