Workshops/Activities/Quiet Room at events 

Workshops 

Workshops are great at events but take extra work.  If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please fill out this form The deadline to submit for a workshop is 5 pm this Friday, February 6. 

Quiet Room 

We had lots of people asking us about quiet rooms last year.  FIRST Washington is unable to manage quiet room sign ups at events.  Volunteers do need to sign up for the role through their firstinspires dashboard to make sure they have passed youth protection screening.  Many adults enjoy taking a shift in the quiet room to give them a break from the noise and craziness of the event! 

Please consider hosting the quiet room, we are happy to work with you and give you contact info for the folks to sign up.  Fill out this form  by this Friday, February 20 if you’re willing to be a quiet room host for an event.  

Our District Event Briefing scheduled for next Thursday, Feb 12 at 7:00 pm

We will be going over high level event information for our District events.  Site specific information will be sent for each event about 2 weeks prior to the event. 

It is important you have 1 coach attend this meeting.  Your team coaches, mentors, students & spectators are all expected to know this information.  

Click here to attend this meeting.  (I have verified the link and know it is correct.  Sorry for the confusion at the last coaches chat, that is totally on me!) 

Robot Rule Reminders from Your Inspectors 

The best way to ensure your robot is ready to compete safely, fairly, and quickly at events is to stay up to date on the latest robot rules! Here are some useful links to help your team do that: 

• Game Manual, Section 8 ROBOT Construction Rules and 9 Inspection & Eligibility 

• Combined Team Updates 

• FRC Q&A System 

• Rule change highlights from PNW Senior LRI Steven Smith 

 For any robot rule or inspection questions during the build season, please email or text Steven: 

        Steven Smith – PNW Senior LRI 

        stevengsmith71@gmail.com
        425-346-2039 

 If you reach out, be sure to include your name and which team you are affiliated with. 

Recording and slide deck from last week’s coaches chat have been posted

Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s coaches chat.  I think we had some great discussions! 

We didn’t record the entire meeting but we did record the presentation portion which includes some information from our Lead Robot Inspector, Steve Smith on changes to the robot rules this season. 

You can find the slide deck and recording here:  https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

An important message from our Finance Dept regarding booster deposits

Important note: All checks must be made payable to FIRST Washington. We are unable to deposit checks made out to teams or individuals. This will delay your team from receiving these funds as they will have to wait for a new check to be issued correctly.   

Important Dates

Next Coaches Chat is scheduled for tonight (Jan 27) at 7:00 pm

Our January coaches chat will be an opportunity for coaches to come together to: 

• Talk about the work their team is doing 

• Problem solve with other coaches 

• Chat about how the season in general is going for them 

We wil have a short presentation at the beginning.  The rest of this time is for all of you.  Feel free to come if you like and if you are busy building the robot and can’t come, that is no problem!   

This chat may not be recorded/uploaded.  I think the value in this will be the dialog so we may not post the recording after. 

Click here to attend the meeting 

Reminder of Advocacy Request – Washington Teams Only 

Hi FIRST Washington Community, 

This is a reminder to please take action and contact your state legislators by January 28 if you have not already done so. As shared in our previous message, this outreach should take only a few minutes and involves identifying your legislators, finding their email addresses, and sending three brief emails on behalf of your team. 

Detailed instructions and a sample email were included in the previous email from Fred Krug on January 22nd (You can also find the information on our website here: https://firstwa.org/wa-state-outreach/ ) Your outreach is critical as we work to build a strong case during the current Supplemental Legislative Session to reinstate state funding that directly supports teams across Washington. Hearing directly from students in their districts helps legislators understand the real and immediate impact of this funding on access, equity, and opportunity within our robotics community. 

Workshops/Quiet Room at events 

Workshops: 

Workshops are great at events but take extra work.  If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please fill out this form The deadline to submit for a workshop is February 6. 

Quiet Room: 

We had lots of people asking us about quiet rooms last year.  FIRST Washington is unable to manage quiet room sign ups at events.  Volunteers do need to sign up for the role through their firstinspires dashboard to make sure they have passed youth protection screening.  Many adults enjoy taking a shift in the quiet room to give them a break from the noise and craziness of the event! 

Please consider hosting the quiet room, we are happy to work with you and give you contact info for the folks to sign up.  Fill out this form by Feb 6 if you’re willing to be a quiet room host for an event. 

Accommodations at events (accessibility not hotel accommodations) 

In the PNW, we work VERY hard to make sure everyone has a great experience at our events. 

We are aware of the needs at some of our events, but if you don’t tell us, we may not be aware of your team’s need. Please fill out this form to let us know if your team needs any accommodations. The earlier you fill out the form, the more likely we will be able to accommodate your request. Understand, we may not be able to accommodate everyone’s needs. We are a small organization and venues vary. Please be gracious and kind if we can’t exactly meet your need the way you would like. The earlier you make us aware of a need, the greater chance we may be able to make an accommodation. 

Important Dates