**FIRST EMAIL**/The 4th Annual Championship FIRST Robotics Conference

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:

The fourth annual FIRST Robotics Conference will take place April 11-13, 2007 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta in conjunction with the FIRST Championship. Registration CLOSES ON Sunday, April 8 at 11:59 PM, so register TODAY! Please register in advance to ensure a spot for you or your team at the Conference.

We're gearing up for a great conference that will provide current and prospective FRC, FVC, and FLL teams, coaches, students, and mentors with the technical and non-technical information and advice they need to be the best they can be. With over 40 presentations from professionals, colleges and university representatives, and experienced FIRST community members, there should be something to help everyone!

FIRST is proud to have IBM Fellow and nanotechnology pioneer, Don Eigler, presenting at the FIRST Robotics Conferences this year. As part of the FIRST LEGO League NanoQuest season, Don will be taking the FIRST community on an adventure called the "Nano Frontier" where he will explore the atomic landscape and broaden our knowledge of this cutting edge technology.

Some other important conference topics include:

Ensuring FIRST Team Sustainability Through Work with Community Foundations
Increasing the Competitiveness of a Team's Submission for the FIRST Design Book
Overall Robot Design for FRC
Using Geometry in Problem Solving Missions
VEX in the Classroom
How to Print Your Own T-Shirts for Fun and Profit
Developing a Science Curriculum Using the FLL Theme
The Excellent Adventure of an Engineering Notebook

Register yourself or a team of five (5) for all Conference presentations.

Individual for Thursday & Friday: $35
Team of 5 for Thursday & Friday: $140

Wednesday night is included free with a Thursday & Friday pass!

To see a full listing of topics and to register visit http://www.usfirst.org/community/firstplace/content.aspx?id=4824 . Registration closes Sunday, April 8 or when slots fill, whichever comes first.

For more info about the Championship and accommodations, visit http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc/content.aspx?id=432&menu_id=80 .

2007 TEAM FORUMS
This year, we invite teams from FRC, FVC and FLL to participate in Team Forums at the Championship. Voice your opinions and give feedback on your team's FIRST experience and topics relevant to the entire FIRST community. There are forums being held specifically for each program. There will student-focused and adult-focused forums as well. Check the schedule and location for which forum you should attend.

For those who cannot attend the Team Forums at the FIRST Championship, FIRST will be conducting FRC regional forums in May. Full details will be on our website at a later date, including times, dates and locations of regional team forums in your area.

Questions? Send an email to firstplace@usfirst.org .

Go Teams!

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

2007 TEAM FORUMS
This year, we invite teams from FRC, FVC and FLL to participate in Team Forums at the Championship. Voice your opinions and give feedback on your team's FIRST experience and topics relevant to the entire FIRST community. There are forums being held specifically for each program. There will student-focused and adult-focused forums as well. Check the schedule and location for which forum you should attend.

For those who cannot attend the Team Forums at the FIRST Championship, FIRST will be conducting FRC regional forums in May. Full details will be on our website at a later date, including times, dates and locations of regional team forums in your area.

Questions? Send an email to firstplace@usfirst.org .

Go Teams!

Glad to see the team forums are back, I just hope the put them at a time when people can actually attend.

[Kims Robot]

Quick Plug...

Students - Do you want to be more involved in your team? Want to learn how to take ownership, leadership & help out your team?

Mentors - Do you want to do less work? Want to see your students shine? Want to be able to show them how to lead?

Its one thing to have a student built robot. Its another to have a student lead team. This year 1511 put our students through an extensive leadership training throughout the year. From our summer leadership selections with a hefty application, panel interview & team voting, to our Leadership Bootcamp and Student Lead Activities throughout our year, we truly are developing Tomorrow's Leaders.

So if this interests you, come check out my presentation Thursday at 3:00 in Room C308: Creating Tomorrow's Leaders.

And if you are too busy, or cant pay for the presentation, stop by our pits after the presentation, and we can give you copies of the material and my info.

Enjoy the conferences!!

[technoL]

I purchased my ticket yesterday. After seeing the list of topics, I'm quite eager to go...but I have a few questions. Are the workshops just lectures or hands-on, and approximately how many presentations occur hourly?

Thanks,

-No L

[Mark McLeod]

Typically, they are lectures of around 45 minutes each, leaving 15 minutes to switch over for the next workshop.
They have three rooms to run lectures in concurrently.
Checkout the schedule and the workshop abstracts for those details.

[technoL]

Thanks! I must've somehow overlooked the schedule when looking at the original page.

[rfolea]

Originally Posted by technoL

I purchased my ticket yesterday. After seeing the list of topics, I'm quite eager to go...but I have a few questions. Are the workshops just lectures or hands-on, and approximately how many presentations occur hourly?

Thanks,

-No L

The T-Shirt Printing Workshop is Hands on (hence the 2 hour time block) late Thursday afternoon.

There will be a brief presentation, then we will print like crazy.

It won't take the entire 2 hours, so don't be put off by that ... we just had to alot time for setup and cleanup ...