Overview
After your event has been approved, there are several features in RobotEvents.com available to you that will help you communicate to teams, order competition products, view event registration payments, and manage your event’s registered team list.
EP Dashboard
The EP Dashboard is the central location to manage your posted events, view your EP Discounts, and view your EP checks. The EP Dashboard is accessed through the Admin link in Robot Events.
Finding Your Event
At the top of your EP Dashboard is a list of your posted events. This is a quick and easy way to view the Event name, Event date, Team Registration status, and the number of teams on the Waitlist. In the Actions area, you can select Edit to manage your event or select View to preview your event information.
Events for the current season will be listed on the EP Dashboard until one week after your event date. After that time, you can access past events using the search filters under the Events menu.
EP Discounts
Your Regional Support Manager (RSM) will discuss which discounts are available for your program type each season and when they will become available. EP discounts are assigned to the Primary Event Administrator by the RSM once the event has been approved for the current season. The discounted products will be listed on the EP Dashboard and can be directly added to your cart. The EP Discount process may be different for those located outside of the U.S. The discounts are shown on the last step of the checkout process. If you do not see the discounts applied, then contact your RSM before completing the final checkout step.
Note: EP discounts are intended to be used for equipment needed to run your event and should not be shared with other organizations.
EP Checks
When teams pay their event registration fees on RobotEvents.com, the REC Foundation consolidates those funds on a monthly basis and distributes a check to the EP. The check will include funds received in the previous month minus a $5 Robot Event processing fee per team.
Example:
- Five team event registration fees were paid in January, and the event registration fee was $55 per team. The EP would be sent one check in February for a total of $250.
- Team registration payments: (5) x $55 = $275
- Robot Events Processing fee: (5) x $5 = $25
- Net amount: $275 – $25 = $250
The distributed checks can be viewed at the bottom of your EP Dashboard. Each distributed check will include the Payee Name, the total check amount, event code(s), event name(s), and the team numbers included on the check for each event.
Helpful Hints:
- If you have a question regarding EP payments, you can contact your RSM or the REC Foundation Accounting department at accounting@recf.org.
- Periodically reconcile the funds sent to you before and after the event with the payment status information the Registered Team list.
Event Partner Q&A
RobotEvents.com has an integrated EP Q&A forum that can be accessed through the EP Dashboard below the search menu. EPs can ask questions on the forum and respond to threads in the post. The questions are also monitored and answered by a REC Foundation representative on a periodic basis and approved answers are marked with a green checkmark. EPs are encouraged to post questions in this forum and connect with other EPs in the community.
Products
EPs can purchase VEX competition products through RobotEvents.com on their EP Dashboard. These products include fields, field electronics, trophies, and award & date plates. If the products are associated with an EP Discount for the current season, those products must be purchased through the RobotEvent.com website to receive the discounts (U.S. EPs).
Registered Teams
After your event is open for team registration, the Registered Team list can be viewed to monitor the event capacity and team payment status. There are two ways to access the Registered Teams list.
- On your EP Dashboard, select the number of registered teams, which is shown as a blue number in relation to the event capacity.
- In the admin view of your event, select Registered Teams from the right-hand menu.
To access information on registered teams, including contact information, select the "Download Registered Team Report."
Team Payment Status
The Payment Status for each registered team can be found under the Paid Status column of the Registered Teams list. Payment Status categories are as follows:
| Paid yyyy/mm/dd | EP can expect to receive this payment (less the $5 fee) on the next monthly billing cycle. |
| Unpaid (pending) | EP needs to remind the team to upload a PO, pay by credit card, or pay the tournament directly. |
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PO Processing |
In this case, a PO has been submitted, but the payment has not been received by RECF. The EP may need to remind the team to follow up with the Financial Contact to mail the check. |
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Marked paid by **** on yyyy/mm/dd |
The EP can mark their own teams as paid, as well as teams that pay on site or when they have entered into an agreement by loaning fields, providing volunteers, etc. |
Unpaid Teams Outside Your Organization
If you notice teams with an Unpaid (pending) status, it’s recommended to reach out to them to determine when they will be completing the payment process. The event registration fee is due upon registration and should be paid during the initial Check-out process. If you are experiencing issues with a team completing an event registration, please contact your RSM. In some cases, your RSM may suggest payment deadline policies for your region.
Teams that have an Unpaid (pending) status on the event day will only be allowed to participate at the discretion of the EP and the EP can require payment onsite. Some EPs will remove unpaid teams at a certain date and replace them with teams from the Waitlist. This process should be stated in your event General Information tab and included in the automated email sent to teams after registration.
Remember that some teams are a part of schools or other organization which may have a delayed process for executing payments. We ask that EPs use their own judgment and factor in the totality of circumstances when deciding whether to allow unpaid compete. Communicating with teams early and often is the key to making sure that there are no misunderstandings.
