Hi ,

In this week's blast:

⚙️ First Event Registration, First Preference 
⚙️ Kit & Kickoff Registration
⚙️ Express Enrollment / Express Mentor
⚙️ FIRST^® Robotics Competition Blog Updates
⚙️ Effective Team Leadership Resource

Program Updates, Deadlines, & Reminders

Today! First Event Registration, First Preference: Round 1 of event preferencing is now open. Teams must be “event ready” (no outstanding tasks on your FIRST Dashboard) in order to preference events. Be sure to review our Event Preference User Guide for step-by-step instructions and an FAQ. Submit your team’s preferences before October 2, 2025, at 12:00 noon ET.

Today! Kit & Kickoff Registration: The Kit and Kickoff registration also opened today, Thursday, September 25, at 12:00 noon ET and closes November 18, at 12:00 noon ET. Every event ready FIRST Robotics Competition team must select a local Kickoff location to pick up their Kickoff Kit and also provide a Kickoff Kit shipment address, in the event the team is switched to a MySite.

We highly recommend teams pickup their Kickoff Kit at a local Kickoff in order to receive it on Kickoff Day. If a team opts to have their Kickoff Kit shipped, it will ship after Kickoff and only once a team has secured their registration fee. There is no guaranteed delivery date, but it will be after Kickoff. Visit our Kickoff Selection Instructions for help.

Please Note: As mentioned, you MUST provide a shipping address even if your team selects to pickup their Kit at a local Kickoff.

Express Enrollment/Express Mentor: Lead coaches in the United States and Canada with completed FIRST^® Youth Protection Screenings can take advantage of our express features which provides a simplified experience on mobile and desktop to register and accept youth/mentors to FIRST teams:

🤖 Express Enrollment can be used for youth members. View Express Enrollment Lead Coach Instructions and the Express Enrollment Parent/Guardian Instructions.  

🤖 Express Mentor can be used to invite and accept mentors and youth mentors aged 13-17. Please note that this application cannot be used to invite lead coach 1 or lead coach 2. View Express Mentor Lead Coach Instructions and Accepting an Express Mentor Invitation Instructions.  

FIRST^® Robotics Competition Blog Updates:  

✏️ 2026 Event Updates

Resource of the Week: Don’t forget to spend time figuring out how your team leadership should be set up. Need help? Check out our How to: Effective Leadership resource which shares best practices for effective leadership.

Upcoming Important Dates:

⚙️ Thursday, October 2 at 12:00 p.m. ET– First Event Preferencing Round 1 Closes

⚙️ Friday, October 3 at 12:00 p.m. ET– First Late Event Registration Opens