Hi it’s Nick Surin again. In my role of judge, I would like to share some things which were key for our team when we won the Imagine Cup in 2005, hoping it may be helpful to this year’s teams.
Nick (far left) and his team at the 2005 Worldwide Finals in Japan
First of all, we personally felt enormous excitement about what we were doing in our project and about how we would present this project (performing live on stage on electric guitars) so that it served as a huge source of inspiration and motivated us to try and do everything right.
The second success factor was our mentor, Andrey, who took it upon himself to review our work constantly to make sure we were on the right track and doing the right things. The role of your mentor cannot be understated because they can see things more clearly than you and are critical to the success of the project.
Another thing to watch out for is what we call the ‘clusters of death’. These are the more popular solutions which many teams try to create when they all have quite similar ideas. The projects end up so alike that it’s very hard for the judges, and even the teams themselves, to tell the difference and pick the best. Although one or two teams will go through to the next round, we have seen very powerful teams fail because their project and presentation just did not stand out enough from the other projects on the same topic.
So trying to be different is important. Getting the presentation right is also important. If you have a great idea (which usually comes from a unique understanding of the theme) and you have a cool demo, you will have a pretty good chance of success. We all love the magic of devices like touch-based screens and surfaces so use them a lot. Please don't show too much technology, show the meaning and real value. Try to amaze people. Use music, visuals, physical interaction, strange devices like iRoomba. Entertain yourself and your audience. It’s obvious when a team is passionate and enjoying themselves.
Finally, your project should be interesting to a wide group of people. Create a simple business model, because if you provide real value for people, they'll give you money for that. We don't expect any kind of real business plan from you, just simple thoughts and assumptions that could work.
And that’s it! Although I am not mentoring any teams this year, I’m very much looking forward to seeing all the innovative projects which teams have come up with.
- Nick Surin
