Hi ,

In this week's blast:

⚙️ Founder's Reception 
⚙️ Upcoming Team Registration Payment Due Date 
⚙️ Grant Funding and Purchase Orders 
⚙️ FIRST^® Lockbox Address Change 
⚙️ Additional Inter-District Event Registration 
⚙️ FIRST^® Robotics Competition Blog Updates 
⚙️ Kickoff Worksheet Resource

Program Updates, Deadlines, & Reminders

Founder's Reception: Registration is now open for the Founder’s Reception held at WestWind from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, January 9, 2026. Two adult mentors may attend the event on behalf of each team and must register through the FIRST Dashboard by December 11 at 12:00 p.m. (noon), ET. More information can be on the Founder’s Reception webpage.

Upcoming Team Registration Payment Due Date: 2026 FIRST^® Robotics Competition team registration payment is due Tuesday, November 18, at 5:00 p.m. ET for all rookie and veteran teams registered for their initial 2026 event. For additional information and tips on ensuring your team’s registration payment is completed on time, read our Essential Steps to Secure Payments and Meet Seasonal Demands blog.  

Grant Funding and Purchase Orders: If your team is waiting on grant funding that is restricted to registration fees, do not check out. Team registration payment methods cannot be changed after checking out.  

Reminder! FIRST Lockbox Address Change: The lockbox overnight address changed effective October 22, 2025. Courier services such as UPS and FedEx cannot be delivered to USPS facilities or PO Boxes, so please ensure you are using the new overnight address: 

FIRST – 845446   

Attn: Lockbox Processing   

10 Dan Road   

Canton, MA 02021 

Now Open! Additional Inter-District Event Registration: Additional Inter-District Event Registration opened today and will close on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. noon ET.  

FIRST^® Robotics Competition Blog Updates:   

✏️ New Global Lead Robot Inspector 

Resource of the Week: Get ready for Kickoff by running a mock Kickoff utilizing our Kickoff Worksheet. This Kickoff Worksheet helps teams identify important rules and strategies for each season's game. This step typically serves as the first step of the robot design process by identifying the baseline “facts” about how the game works. These facts will then be used to form opinions about effective strategies for playing the game.

Upcoming Important Dates:

⚙️ Thursday, November 13 at 12:00 p.m. ET – Pre-Kickoff Virtual Kit Release 
⚙️ Tuesday, November 18 at 12:00 p.m. ET –  Kit and Kickoff Registration Closes &  
All FIRST Robotics Competition District Events and Regional Events Registration Closes 
⚙️ Tuesday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m. ET –  Team Registration Payment Due Date