Workshops & Panels
Trainings and Discussions
2024 FIRST Mentor Conference Descriptions
A Student-Empowering FRC Team Structure called “Pods”
Presenter: Jesse Knight, FRC 8592 Follow Newton's journey through the proposal of, planning for, and execution of "Pods" as a way to organize students and new mentors on our FRC team. Pods are small cross-functional teams with a specific goal or feature in mind -...
Adding Generative AI to FRC Mentoring
Presenter: Roby Hyde, BreakerBots - Team 5104 This presentation explores the transformative potential of generative AI for FRC teams, emphasizing responsible usage and practical applications. We will examine how generative AI can validate and inspire innovative robot...
Agile in FRC: How to do twice the work in half the time
Presenters: Blake Bourque, Luis Teixeira, FRC Team 4909 Billerica Bionics Teams are challenged to innovate, iterate, and compete with tight deadlines. Agile/Lean methodologies, inspired by Toyota, offer strategies to boost productivity and efficiency in teams. We...
Alliance Match Strategy Preparation and Delivery
Presenters: Austin Haddox and Mike Corsetto from Citrus Circuits 1678 Austin and Mike will dive into successful methods for developing effective match strategies that utilize alliance strengths. The presentation will cover examples of Citrus Circuits workflows, draw...
Assume They Can: My Experience As A Neurodivergent Student
Presenter: Jaye Heimlich, FLL Explore Coordinator for NorCal at Playing at Learning (3132/9584) Neurodiversity is of growing prevalence in today's students and it should be celebrated that it is becoming more recognised. To continue this growth, we need to continue to...
Being Kenough – Finding success on an average team
Presenters: Danny Blau, So Extra, LLC Danny Blau has spent the last twenty years mentoring across the various FIRST programs. Taking average to above average is his speciality, working with teams from Minnesota, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Danny knows how to take a team...
Breaking five glass ceilings: lightning talks on being a woman in FIRST
Panel members: Shelby Anderson (581), Elise Cronin-Hurley (1902), Sarah Heimlich (3132/971), Jen Morgan (2468), and Mary Nguyen (3847) Come hear 5 lightning talks from prominent women in the FIRST community. No holding back - the topics range from fashion to women's...
Building Strong Student Leaders
Presenter: Dr. Sohini Stone, Fremont High Robotics (Sunnyvale) Regardless of whether a team is "student-run" or "mentor-run", it is universally true that student leadership in FIRST represents an important opportunity to foster growth and build life-long skills for...
Championship WFA winners discuss role of mentors in FIRST
Panel includes: Kyle Hughes (27), Allen Gregory (3487), Eric Stokely, Norman Morgan (2468), and others attending This is a panel discussion of WFA winners with a host and interviewer (name tbd). The panel will focus on the role of mentors in FIRST and their...
Dean’s List: How to Prepare Your Student to be a Winner
Presenter: Callie Carbajal, InnovAlda This session will go over all portions of the Deans List process from how to select a well rounded candidate, tips on answering the essay questions, how to prepare your student for the interview, and what sets a Dean’s List...
DEI Panel
Panel members: Matt Lussier* (7413), Sohini Stone (3501), Janell N. Catlin, Ph.D. *(Vice President of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at FIRST) A panel discussion on ED&I in FIRST Robotics Competitions teams. Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panel...
Developing and Nurturing Student Leadership
Presenter: Tom Pospeshil, Frog Force 503 Developing and Nurturing Student Leadership Leadership is an important skill for your FIRST Robotics Competition team, and for your students. Learn why student leadership is important and how FRC Team 503, Frog Force, develops...
Drive Coaching Panel
Panel members: Saikiran Ramanan (581), Michael Corsetto (1678), Marco Guerra (3005) A panel discussion on drive coaching in FIRST Robotics Competitions events Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panel members.
Driving Success: The Power of Escudería PrepaTec
Presenter: Francisco Guerra (Paco War), PrepaTec In this workshop I'll share strategies for managing 31 FRC and 25 FTC teams at PrepaTec. Our approach, branded as "Escudería PrepaTec," unifies these teams under a common marketing strategy. Despite the diverse...
Engaging female students as teammates and leaders in FIRST Robotics
Presenters: Emily McKaskle and Joyce Witowski, FRC 2468 Many FRC teams struggle with getting girls to join; once girls join, teams struggle with keeping them engaged and motivating them to take leadership positions. This workshop will be a one-hour interactive session...
Engineers Don’t Just Build Robots
Presenter: Michael Leicht, Team 1403 Cougar Robotics This Workshop/Presentation is about the iterative improvement in mentoring styles from when I was a student on an FRC team to how I currently mentor. From my transition from student to mentor/engineer I had a...
