dig-8: Presenting to Financiers, Entrepreneurs, and Educators [Session 9.0]
Before reading, if you would like a back-story on the dig-8 program, please read our previous posts below:
Teaching Design Research to 8th Grade Students in dig-8 [Session 1.0]
Developing Personas in dig-8 [Session 2.0]
How Brainstorming Plays a Role in dig-8 [Session 3.0]
Choosing the “Big Idea” in dig-8 [Session 4.0]
Learning to Sketch on a Cintiq at Beyond Design [Session 5.0]
Creating Mock-ups in dig-8 [Session 6.0]
dig-8 Students Develop a Marketing Plan for their Product Design [Session 7.0]
dig-8 Students Create a Prezi Presentation [Session 8.0]
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As their final presentation, students pitched their ideas to a panel of entrepreneurs, business professionals, and educators. Parents and friends of the students, as well as faculty, were also present during the presentations in the main school auditorium.
A video overview of the program was shown prior to the presentations to give those present an opportunity to see just what the students have been doing over the course of the 4-months (see video below).
The teams were judged on their product solution, market acceptance, ease of manufacturability, profitability, and overall presentation (speaking ability, eye contact, enthusiasm, etc.).
“Observing the students’ presentations today was powerful. The students have come a long way. Each talked about a complicated process in a genuine way and generated specific language. The students engaged in creative endeavors as problem solvers. This is a high level of functioning. All throughout the process the students consistently worked collaboratively and met the challenge at each level of the process in order to reach a goal. I think that has a lot to do with empowering their voice, know-how and understanding themselves and others as co-learners.” – John Nieciak, 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher
A Q&A session (which was set up much like a science fair) was held after all eight teams presented to give the judges an opportunity to ask questions regarding each design.
“I really liked the presentation part and the question and answer part because it showed us the knowledge and provided us a time to reminisce our experiences.” – dig-8 student
After the Q&A session, panelists gathered to diligently review each of the team’s concepts and determine which concept would move forward. It proved to be a very difficult decision for the judges, as they could see more than one of the ideas on the market. Prior to announcing the chosen design, panelists provided feedback to each of the teams on not only their product idea, but also the way they presented it.
“One thing that I liked about dig-8 was that we got to get judged on our final product, and that we get to get feedback from people who do this for a living.” – dig-8 student
In the end, the Elephant Hooks™ was selected because of its simple form, ability to get to market with minimal start-up investment cost, and its broad market appeal. At this point, as one large team, the class focused on building their startup around the chosen product. To gain support for bringing the Elephant Hooks™ to market, Beyond Design worked with the students to develop a Kickstarter campaign (which ended July 12 and was a success!).
The teams who helped make this program possible (with the exception of one team) are shown below.
One of the most important lessons of SEE and dig-8 is to teach students constructive failure, as that it what leads you to ultimate success. One of our panelists, Gavin Campbell (a successful entrepreneur and founder of Steelbridge Capital) said it best, “The lessons in losing are as important as the winning lessons. We all failed plenty of times before we got it right, and it was the losses that taught us to be winners—you study the winners and how they got there, and figure out what you did wrong so you can get it right the next time. The only time you really lose is when you become afraid of losing, because once you are there, you no longer take risks and are no longer an entrepreneur.”
It was incredible to see how far each student had come in such a short period of time. We couldn’t be more proud of these kids and what they have accomplished throughout this process.
If you’d like more information, or want to know how you can get involved, please contact Jessie Mumgaard here.