If an EP allows an unpaid team to compete in an event, neither the RSM nor the RECF is responsible for seeking payment on behalf of the EP.
Teams from Your Organization
EPs can register their own teams and waive the registration fee since the funds go back to the host organization. When registering teams from their organization, select the Pay Later option in the Check-out process. Then go to the Registered Teams list, and select Mark Paid for the applicable teams. This will zero out the order invoice for that team. This method can also be used for teams outside of your organization when you agree to waive their event fee if they are providing fields or volunteers.
Manually Adding Teams
Most teams will register through the event page, but in certain scenarios EPs can manually add teams to their event.
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Scenarios for manually adding teams |
Scenarios that require RSM approval |
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To manually add a team, go your Registered Teams list, and select the green +Add Team Button. When manually adding a team, you will need to enter the team number exactly, including the base number and letter suffix. An Event Partner may only add a team to an event during Early Bird if they are the Primary Coach listed for that specific team.
Waitlist
Teams can add themselves to an event Waitlist while the event registration period is open on the event’s Waitlist tab. Teams may decide to add themselves to an event Waitlist for several reasons, including:
- The event capacity has been reached
- They are not eligible to register during the Early Bird Registration period
- They are interested in attending an Invitational Only event or League
- The event requires qualification
Teams are not automatically added to the event from the Waitlist for any circumstance. Instead, the EP can invite teams to the event from the Waitlist when appropriate. Inviting teams from the Waitlist is up to the discretion of the EP if no other policies are violated. If you are unsure about which teams to invite from the Waitlist, you can contact your RSM. When determining who to add from the Waitlist, teams must be sorted and given priority by 1) number of events they have registered for (least to greatest) then 2) the date the team was added to the Waitlist. This is done in collaboration with the RSM. The Waitlist can be accessed and managed by the EP from the admin view of the event on the right-side menu.
Best Practice: If an EP wants to add a team to the event from the Waitlist, the EP should contact the team's primary coach first and ensure they are able to attend. This prevents the EP from sending event invitations that may not be accepted.
Helpful Hint: If the event has Early Bird Registration and teams add themselves to the Waitlist during this period, they will not be automatically added to the event once Standard Registration begins. Teams will need to return to the event page and complete the event registration process if the event capacity has not been reached.
Consent/Participant Release Forms
All team participants (players, coaches, and mentors) must complete a Participant Release Form (also known as a Consent Form) online prior to the event. When completed online, the form will be applied automatically to every official REC Foundation event the team registers for during the current season.
More information on participant release forms is available in this article. Links to REC Foundation Participation Release Forms are available here.
Completed participant release forms for team members attending your event can be verified from the admin view of the event in the right-side menu. A downloadable CSV file with a list of completed consent forms is available in this Consent Forms event page.
Updating Event Information
At times it may be necessary to make changes to your event posting, such as fine-tuning the agenda or adding awards. This is easy to do by simply editing your event. Once your event is approved, you may still make updates and add more details, but be careful to communicate any and all changes with the registered teams and your RSM. After the event is approved and posted, only your RSM can change the following items:
- Capacity increase of more than 20%
- Registration Open, Close, and Release dates
- Qualifying awards
Emailing Registered Teams
When a team registers for your event, they will receive the automated email that you created under Contact Information → Event Registration Email Body. As it gets closer to the date of your event, it is good practice to email teams with specific details about the event, including a campus map, parking instructions, event schedule, lunch options, and a list of volunteer vacancies you need to fill.
Some common items to communicate include:
- Requests to teams for help providing volunteers or equipment for your event.
- Request for food preorders and team information (such as # of people each team expects to bring, which helps estimate how many concession supplies are needed).
- Information for teams, such as an agenda and concessions menu.
- Directions to parking areas, and any parking regulations or rules.
- Requests that unpaid teams coordinate their payment.
- Weather-related delays or cancellations.
- A friendly reminder about the Code of Conduct and Student-Centered Policy.
- A friendly reminder about your “Doors Open” time & any venue-specific policies.
To access the teams’ contact information, choose Registered Teams. Select Show All entries, then click the Download Registration Report as CSV link. The Primary Coach email addresses are available in the resulting spreadsheet. When emailing teams, use the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) function in your email application. BCC allows you to send a message to multiple people without revealing the list of contacts to others, and protects recipients' privacy. When a contact replies to your email, only you will see that email. This helps to prevent email chains of people “replying to all” instead of selectively communicating.
Teams’ contact information is expected to be used only for necessary communications to teams for your event. This information should not be shared with others or used for any other purpose.
Digital Engineering Notebooks
An Event Partner may choose to have teams submit digital copies of their notebooks. Each team should upload and submit a sharable link in RobotEvents using the team’s primary coach account. Event Partners can download a link of all submitted notebooks by selecting “Registered Teams” and using the “Download Digital Engineering Notebooks Links Report as a CSV” report at the top of the screen.