Last year, I was conned by Mike Mattson into helping present a speech regarding a Promotional Bulletin Board at SkillsUSA State. Our team happened to get second place. We were slightly disappointed that we were unable to go to Nationals. But when we got back to school we had an email telling us that first had dropped out and we were being allowed to go to Nationals in their place to represent Idaho. We didn’t so so well, but I decided that the next year, we would do great… so this year, my brother, Stephen Sturges, and I were on a team to design a new one, and with the knowledge of last year, we created a masterpiece bulletin board and wrote a great speech that gave us First place at state, and qualified us to go to Nationals in Kansas City, Missouri.

If you have read my blog at all, you may have seen that I have been posting brief paragraphs saying that I have been working on this bulletin board… those were to simply let my teacher know that I have been working on the project, so that I could get a grade in the class. Well, now I am going to post the full process of designing the bulletin board.

The SkillsUSA theme for this year was “Connecting the Opportunities,” so we decided to design the board around that.

Planning

The first stage of development, we started sketching ideas in Photoshop to try and get an idea for the board. Below are some of the images to help give an idea of what some of these looked like.

Our first ideas included a road leading/connecting you to city, with a car representing SkillsUSA doing the connection… but we felt that this would be difficult to understand, so we scrapped that idea.

We had a few more ideas, but eventually settled on puzzle pieces that have been broken apart with each piece representing an opportunity that SkillsUSA has connected for the individual.

Design

After we decided on the puzzle, we worked on the design phase. First, I worked on making a background. I wanted to give the board a 3D look, as those seemed to win at nationals. After I did the background, I used Illustrator to create a vector map of Idaho, that way it could be resized unlimitedly.

I decided to use an American Flag in the background of each piece, as the colors of the flag also represent SkillsUSA…

Red and White: Represent the Individual States and Chapters

Blue: Represents the connection between the states and the chapters

Gold: Represents the individual – the most important part.

Then I worked on adding a header, and then integrating the state onto the board. I decided to add some “opportunity words” to the background, as I felt that those represented that SkillsUSA helps people, even when they don’t realize that they are (the Watermark was not included in the final, it is just there to protect my work).

Production

The final stage of making the board was to transfer it to foam core. First we printed 3 20×30 color prints of the board – One with the background, one with the black border, and one with the state.

We then proceeded to glue it to black foam core… this involved spraying the board with spray-on adhesive, then laying the photo on top.

After that, I began to cut out the individual pieces. The border was the easiest, as I just had to cut off white strips where the printer didn’t print. The background was slightly harder, as it has rounded corners. The state was insanely hard though. I used a surgical scalpel to cut around each puzzle piece and glue it with hot glue to the board in the right place. This took around 5 hours.

However, it was worth the work when I was done because it turned out great.

Binder and Speech

SkillsUSA Binder, ©SkillsUSA

The last parts of the project involved putting together a presentation binder, and a 3-5 minute speech.

The binder, shown to the left, included photos of the production, résumés from both chapter members (my brother and I), short essays about the value to the school of the board, and documented proof that we did the work. The proof included signatures of both members, the advisor (Mr. Twitchell), and an administration member (Mr. Nelson).

The speech had to be 3-5 minutes and describe the process of how the board was created, as well as the educational value and representation of each part. One person was allowed to give the speech. After the speech, there was a question and answer session, where they judged you based on your ability to answer questions regarding the board.

Back in Lewiston, it was the speech that caused me to lose (in my opinion). I literally blanked when I went to give it, and totally bombed it. However, I prepared a lot more for the Boise competition, and I wrote out the speech on paper to practice it (The original speech ended up being 8 minutes long until I shortened it).

When I gave the speech at the competition, I knew that I aced it, as I remembered everything that I wanted to say, and the judges looked impressed. I was right also, as I took first place.

Anyway, that is the story (and photos) behind my Bulletin Board. I hope that you enjoyed reading it.

–Scott

While at a SkillsUSA conference in Kansas City, MO, there was a nice big t-storm one night, so Mike and I skipped out on some studying and went to take some photos. Here are some edited ones from the shoot.

Gear:

• Canon 40D
• Canon 50mm, f/1.8

Details:

• Aperture: f/1.8
• Shutter: 1/80^th, 1/25^th, 1/30^th, 1/100^th

Drury Inn & Suites in Kansas City, MO