Public Relations (PR), headed by Vivek Paramasivam, is responsible for the following:

• Performing outreach functions for the team.
• Advertising and promoting FIRST program and the team.

The efforts of the PR committee play an important role in being chosen for the Chairman’s Award.

The Chairman’s Award is given to the team that best demonstrates overall excellence in community outreach, effective robot design and performance, gracious professionalism, and encourages the communitiy to pursue jobs in science and technology.

Fund Raising (FR) acquires resources for the team, including:

• Money (donations and sponsorships, fund raising sales).
• Hardware/software (e.g., tools, raw materials, equipment, CAD software).
• Loaning of space and equipment usage.
• Labor (new team members, mentors, parent helpers).
• New members can invite new mentors and parent helpers.

Public relations and Fundraising overlaps in many ways and complement each other. Taking this into consideration, we treat them as one entity: PR/FR

Primary Purposes

The primary purposes of PR/FR are to:

• Advertise and promote the FIRST program and Saints Robotics.
• Raise money and resources for Saints Robotics.

Reasons for Participation

Leadership opportunities: everyone in the team must ultimately participate in PR/FR; those who are considered part of the PR/FR committee are considered to be the leaders of public relations and fundraising.  By the end of the season, the dedicated members will have headed presentations and events, promoting Saints Robotics as a whole.

Once-in-a-lifetime experience: what other club would have you standing in front of one of the region’s most respected engineering companies spearheading a formal sales pitch for thousands of dollars?    Our goal this season is to get every member of PR/FR in front of a major corporation for a fundraising presentation.

Gain valuable interpersonal skills: In PR/FR, we work on persuasive and interpersonal skills to encourage lucrative relations with members of our community.

Importance of PR/FR

• The growth and success of the team depends directly on the resources it possesses.
• Money is needed to pay for materials, tools, entrance fees, travel costs, and to support other PR-related activities.

What Constitutes Success for PR/FR?

• Earning enough money for sophisticated robot designs made with high quality materials.
• Well-designed and furnished pit areas.
• Lots of mentors and parent helpers!
• Travel money.