Sessions

Women in STEM

This is a presentation about several important women in STEM, and their impacts on the world! I'll talk about Sally Ride, Grace Hopper, Margaret Hamilton, and Katherine Johnson. I'll also talk abou...

Isabelle Seliger

Robotics in Focus: A Guide to Robotics Event Photography

 The buzzer sounds, robots race across the field, and teams erupt in celebration—but how do you capture those moments? This session introduces FIRST students and mentors to robotics competition pho...

Elliott Budd

Robot Show and Tell: DIY System Core, WPILib 2027, NerdSwerve

Get a preview of the upcoming changes to the FRC ecosystem built on a NerdSwerve robot running a DIY System Core and 2027 WPILib code. Most of the time will be spent showing the options available o...

Curt Rozeboom (5010 Programming Mentor)

Creating a Mindstorms Culture

A quick survey of some fundamental work in education, psychology, sociology, and anthropology to help you think about and improve the culture on your team.

Brad Thompson

Developing your Program Pipeline

So you've got a high school team up and running... how do you start building teams in the elementary & middle levels to help grow & sustain your work without spreading yourself too thin? 

Brad Thompson

Get Together with GatherPack

Tired of running your operation off of spreadsheets & sticky notes? Come learn about the mindset, strategy, and open source tool created by Westside Robotics to help fix that.

Brad Thompson

Transitioning Your Leadership & Leading Through Transitions

Come join a conversation about how teams have set themselves up for success as their mentor leadership has changed.

Brad Thompson

Using Principles of Comedy in Mentorship

I intend to talk about different principles and guidelines within improv, standup, and sketch comedy and how they relate to mentoring high school students on FRC teams.

Mike Taylor

Team Tooling in the AI Era

Many teams are being to explore the impact and capabilities of AI-powered development, for both their robots and for their teams. This talk will discuss how teams can leverage AI to accelerate tool...

Kyle Heaton

Data-Driven Decision Making (3DM) for Robots

Data-Driven Decision Making is the process by which teams shift robot design questions away from feelings and anecdotes towards objective metrics. This talk will discuss how teams can use 3DM to co...

Kyle Heaton

From FIRST to Hired: Turning Robotics Experience into a Resume That Works

Learn how to identify the skills you gained through FIRST, connect them to what employers are actually asking for, and turn your experiences into compelling resume language. We’ll look at real exam...

Betsy Baxter

Life after Scouting: Using your Scouting Data

Collecting data is easy, making decisions from that data is hard. The goal of this talk is to discuss certain strategies, tools, and techniques that teams can use to take their scouting from sheets...

Kyle Heaton

Make It Match: Branding for the Rest of Us

We’ll cover the essentials of building a consistent visual identity in Canva, creating brand specifications your team will actually use, and setting up an easy online merch store through Bonfire. D...

Betsy Baxter

Introduction to Onshape Tools

This session will be an introduction to FRC-specific tools for teams to use in their CAD, as well as a beginner-friendly intro to Onshape. 

Kaia Webb

Demystifying FRC Award Judging

This is your chance to learn about what goes on behind the doors of the judges' room. We'll talk about what the events look like from the judge's perspective and what we do all day while teams are ...

Barb Nichols

Who Called That?! A Referee’s Perspective

Part recruiting pitch to referee for FRC/FTC, part primer for teams to understand the referee's perspective, and part story-time with Logan.

Logan Byers

Official Purdue Campus Tours

Get an official campus tour from students working for Purdue Admissions! Explore our beautiful and diverse campus and see all of what Purdue has to offer. 

Purdue Admissions

FIRST Strategies

A practical session on proven strategies to help FRC teams improve planning, decision-making, robot strategy, and overall effectiveness.

RJ Martin

You Were Built to Lead: Unlocking Student Leadership Potential

Strong peer leadership is a learned skill — and one of the highest-impact investments a competitive student team can make. This interactive session introduces students to a structured model of peer...

Lisa Porat and Red Alert Student Captains

How to Survive (and Win) FTC Judging

As the Lead Judge Advisor for FTC, I’ll break down the awards available to teams, what happens during judging interviews, and what judges are really looking for. We’ll explore how to prepare for in...

Betsy Baxter

Mission, Money, and Mentorship: A Guide to Nonprofit Robotics Management

Building a sustainable FIRST Robotics team requires more than technical skill — it demands intentional organizational structure, sound financial stewardship, and cultivated leadership. This session...

Lisa Porat

WPILib 2027 and Commands v3

Diving into the specific programming changes coming in 2027 and how they impact coding your robot.

Curt Rozeboom

Passion Based Outreach for Your Community

Learn how to decide what outreach is best for you and your community and how to run effective outreach. 

Red Alert Robotics

Social Media and Graphic Design for your Team

Learn how we manage our social media, graphic design, and team branding. 

Red Alert Robotics

Back to Basics: Mentors Who Trust, Students Who Lead

When mentor-student relationships become transactional and permission-heavy, students stop thinking and start asking. We'll explore what happens when teams navigate high friction and then deliberat...

Corey Seliger