Giving a demo to a FIRSTgroup - Any suggestions?

[Fan Of Segway]

Howdy,
There is a school here that has entered FIRST this year - it is their initial year of doing it (plus I think they are the first {not FIRST :)} group in Tucson to participate). I thought the team might get a kick out of getting some hands-on with a Segway. So I emailed with the vice principal, and looks like I will be meeting the group next Monday (04/07). I'm going to have about 25 minutes with 12 students, and then the vice principal has asked if I would "hang out" at lunch, so the rest of the students (145 total) could check it out.

I plan to keep things very simple -- give the FIRST group the basics, answer any questions, and let each one get a short ride to feel what it is like. I honestly don't know what I'll do at lunch -- probably just hang out and answer questions, and maybe give rides to faculty. I am guessing that there will be too many kids to give rides to the students at that time.

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or warnings? I have a little "card" I've made (two sided, I fit 9 of them on a 8 1/2" x 11" paper and chop it up) that answers some of the basic questions. I carry them around in my backpack and hand them out to people seem really interested. I'm contemplating printing or xeroxing up a bunch of those to bring with me. Past that, I really don't have any preparations at this time.

[Detrbear]

I'm going to have some demos for groups to do. I was thinking of giving everybody a number (either first come first served, or draw from a hat) and for the first person to demo, give the second person an electronic egg timer set at two minutes. When they call "time's up!" they pass it to the next person in line, etc. That frees you up to concentrate on the demo and helps everybody feel they got their fair share. Let everybody know if for any reason the person receiving the demo goes out of control in their direction, to just put their arms out and push the handlebar away to stop them. Your style will develop for getting them on, what worked best for me was to look down, put one foot on the platform not too far forward or back, and look into the demonstrator's eyes as I lifted the other foot on. Others have posted really great suggestions for things to do and not do when doing demos. It would be nice to have them all in one place.:)

Bill

[JosephM]

Don't let the kids durring lunch try it out. BUT let the kids in FIRST try it out.

http://www.segwaychat.com/forum/icon_segway_happy.gif FIRST Pit News Mag @ www.pitnews.org

[David]

This Thursday I am going to be Principal for a Day in a New York City elementary school, as part of a citywide program (about which I'm sure you'll see a lot of news coverage on Friday.) I am seriously thinking about bringing along my HT, and then using that as a springboard for discussion of careers, science, technology, invention, etc., and then as my contribution to the day offering to sponsor one or two FLL teams for the school. What do you guys think? Suggestions as to the best way to handle this, and sell FLL/FIRST?

-David