On March 20th, 2024, from 5:00 – 7:00 pm, Rist DifferenceMaker Institute held its fourth workshop series session at the Alumni Hall Lounge, North Campus. The guest presenters for the evening were Professor Cathy Levey, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Professor Kevin Willett, Manning School of Business.
Semi-finalist teams attended this session to learn about delivering their rocket pitch for the Preliminary Pitch-off on April 2nd. At this event, teams have a chance to advance to the $50,000 Idea Challenge Final event. The semi-finalist teams who will be pitching at the Preliminary Pitch-off are:
ACE Difference Makers
Bear Hugs
Braille Ereader
Comprehension Clicker
Flix Toothpicks
FreshStart
Fridgie
iPrep
JC- Fit
myHub
Pawva Smart Pet Bed
Pitch Pal
ProVision.Ai
RightsWatch
SenseMakers
Shay G Productions
Shine in Academy
Simple Cut
SoundWaves
UrbanX
Vertical Solutions
To start off the workshop, Rist DifferenceMaker Director , Richard Juknavorian provided a recap of the past workshop sessions, which addressed topics such as Identifying Problems, Assessing Opportunities and Value Proposition, and Developing Business Models.
Then, Professor Cathy Levey opened and discussed the content that should be addressed during the DifferenceMaker pitch presentation: the problem, opportunity, solution, needed resources, as well as being prepared for judge questions. She also spoke about additional considerations to look out for during and after the rocket pitch session.
She then showed videos of past teams, including Point Stick and BioBubbler pitching their idea so students would have an example to follow learning about what makes an effective pitch. This allowed students to compare what they just learned to an actual pitch presentation that occurred. Students can watch and learn from other past pitches that are on the DifferenceMaker YouTube page, which can be utilized while practicing for the Preliminary Pitch-off.
To guide the students further, Professor Kevin Willett spoke about the challenge of presenting an idea. To tackle this, he discussed being confident and sharing your topic with lots of energy and passion. He also talked about having relevant pictures on each slide, as well as limiting the words per slide, which helps keep the audience engaged.
Concluding the inspiring evening, DifferenceMaker Fellow David Vatalaro shared valuable insights and invited five teams to pitch their ideas. He then engaged the audience, asking for their thoughts on the pitches and how the experience boosted their confidence and preparedness for the big day.
Thank you to everyone who attended Workshop 4! Good luck to all teams pitching at the Preliminary Pitch-off on April 2 at the O’Leary Library, Mezzanine. Register to support the student teams pitching for the Preliminary Pitch-off here.
Additionally, the 2024 13th Annual DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge will take place on April 16 at University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260. Register to attend the $50,000 Idea Challenge here.
To revisit the topics discussed, watch our video, Spring Workshop Series 4: Delivering Your Rocket Pitch.