Paul Gudonis, President of FIRST, was the Keynote Speaker at the North Carolina Technology Association's Annual Leadership Conference held in Greensboro, NC in early August.

Teams included:

• 435 - Robodogs -  Raleigh
• 587 - The Hedgehogs - Hillsborough
• 1533 - Triple Strange - Greensboro
• 2108 - Team Awkward Turtle - Cary
• 2640 - HotBotz - Reidsville
• 2655 - Flying Platypi - Colfax

The teams and their robots were a huge hit with all of the business leaders at the conference.  They impressed everyone with their knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm for STEM in school as well as the FIRST program in general.  In addition, FTC team 2901 - Purple Gears from Raleigh shared an FTC robot and shared their love of robotics with folks.

Paul's speech was very well received.  He shared with the audience the announcement of the first-ever North Carolina Regional Tournament for the 2010 season.  Details on this exciting development will be coming out soon!  The alignment of NCTA's educational initiatives and goals with FIRST is exciting and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with NCTA and its member businesses.