Q & A

Q & A

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Judging Interview

Miscellaneous


Q: What can the team expect from the interviews?

A: The advisor does not participate and is not allowed in the judging area. Questions will be asked to the whole team. One member may do most of the talking, but everyone should contribute. The interview will reveal if the team designed and built the device themselves or if the advisor did it. Everyone should be able to talk about the device. They should not have to say, "My advisor did this."

Q: What are the do's and don'ts of keeping documentation? I thought about having my team use a composition book.

A: Notebooks and binders work well. Some contents to include are: budget, project timeline, roles, brainstorming lists, what worked and what failed, descriptions of their discussions, and why they decided to follow a certain pathway. The documentation should reflect the process that the team experienced. Some teams have each member keep a journal and then the team pulls pages together for the final documentation. The Official Insiders Guide has a list of suggested topics to include in the documentation and there are some additional suggestions in the Advisors Guide . Ultimately, the best documentation is the one that clearly communicates the team's entire design process.