FIRST Tech Challenge – More than just an outreach opportunity
Presenter: Rachel Moore, Allison Kneisler, FIRST Come learn about upcoming changes to the FIRST Tech Challenge(FTC) program and why you should consider using FTC as part of your FIRST program. Content will be tailored for established FIRST Robotics Competition(FRC)...
FIRST Works: Understanding Why and How It Impacts Participants
Presenter: Renee Becker-Blau, President, FIRST Wisconsin FIRST works. Research shows that program participation in FIRST increases the number of students interested in STEM — and that interest is influencing their educational and career choices. But HOW does FIRST...
From last place to Einstein: Lessons Learned as an FRC Mentor and Coach
Presenter: Anupam Goli, FRC Team 9477 In my seventeen years of doing FRC, I have been a student, a student leader, a mentor and a head coach. Join me as I have a conversation with the audience about the lessons I have learned in my FIRST journey, from finishing last...
FUNdraising Through Cardboard Boats!
Presenter: Kyle Hughes, Clarkston Schools Team RUSH 27 Kyle will take you through the RUSH Regatta, which is a unique cardboard and duct tape boat race held annually in Clarkston, Michigan, organized by high school students, raising on average over $60K/yr for the...
Future-Proof Your Team: Strategies for Building Resilient and Adaptable FIRST Robotics Teams
Presenter: Elise Cronin-Hurley, 4-H Exploding Bacon, Team 1902 How is your team going to thrive when you are not there to answer the emails? As mentors, preparing for the season means more than just technical readiness—it’s about building teams that can adapt and...
High Fidelity Block CAD
Presenter: Orion DeYoe, FRC 3005 3005 has a unique approach to creating block CAD that produces a much higher fidelity model than most existing workflows. The advantages of this method are: It provides more stable CAD models that are tolerant of frequent major changes...
How mentors can support LGBTQ+ students and help them succeed
Presenter: Rae, Rainbow STEM Alliance With more students identifying as LGBTQ+, mentors need to understand the unique challenges these students face and how they can support LGBTQ+ students who participate in FIRST and help them succeed. FIRST is committed to...
How Open Build Blog makes us better
Presenters: Emilio Parra, Allen Gregory, Jakob Wittry, Mary Nguyen from Spectrum 3847 How Open Build Blog makes us better Join us for a presentation where we explore how maintaining a build blog doesn’t just help other teams but makes us better. By posting our...
How to win the Impact Award: Building an Outreach Mission
Presenters: Isriah Keila and Meghan Ho, from RoboLancers Team 321 The FIRST Impact Award recognizes a team that demonstrates the greatest measurable progress toward achieving FIRST’s mission of transforming society to elevate science and technology in our culture....
How to win the Impact Award: Convincing the Judges
Presenters: Isriah Keila and Meghan Ho, from RoboLancers Team 321 The FIRST Impact Award recognizes a team that demonstrates the greatest measurable progress toward achieving FIRST’s mission of transforming society to elevate science and technology in our culture....
I am all Ears! Ready to Listen & Learn: Hear what FIRST has planned for a new initiative focused on developing and supporting mentors and give us your thoughts!
Presenter: Ashley Johnson, Field and Volunteer Support Senior Manager at FIRST In 2023, FIRST finalized a new strategic plan focused on four key strategies to promote the growth and expansion of FIRST. Recruiting and retaining mentors was identified as a key barrier...
I Got 99 Problems and Space is Definitely One
Presenter: Grace Johnson, Team 5924 Is your team stuck in a small area? Do you feel like it's always a mess? Same. Follow Team 5924’s journey in optimizing lab space when your space is less than ideal size. We’ll explore how we made it happen and our design philosophy...
Impact Award Panel
Panel includes representatives from 27, 321, 341, 503, 1902, 3132 Come along for a panel discussion with representing members of FIRST Hall of Fame teams on all things related to the FIRST Impact Award, outreach, team organization and more. Attendees will be able to...
Integrating First-Year Mentors into a Veteran FRC Team
Presenter: Firat Taxpulat and Patrick Brophy, Team 5012: Gryffingear Join us as we explore the integration of first-year mentors into a veteran FRC team. This presentation offers insights from dual perspectives. From a first-year mentor perspective, we discuss initial...
Introduction to Mental Health First Aid
Presenter: Luan Heimlich, FIRST Senior Regional Director - Northern California and Bay Area (3132) Learn more about Mental Health First Aid, a course that teaches you how to help someone who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis....
Introduction to the XRP
Presenter: Peter Johnson and Brad Miller, XRP and WPILib development teams Join Peter Johnson and Brad Miller from the WPILib development team to learn what's new about the eXperiential Robotics Platform or XRP for FRC teams. XRP is an open-source robotics platform...
Leveraging Logging & Visualization to Debug Robots
Presenter: James Kuszmaul, Team 971 The season is full of times when the ability to quickly identify, debug, and resolve issues with a robot is critical. Whether it is early in the development cycle when trying to get everything working; during the midnight hours in...
