What if? This presentation highlights lessons learned in uplifting the student experience from 2024 Woodie Flowers Award winner Coach Norm Morgan from FRC 2468. Coach Norm is the 2024 Woodie Flowers Award winner and lead mentor from FRC 2468, Team Appreciate from Austin, TX. During 17 years as a basketball coach, "Coach" learned how to inspire, a skill that was acknowledged when he received his Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at the 2013 Hub City Regional. Coach Morgan has a B.S. in education from Wayland Baptist College and an M.S. in education from Texas State University.

What era are you in? This presentation covers strong examples of cultivating student leadership over many years. Watch this presentation to: 1. Learn why to invest in student leaders 2. Find key principles for developing leadership skills 3. Enjoy a lot of TSwift references Presented by Mike Corsetto, mentor of FRC 1678: Mike is the Head Coach of FRC Team 1678, the Citrus Circuits, and has been coaching the team since 2008. Trained as a Mechanical Engineer, Mike's day job is at Advanced Farm as the Director of Hardware Engineer, building robots that pick apples and strawberries. He lives in Davis, California with his wife Pearl and their two pets.

Start early! This presentation covers things to think about before your season starts and ways to stay organized as you CAD your FRC robot with Onshape. Watch this presentation to: 1. Create your preseason setup 2. Learn an overview of Top Down Design 3. Review Part Studios & Performance 4. Review Assemblies & Performance Presented by Drew Bennett, mentor of FRC 6329: Drew has been involved in FIRST Robotics in New England since 2013 and has been a mentor since 2017, serving as a CAD & Mechanical mentor for teams 4564, 6329, and 3467. He is currently an Education Solutions Engineer for Onshape and PTC Education, where he has spent almost 3,000 hours in Onshape and worked with a large number of FRC teams to troubleshoot Onshape and teach CAD best practices.

Bend and break less! This presentation covers ways that FRC teams can use Altair software. Watch this presentation to: 1. See case studies on how FRC teams around the country use Altair software to achieve their goals 2. Level up your approach to building FRC robots Presented by Kory Soukup from Altair: Kory is a Senior Application Engineer at Altair Engineering, specializing in advanced composites modeling, structural optimization, and fluid-structure interaction. His passion for engineering began with his involvement in FIRST Robotics and continued through his six-year contribution to the UMN Solar Vehicle Project, where he served as the Aerodynamics and Composites Technical Advisor. Kory holds a degree of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota. Over his five-year tenure at Altair, Kory has assisted in the development and implementation of simulation solutions tailored for the maritime and defense sectors.

YMMV! This presentation covers years and years of lessons learned while building FRC robots. Watch this presentation to: 1. Learn how to standardize fasteners 2. Avoid common failure points such as press-fit bearings and crushed tubing 3. Save weight 4. Laugh out loud, a lot Presented by Dr. Joe Johnson, mentor of FRC 88: Joe is an engineer with Formlabs and holder of more than 80 U.S. Patents. He has extensive experience with technical aspects of FRC, co-founding Hall of Fame team FRC 47 and mentoring FRC teams 2849, 3958, 246 and now 88. Joe received the 2013 Boston Regional Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.

Set students up for success! This presentation covers tips and tricks for defining self advocacy for your team and what your goals may be for this shift in approach. Watch this presentation to: 1. Understand the framework needed for encouraging students to seek out any opportunity 2. Building confidence through structured opportunities and the ability to fail safely 3. Remember that not being exclusive is not the same as being inclusive Presented by Molly Connolly, mentor of FRC 177: Molly is a systems engineer with a background in electrical engineering, working in aerospace autonomy. She was introduced to FIRST by mentoring a small all-girls FRC team in 2017, where she truly found joy in robotics and mentoring students. Seven years later, she is currently the lead controls mentor for FRC 177 Bobcat Robotics and its new sister team.

