| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2026 FIRST Mentor Conference Workshop Schedule | |||
2 | Cafeteria | Sequoia Red | Sequoia Blue | |
3 | Saturday | THIS SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE | ||
4 | 8:00 - 8:50 | Registration / Breakfast | ||
5 | 9:00 - 9:45 | KEYNOTE: Andy Baker | ||
6 | 10:00 - 10:45 | SystemCore Discussion / Demo Panel | 3D Printing for Creating Robust Robot Parts John Hajel | Training Our Student Leads To Be The S.A.L.T. Of Your Team Sam Robinson |
7 | 11:00 - 11:45 | Pick Lists and Match Strat: What Has to Happen at Events Steve Kaneb | Robot Reliability: RJ45 connections, Signal Level Power Wiring, and a Hot Take on Battery Warming Shane Trent | If I Started A Team Today, This Is What I’d Do: Two Perspectives On Team Organization And Management Melissa Smith, Mike Corsetto, Shelby Anderson |
8 | 11:45 - 12:30 | LUNCH | ||
9 | 12:30 - 12:45 | Group Photo on Patio | ||
10 | 1:00 - 1:45 | The Case for Caring: Why Competition Matters Michael Corsetto | Software Panel Panel | “Money, Money, Money!” - Fundraising and Sponsors Dimple Ravuri |
11 | 2:00 - 2:45 | Mechanical Design Panel Panel | How to Get Millions of Views: Achieving Virality in FIRST Eli Uva | PenguinCAM: from CAD to CNC in literally 1 minute! Josh Sirota |
12 | 3:00 - 3:45 | Are You Match Ready? Evan Forbes | Thumbs on the Sticks: Designing Intuitive Control Systems for Your Driver Eugene Fang | Building Resilience: Team Retention and Sustainability Amanda Little and Elise Cronin-Hurley |
13 | 4:00 - 4:45 | The 90 Degree Problem Orion DeYoe | 0 to 581: Moving From A Club To A Team Shelby Anderson | Sibling Teams: Scaling Your Program Panel |
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15 | Sunday | |||
16 | 8:00 - 8:30 | Breakfast | ||
17 | 8:30 - 9:15 | KEYNOTE: Top Tips from Top Mentors | ||
18 | 9:30 - 10:15 | Vendor Panel Panel | 2027 Control System: SystemCore and WPILib Peter Johnson | The Century Club: A Blueprint for Long-Term Mentor Retention Sohini Stone |
19 | 10:30 - 11:15 | Navigating the AI Era: Debating Artificial Intelligence and Student Learning in FRC Panel | Turning Data into Action: Improving Girls' Retention in FRC Shoshanah Cohen | Empowering Student Leadership: How to Run a 90+ Student Team with Fewer Mentors Michael Leicht |
20 | 11:30 - 12:15 | LUNCH | ||
21 | 12:15 - 1:00 | Crafting Canon – Using a Branding Mentality to Foster a Resilient Team Culture Tommy Smeltzer | Drive Coach Panel Panel | “SOS” – Outreach Without (that much) Burnout Dimple Ravuri |
22 | 1:15 - 2:00 | How to Lose a Final? Pepe Santillán and Lizeth Aguiar | Solving the Right Problems in Software Saikiran Ramanan and Jonah Snider | Using Team-Awareness to Strengthen Culture, Leadership, Brand & Awards Cathy Schulz and Elise Cronin-Hurley |
23 | 2:15 - 3:00 | 5 Robots in 10 Weeks: Designing Workflows for Rapid Iteration Emilio Parra | Spreadsheets: A Powerful FRC Project Management Tool Nick Hammes and Shelby Anderson | Beyond Your Team: The Ripple Effect of Event Volunteering Jaye Heimlich and Elise Cronin-Hurley |
24 | 3:15 - 5:00pm | Networking | ||
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