FIRST LEGO League Explore

Masterpiece

last updated November 13, 2023 (festival dates and registration; FIRST website)

previous updates: September 11, September 15, 2023

Welcome to the 2023-24 Explore Masterpiece Season!

Team, Volunteer and Festival Details:

Team registration with FIRST

  • Any team from BC or the Yukon should register in BC.
  • Registration will be open all year until next April.

Coach and team member online sign-up

  • Each team needs two coaches with their YPP screening done and the FIRST consent and release form signed.
  • Also, please encourage the parents/guardians of your team members to get their FIRST accounts and to sign up their kids for the team.
  • It sometimes takes a while before all adults do this, so it is a good idea to start early.
  • How to sign up

COVID Precautions

  • There are no COVID-related restrictions any more; but of course this might change.
  • You can read FIRST BC’s COVID policy here (scroll down a bit).

Event Volunteers

  • We always need volunteers at festivals. Please encourage family and friends of your teams to sign up as volunteers! To do this they need to set up an account with FIRST (just like the team parents/guardians) and then go to the “volunteer registration” tab on their dashboard and select the event of their choice.
  • Here is the “volunteer starting page”.
  • It is helpful if volunteers sign up soon since that will give them more time to do any necessary screening or training.
  • Reviewers should not be associated with any participating team, but all other event volunteers could be.

More Volunteering

  • In addition to volunteers who run the events we also need people who work “behind the scenes” – helping to plan an event, organizing food for volunteers, identifying festival sites, contacting the media, updating this website, …
  • These jobs are not necessarily tied to one particular event, and they can usually be done from your computer or phone.
  • If you are interested in helping out this way, please contact Uschi at uleslie@firstpartners.org

Festivals

  • At least four festivals are planned; please watch for announcements by email and under “Events” on this website.
  • Depending on the number of registered teams and where they are located, we may have more festivals.
  • Usually we hold festivals in conjunction with FLL Challenge events – this way both the Explore and the Challenge teams meet more other teams and get a better idea of what “the others” are doing.
  • Teams may attend several festivals.
  • So far, planned dates are November 25 (Victoria), December 17 (Richmond), January 14 (Victoria), March 9 (Maple Ridge), April/May/June (TBD)

Festival registration

Payment for tournament registration

  • For each festival, the registration fee is $25 per team.

Cancellation policy

  • If your team registers and pays for a festival and then has to cancel
    • You will get a full refund if cancelling at least one week before the festival.
    • You will get no refund if cancelling within a week of the festival.

International events

  • There are some international events for FLL Explore, usually during April to June. If your team might be interested in travelling abroad, please let me know at uleslie@firstpartners.org .

Questions?

  • Email uleslie@firstpartners.org

Looking forward to meeting all the teams!