Systems. Systems! SYSTEMS! This presentation covers ways that having a system can help with literally anything. Watch this presentation to: 1. Apply a system to everything from coaching to prototyping to design review 2. Find effective communication strategies during build season 3. Nerd out on project management Presented by Dave Powers, alum and mentor of FRC 6328: Dave is an FLL, FTC, and FRC Alum of 228, a mentoring alum of FRC 2168 and FRC 1678, and President of the Board and Technical Mentor of FRC 6328. Dave is excited to share some of the best kept secrets around building student, mentor, and parents systems to ensure sustainable, efficient, and effective build seasons. From CAD reviews to manufacturing pipelines Dave believes the key to success is around building systems for the kids and mentors to follow and improve, he’ll share the systems his teams use to succeed!

Craft your story! This presentation breaks down raising money into manageable steps while highlighting why, how and what your team does. Watch this presentation to: 1. Understand why your team story matters for fundraising 2. Learn tips and tricks for planning small and large fundraisers 3. Feel comfortable making the ask with sponsors and grants Presented by Katie Bonner, mentor of FRC 6328: Katie is a Business Team mentor with FRC 6328 since the organization was founded in 2016. Katie has also been on the Littleton Robotics Board of Directors (an independent nonprofit) since 2017 and served as Board President 2017–23. She often volunteers at FRC and FLL events around New England and is a parent of two FIRST alum (classes of 2020 and 2023). Professionally, Katie works in nonprofit administration for The Decibels Foundation and previously worked in corporate communications and technical documentation in a variety of industries.

Organization, sustainability, empowerment! This presentation covers how having a team structure builds confidence and life skills in FRC students. Watch this presentation to: 1. Learn about why it's important to have a team structure 2. See an in-depth description of what an example of team structure is Presented by Greg Gongolewski and Brad Leach, mentors of FRC 5112: The Gongoliers' first season featured a group of 17 dedicated team members. Since then, they have set our team up as a corporation including a Board of Directors who make all team decisions. Mentors guide everything the team does, but allow the team to have the power to learn real world skills. They attribute an increase in membership (40 students!) to the fact that they have departments to appeal to all students. Each department has a director and assistant, with a Board of Directors including Co-Presidents, Director of Media & Public Relations, Director of Design & Technical and Director of Programming & Electrical.

Points are points! This presentation covers effective strategies for preparing your team to share your best stories with judges at your FRC competition. Watch this presentation to: 1. Confirm best practices for defining your story and applying the awards to your team’s work (and not your work to the awards) 2. Give you tools to help reframe the Pit Judging interviews into a situation where your students feel comfortable and in control Presented by Ruth Toomey, mentor of FRC 2713: Ruth joined FIRST as a student in 2006 and never looked back. She is an aluma of FRC 1735, has mentored with FRC 190, 319, 1024, and is currently a mentor with FRC 2713. Ruth also volunteers as a Judge across all FIRST programs, as MC/GA in FRC, and is a Host and Analyst with RoboSports Network. She works for Sphero, Inc. as the primary interface for deployment and robot support for end users.

Please see the updated conference from the 2025 FIRST Championship: https://youtu.be/ZMxTRgryrvE Presented by Team 6328's software team at the 2024 FIRST Championship in Houston. This conference primarily covers the use of AdvantageScope. See also the corresponding conference covering the use of AdvantageKit: https://youtu.be/BrzPw6ngx4o State-of-the-art data logging and visualization is a game-changer for FRC teams. Coupled with sophisticated analysis techniques, log data and robot telemetry enable optimization, issue analysis, and drive-team feedback at a level of fidelity unimaginable just a few years ago. Learn the fundamentals of several data logging approaches, explore the tools available to teams to make the capturing and analysis of data easier, and experience actual case studies from 6328’s use of data logging and telemetry. We'll also discuss how data analysis can be streamlined with 6328's AdvantageScope application, included in the WPILib installer starting in 2024.