1. Jack and Kathie Kentfield
Starting an FRC Team? 
Resources to Help!
Jack and Kathie Kentfield

2. Don’t Be Afraid! What is FRC?
(We Can Help!)
What is FRC?
What’s “Gracious Professionalism” and “Coopertition”?
What’s involved?
What’s the time commitment?
How do I recruit people?
How should the team be organized?
What is FRC?
The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week timeframe using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and compete in games designed by Dean Kamen, Dr. Woodie Flowers, and a committee of engineers and other professionals.
What’s Gracious Professionalism and Coopertition?
What's involved?
You'll need professional engineers, adult mentors, high school aged students, sponsorship, a meeting place, access to tools and free time during the build and competition season. 
Season Overview 
The official FRC season starts with event registration in the fall, proceeds from the Kickoff in early January through the six-week robot design and build period, and continues to the robot shipment deadline in late February.  The Regional events occur late February through early April, culminating at the FIRST Championship, which will be held in St. Louis from 2011 through 2013. Event information is available via the What's going on in my area map found on the upper right corner of each web page. Teams typically meet two times in September, then weekly in October through December depending on the projects they are working on. After kickoff teams will meet 3-4 days and Saturdays during the build season. Some teams meet year-round.
What is the structure of an FRC team?
There is no typical or FIRST mandated team structure.  FIRST does require each team to assign adults to the official team roles of Main, Alternate and Shipping Contact – other than that, you are free to structure your team as best suits you! Most teams comprise 25 students (there is no maximum) and can be made up of one or more high schools or youth organization(s). We also have home-schooled teams that compete. 

3. Plugging in Contact your local Regional Director
Register your team in TIMS
Read documentation
First Steps:
Contact Regional Director
Register team in Team Information Management System (TIMS)
Read documentation

4. Official resources FIRST Website: www.usfirst.org
FRC Team forums:
Team support at x0
FIRST Website -
Specifics and a season over view are available in the How to Start a Team Flyer:
Information about team structure is available in the FRC Team Handbook:
Season Calendar which includes DEADLINES:
Registration fees:
$6, U.S. FRC 2011 Rookie teams: Includes: participation in one 2011 Regional Event, the Kit of Parts, associated materials and support. Payment due to FIRST by Friday, December 3, 2010.
Mentor Resources Library:
Conference, kickoff presentations:
Last year’s game manual:
Scholarship information – over $14M in scholarships this year!
FIRST Press Releases, info about other FIRST programs, logo usage
FRC Team Q&A Forums:
Team Support at x”0”
TIP: To search the FIRST website go to Google, type “site: keyword”

5. E-mail Blasts, blogs, etc.
Register in TIMS; main and alternate contacts will get FIRST blasts
Team will receive semi-weekly Updates during Build and Competition Season
FRC Program Director Bill Miller’s Blog frcdirector.blogspot.com
Regional Director, Regional Planning Committee or local organization s
Once the team is registered in TIMS, the Main and Alternate Team Contacts will begin to receive FIRST Blasts. These can also be found on the FIRST website under FRC  Game & Season Info  Updates. Be sure to “whitelist” any coming from a “usfirst.org” address – they often go into spam/junk folders! Also, provide an alternate address that you can get into when school is not in session. You may wish to create a gmail account just for FIRST .
Teams will receive Rules Updates twice per week during Build season
Sign up for the RSS feed for Bill Miller’s blog –
s or newsletters may also come from local sources.

6. Build It Mentor Resources Library – section III – Building a Robot
Brainstorming and Design Process including CAD & Autodesk
What comes in the Kit of Parts
What programming languages can I use?
What tools do I need?
What’s a Control System?
How does our robot get to the competition?
Mentor Resources Library – Section III – Building a Robot
(a) Design Process (b) Kit of Parts (KOP) (c) CAD & Autodesk (d) Weight Management (e) Programming & Software         1. General         2. C/C++         3. LabVIEW         4. Java         5. VxWorks Libraries         6. Source Control (f) Mechanical (g) Pneumatics (h) Control System (i)  Electrical/Wiring (j)  Sensors (k) Tools (l)  Crates and Shipping (m) Parts Vendors (n)  Building a practice field 

7. Fundraising, Eating and Other Important Stuff
Raising the money
Organizing the team
Communications 101
Feeding the troops
Working together
We’ve got spirit, how about you?
Are we there yet?
Finances:
501©3 vs school funds – need quick access to it
Write a Business Plan
Personal and Team fundraising
Sponsors
Grants
Team Organization:
Memo of Understanding
Team Handbooks
How will you Communicate?
Who is Cooking Tonight?
Teambuilding Ideas
Team Identity, team spirit
Traveling to Competitions – transportation, hotels

8. We Are Not Alone Identify a Mentor team Boston Regional Mentor Group
Chief Delphi forums
NEMO white papers
Work with your Regional Director or FIRST Senior Mentor to identify a veteran team willing to mentor you, even if it’s not close by
Boston Regional Mentor Group will be assisting teams attending the Boston Regional Competition
for forums, white papers. NOT OFFICIAL INFORMATION
NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization)
MOEMENTUM
Team in a Box
Workshops and Conference presentations

9. Contact Us:
Kathie :
Jack: