{"id":2439,"date":"2025-03-31T20:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/?p=2439"},"modified":"2025-03-31T20:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:55:11","slug":"workshop-4-delivering-your-rocket-pitch-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/2025\/03\/31\/workshop-4-delivering-your-rocket-pitch-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Workshop 4: Delivering Your Rocket Pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On March 20th, 2024, from 5:00 \u2013 7:00 pm,\u202fRist DifferenceMaker Institute<\/a>\u202fheld its fourth workshop series session at the Alumni Hall Lounge, North Campus. The guest presenters for the evening were Professor Cathy Levey,\u202fCollege of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences<\/a>\u202fand Professor Kevin Willett,\u202fManning School of Business<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACE Difference Makers <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear Hugs <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braille Ereader <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comprehension Clicker <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flix Toothpicks <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FreshStart <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fridgie <\/p>\n\n\n\n

iPrep <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JC- Fit <\/p>\n\n\n\n

myHub <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pawva Smart Pet Bed <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pitch Pal <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ProVision.Ai <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RightsWatch <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SenseMakers <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shay G Productions  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shine in Academy  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple Cut <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SoundWaves <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UrbanX <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vertical Solutions  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To start off the workshop,\u202fRist DifferenceMaker Director <\/a>, 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.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u202fDifferenceMaker YouTube page<\/a>, which can be utilized while practicing for the Preliminary Pitch-off.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Professor Levey speaking about developing a pitch.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Team Pawva confidently presents their Smart Pet Bed<\/strong>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019Leary Library, Mezzanine. Register to support the student teams pitching for the Preliminary Pitch-off\u202fhere<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u202fhere<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To revisit the topics discussed, watch our video,\u202fSpring Workshop Series 4: Delivering Your Rocket Pitch<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 20th, 2024, from 5:00 \u2013 7:00 pm,\u202fRist DifferenceMaker Institute\u202fheld its fourth workshop series session at the Alumni Hall Lounge, North Campus. The guest presenters for the evening were Professor Cathy Levey,\u202fCollege of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences\u202fand … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2442,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2439\/revisions\/2442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uml.edu\/differencemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}