NDSU Innovation Challenge Bootcamp 3
This event was put on by Mr Scott Meyer from the Nice Center. The intent of this event was for everyone in the innovation challenge finals to improve our pitch to the judges. We started this two hour event and engaged in many small group discussions about our projects and practiced our pitches in order to make them more compelling and judge worthy.
We started out with a small group icebreaker, including our home town, high school mascot and biggest fear. This led to gradually explaining the processes to make our pitches better for the Innovation Challenge. We started in pieces with our attention getter. The technique and wording Scott used for an example, was to imagine a world and paint a picture of the problem which your product solves and then introduce your product and ourself to the judges. This was thought provoking and certainly gets the point across. I went with a similar approach to a thought provoking question. “ How long do you think the average plastic grocery bag is used?” My project centered around single use items, like plastic bags to be upcycled to conserve resources and prevent the amount that goes into our landfills and oceans. We gradually worked on defining our target audience to a narrower sense. For example, instead of young people, someone could use 3 simple adjectives of a young Fargonian woman who is environmentally conscious but has a full time career. We continued this way of tweaking our pitches to be tailored to the judges needs as well as give the necessary information about our projects. Overall it was informative and defined the necessary specifics to succeed in the innovation challenge.
From the innovation challenge bootcamp, the main takeaway was how to mention the points of the rubric but also be informative about the idea with only necessary details. This means that we need to keep our audience engaged and interested, but also giving the appropriate needed information. The point of this is to be able to do an “elevator” pitch in three minutes. This a skill any entrepreneur will need to explain their idea and what it does for the world. I will definitely take this knowledge with me into the future, when I might need to do this again. I found that just being able to tell a story is invaluable so that you are understood and your story is heard. We found as a group that it’s ok if the story changes while you tell it and as it is told each time you will realize what is necessary and what can be trimmed. It’s all in the process of creating it all. I definitely will utilize it in future jobs and ideas. I am excited where my ideas can go and hope for a career in entrepreneurship to learn about their invaluable skills further.