Maximize the 1st week of build season
Presenters: Allen Gregory, Emilio Parra, Jakob Wittry, Mary Nguyen from Spectrum 3847 Join us to gain actionable insights and ensure your team hits the ground running from day one! Kickstart your team's success by maximizing the first week of build season. This talk...
Mechanical Design Panel
Panel members: RC (1323), Adam Heard (581), Allison Kneisler (3538) Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panel members.
Mechanical Roundtable
Presenter: Michael Bick and Nick Dal Porto, FRC 971, Spartan Robotics Hot takes? Controversial (or benign) opinions? No better place to share what you think about hot-button technical topics! Michael Bick and Nick Dal Porto, the lead hardware mentors for FRC 971,...
Multiple teams, One Organization
Panel members: Rachel Moore (Senior Director, FIRST Tech Challenge), Norm Morgan (2468), Deb, Allen Gregory (3847) Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panel members.
Networking and Strengthening Your Local FRC Community
Presenter: Andrew Hartnett, Pearadox FRC 5414 Improving your team and local FRC community hinges on building a strong local network of mentors. Activities like mentor workshops, geographically-based Slack groups, shop visits, and inviting other teams to your shop can...
Preserving FIRST Culture and Ethics
Presenters: Kyle Hughes, FRC 27 Team RUSH Championship WFA winner Kyle Hughes will provide a history of FIRST's culture and ethics, along with a preservation plan. Kyle has competed in the FIRST community since 1997. Kyle's extensive experience leading a FIRST Hall of...
Q&A With Collin
Keynote Speaker: Collin Fultz, Sr. Program Director, FRC at FIRST Q&A with the Sr Program Director for FRC. Collin has posted a link to a form in the 2024 FMC Slack if you would like to submit your questions for this discussion.
Scrappy, Not Crappy: 604’s Unique Approaches to Solving Common Resource Constraints
Presenter: James Best and Eugene Fang, FRC 604 A case study of how 604 takes unique approaches to solve common resource constraints teams may face. Topics include: manufacturing with jigs and 3D printing to mitigate limited machine-tool access, model-based design to...
Simplifying material selection and fabrication techniques for FRC mechanisms.
Presenter: Miguel Tovar, Frog Force 503 Identifying the correct material and fabrication method for a mechanism can be critical to the success and reliability of your robot. The variety of polymers, metals and alloys available through online retailers is incredible...
Simulation Driven Design: The Secret to Lightweight, Durable Robots.
Presenter: Erik W. Larson, Altair Help your team build lighter, stronger, and more durable robots, by leveraging one of the most user-friendly simulation tools available: Altair Inspire. In this workshop, we’ll show you how to use it with your students to improve and...
Social Media and Team Digital Presence
Presenter: Tamara Kawa, FRC Team 1967 The Internet is free publicity! Learn about different aspects of social media and tools you can use to improve your team's media. We will also discuss other forms of team digital presence, such as your team's website and published...
Software Panel
Panel members: Eugene Fang (604), Austin Schuh (971), and Peter Johnson (WPILib development team) Attendees will be able to ask questions of the panel members.
Strategic Planning for FIRST Robotics: Cultivating Strong Team Cultures
Presenter: Elise Cronin-Hurley, 4-H Exploding Bacon, Team 1902 Why does strategic planning contribute building team cultures? Because in the process of working together to decide what you are about, what is important, what you want to accomplish and how to get...
Supporting Students with Autism in Engineering Pathways
Presenter: Kanwardeep Singh, Citrus Circuits, Team 1678 This research addresses the underexplored area of supporting high school students with autism in whole class engineering instruction. Drawing on insights from eight high school First Robotics Competition teachers...
Team Infrastructure, Workspace & Inventory Enhancement
Presenter: Ben Martin, Team 2481, Roboteers Building capability and having an efficient build space are useful tools for having a successful FRC season. This session will be a significant modification on team 2481's workspace enhancement presentation from last year,...
The Three C’s of Coaching and Mentoring: Caring, Connection and Communications.
Presenter: Norman Morgan (2468) As coaches, mentors and leaders, we get the opportunity to empower individuals throughout FIRST with our personal interactions. Caring, connection and communications are actions we can control. Norman will present examples from not only...
Top Tips from Top Teams Keynote
Panel members: Eugene Fang (604), Megan Ho (321), Michael Corsetto (1678), Allen Gregory (3847) A discussion on effective strategies for developing and managing high performing FRC teams.
WPILib Roadmap, Feedback, and Q&A
Presenter: Peter Johnson, WPILib In May 2022, WPILib released its first long-term roadmap, and it's recently been updated for 2024! The roadmap outlines the current and potential future directions the development team is looking to take the software library that is...