School-based organizations (public, private, and charter schools) have long been the foundation for teams and events in our competition system. The Robotics Education & Competition Foundation (RECF) recognizes that the sustainability of our programs depends on keeping existing school-based organizations engaged and growing new ones. In an effort to continue this approach, the RECF is piloting a “Conference” system during the 2025-2026 competition season. Five groups have been selected for this pilot.
What is a Conference?
A Conference is defined as a group of school-based organizations, referred to as “Member Organizations within a Conference.” A Conference may be awarded a direct path to the VEX Robotics World Championship from a newly created “Conference Championship” event if specific criteria are met. A Conference may be classified as any of the following:
- A large school district with many schools that have teams
- A group of school districts or school-based organizations
- A group of schools that regularly compete together
- A large school district along with neighboring school-based teams
A Conference will be considered a subset of an existing Event Region. Each team may compete in both a Conference Championship and an Event Region Championship if they qualify for both. When an Event Region is awarded spots to the VEX Robotics World Championship, those will be split between the Conference Championship and the Event Region Championship.
Key Terms (From the Qualifying Criteria)
Conference Tournament
- A Conference Tournament is an event where only teams from a designated Conference can participate. Conference Tournament events qualify teams to the Conference Championship event.
- Conferences may run an unlimited number of Conference Tournaments.
Conference Championship
- Approved Conferences will qualify teams directly to the VEX Robotics World Championship from a Conference Championship event.
- A Conference will be considered a subset of an existing Event Region. A team may compete in both a Conference Championship and an Event Region Championship if they qualify for both.
- When an Event Region is awarded spots to the VEX Robotics World Championship, those those may be shared between the Conference Championship and the Event Region Championship.
Requirements for 2025-2026 Conference Model Pilot
- The pilot will be for VEX IQ Robotics Competition teams only.
- Organizations will be selected by the RECF for the pilot season.
- The pilot is for the 2025-2026 season only.
- A Conference should consist of at least 40 Elementary and/or 40 Middle School teams.
- Conferences with fewer teams were considered if they demonstrated expected growth as a result of being a Conference.
- The Conference must have support from school or district administration.
- Organizers must be willing to create and host events specifically for Conference teams, and a separate Conference Championship event.
- The qualification structure must consist of events only for Conference teams that qualify to the Conference Championship.
- Provide a list of all upcoming member organizations and their corresponding team counts from the previous season.
- Changes or variances should be discussed with the Regional Support Manager.
- All organizations within a Conference will, at a minimum, keep the same team counts as they had in the 2024-2025 season or commit to a guaranteed team registration number.
- Lower team counts than what was agreed upon will result in a reduction or loss of VEX Robotics World Championship spots.
- The Conference must form a Conference Advisory Board with one member serving as the interface with the Regional Support Manager.
- Organizers must be willing to have regular meetings during the season and a post-season meeting with the RECF to provide feedback on the pilot.
Formal announcement of the Conference Pilot will take place at the 2025 RECF Summit.