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...
03 Oct 10:00–11:00 WALC 3132
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...
03 Oct 10:00–11:00 WALC 3127
Elliott Budd
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.
03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 3148
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.
03 Oct 11:00–12:00 WALC 3132
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.
03 Oct 15:00–16:00 WALC 3132
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.
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3122
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...
03 Oct 11:00–12:00 WALC 3121
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...
03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 3121
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...
03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 3122
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...
03 Oct 15:00–16:00 WALC 3121
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...
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3090
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.
03 Oct 15:00–16:00 WALC 3122
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 ...
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3127
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.
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3121
Logan Byers
Official Purdue Admissions 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. We will meet in WALC 1055 (Hiler Theater)
03 Oct 11:00–12:00, 03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 1055 (Hiler Theater)
Purdue Admissions
FIRST Strategies
A practical session on proven strategies to help FRC teams improve planning, decision-making, robot strategy, and overall effectiveness.
03 Oct 10:00–11:00 WALC 3121
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...
03 Oct 15:00–16:00 WALC 3127
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...
03 Oct 11:00–12:00 WALC 3087
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...
03 Oct 11:00–12:00 WALC 3127
Lisa Porat
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.
03 Oct 10:00–11:00 WALC 3138
Red Alert Robotics
Social Media and Graphic Design for your Team
Learn how we manage our social media, graphic design, and team branding.
03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 3127
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...
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3148
Corey Seliger
AI in FRC: Let's Compare Notes
AI tools are showing up across FRC teams in ways nobody has standardized yet: sponsor research and outreach messaging, base code and troubleshooting, training material for new students, scouting an...
03 Oct 14:00–15:00 WALC 3138
Corey Seliger
Sustainability in FRC Teams
Learn from the Student Board of Directors how to sustain teams past their first few years and over time with examples from 10021 Guerin Catholic Golden Gears and 1741 Red Alert! We'll discuss thing...
03 Oct 11:00–12:00 WALC 3122
FIN Student Board of Directors
PFPanel - FIRST After High School
Ask our PFPeople some great questions during this PFPannel! Get to know what our organization is about, what FIRST after high school can look like, and gain some general college advice!
03 Oct 13:00–14:00 WALC 3138
Purdue FIRST Programs