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Pitch:90 deadline
The deadline to apply for DENIN's annual elevator pitch competition is Oct. 23
11:49 a.m., Oct. 13, 2015--Applications are due on Friday, Oct. 23, for Pitch:90, the fast-paced elevator pitch competition that shines a spotlight on student research at the University of Delaware while developing students’ communication skills.
Sponsored by the Delaware Environmental Institute, Pitch:90 is returning for its second year on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 6–8 p.m. in the atrium of the Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory.
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The event is free and open to the public.
Participants in the event will have 90 seconds each to tell the audience why their research matters in everyday language without the aid of props or slides.
Feedback will be available through informal coaching and practice sessions prior to the big night, when contestants will deliver their pitches from a stage while a large digital clock counts down the remaining time.
Interested students should submit an online application form. The competition is open to any advanced undergraduate or graduate student who has conducted research in the past year with a DENIN-affiliated professor or one who works in the Harker Lab.
Those with interest can view a video of last year’s winning pitch by water science and policy grad student Alex Soroka on the event webpage.
According to Josh LeMonte, the doctoral student in environmental soil chemistry who initiated the competition last year, participant feedback has resulted in a few changes to the event.
“One thing we heard repeatedly is that the faculty really should try it,” LeMonte said. “So we are recruiting a few brave faculty to give us their 90-second pitches this year.”
He notes that the faculty volunteers won’t be eligible for the $500 grand prize or the smaller cash awards presented to the second through fifth place winners selected by a panel of judges drawn from UD faculty, staff and administrators as well as community members from throughout Delaware.
“Most of last year’s judges signed up for the job again right away when we asked them,” LeMonte said. “I think that says a lot about how much fun it was last year, even if it was intense work to assign a score every 90 seconds.”
LeMonte will again play the role of master of ceremonies, and it will be his job to keep the evening moving along at a brisk pace but also to provide a bit of fun to keep the atmosphere relaxed. Food and drink will be available after each round of the competition while the judges’ scores are tallied.
LeMonte and the other graduate students on the planning committee have also worked to recruit more sponsors for the event. As a result there will be more door prizes for participants and members of the audience.
Additional sponsors for the event include Chik-fil-A of Bear, Delaware, Cosi, the Deer Park Tavern, Delaware Wild Lands, Friendly’s restaurants on Kirkwood Highway and South College Avenue, Insomnia Cookies, Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant, Mispillion River Brewing, Newark Deli and Bagel, Panera Bread and Peace-a-Pizza.
Article by Beth Chajes
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson