**FIRST EMAIL**/Update to Woodie Flowers Award Criteria/Getting Ready for Robot Ship

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:

Update to the Woodie Flowers Award Criteria: FRC teams may nominate a mentor for the Woodie Flowers Award at one Regional Event (Michigan teams indicate which district event they want their mentor’s name read at, then their mentor is nominated for the Michigan State Regional whether the team is attending the MI State Regional or not). AND FRC teams may nominate one mentor who has already won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award to be reconsidered at Championship.

Teams wishing to nominate BOTH a mentor at a Regional and a mentor who has won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award at Championship should nominate the mentor for a Regional in the Student Team Members and Parents/Legal Guardians Information System https://my.usfirst.org/frc/goteams/site.lasso and send a refreshed nomination (yes, you should write a new essay) for a mentor who has already won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award to 2010WFAsubmitCMP@usfirst.org. Remember, the deadline to submit anyone for the Woodie Flowers Award is Thursday, February 18th.

As you know, it is almost Robot Ship Day! To ensure that your robot arrives where it needs to be on time, please be sure that you have done the following:

1) Have you downloaded and read carefully Section 4 of the 2010 FRC Competition Manual http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Com...ation_RevA.pdf?
This section contains rules for transporting your robot to your event(s), as well as helpful tips and contact information.

2) Have you downloaded the "Shipping and Drayage" instructions for your Regional event(s) from the FIRST website at http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...ts.aspx?id=430?
This document will contain information specific to shipping to your event.

3) Have you looked at examples of how to fill out your shipping paperwork on the Robot Shipping web page at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...t.aspx?id=3570?
The Robot Shipping webpage is meant to supplement the Robot Shipping section of the FRC Competition Manual.

• Helpful Tips for Scheduling Your FedEx Pickup:When you call FedEx to schedule your pickup, please note the Customer Service Representative on the line may not necessarily be familiar with FRC, so please be patient. Let them know you need to schedule a pickup and you already have a Bill of Lading or Air Waybill with billing information pre-printed.
• You should be calling the National FedEx Customer Service line, not your local FedEx facility (see below). Teams shipping domestically should call FedEx Freight at 1-866-393-4585; Teams shipping into or out of the continental U.S. should call FedEx Express at 1-800-GO-FedEx (1-800-463-3339).
• Furthermore, when you call to schedule your pickup with FedEx, you must let them know whether your location has a loading dock. If not, you will require a "lift-gate" truck. FIRST would appreciate your best efforts to not use a lift-gate truck, as this incurs an additional cost to FIRST. Remember, you do have the option to hand deliver your robot to the drayage facility for your first event— we thank you for considering this option!

The next Senior Mentor/Expert Call is scheduled for 2/17/10 and will cover 'Getting Ready for Your Regional.’ Full details here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16600

Please be sure your team members are ready to attend the competition events by having their Consent and Release Forms properly executed! Full details available at: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...nt_Release.pdf.

Go Teams!