Imagine Cup Tips

Imagine Cup 55 tips towards success André Furtado Imagine Cup 2005 World Champion

First of all...
Congratulations!
Thanks for being here.
Please remember:
The following information reflects my own point-of-view!
It is not official Microsoft information/instructions!

Why are we here?
Presentations, demos, judges’ questions... do you need help?
Is there anything you can do during the last months?
What should you do once you are in the battlefield?
How can you maximize your winning chances in the Imagine Cup?

Who am I?
André Furtado
Microsoft Student Partner ( Bra zil )
Imagine Cup 2005 World Champion
afurtado1980.spaces.live.com

What have I done? (Imagine Cup 2005)
Office Designer Invitational
Solvent-OD Team
ArtiFACTORY Solution
1st place worldwide
Software Design Invitational
Solvent-SD Team
TravelMates Solution
Brazilian champion
4th place worldwide

ArtiFACTORY (OD)
Goal
Improve performance of people related to document-centric process
Three tools
ArtiFACTORY Modeler
ArtiFACTORY Consolidator
ArtiFACTORY Discoverer
Other features during document editing

ArtiFACTORY (OD)

TravelMates (SD)
Goal
Enhance tourist experience with innovative, practical and comprehensive features
Implementation
Based on a reusable services oriented architecture, named InContext Framework

TravelMates (SD) Search and view information on a map of the region being visited, according to your current position Take part in communities to create and share your own customized tourist points Access detailed information about tourist points and services, generated by your friends and communities Interact with local people by translating typical tourist phrases and playing them in the local language

TravelMates (SD) Share your travel experience easily by making real time mobile posts in your mobile and web blog, and by letting the TravelMates to make automatic posts for you Receive the best consumer information at the right time according to your preferences Consult tourist information on sights you can see in a panoramic view

TravelMates (SD) Explore tourists points with the aid of your virtual agent, who will help you with suggestions and related links Search and interact with old friends near and far, as well as use the TravelMates Interaction Indicator to discover people with similar interests and to make new friends

InContext Framework
TravelMates (SD) Famework for mobile, context-aware and social applications Customizable and integrated services that can be used in domains other than tourism Knowledge Extraction Service Context Logger Service Social Networking Service Content Management Service Location Service User Profile Service Custom Service Map Service Notification Service Blog Service

OK, show me the tips!
In the following slides I’ll present 55 tips for improving your experience in India:
Final preparation tips
Presentation tips
Powerpoint tips
Demo tips
Judges’ questions tips
On-site tips
Most important tips will be marked with this decorator:
HOT TIP!

Final preparation tips What’s left for this last month? Leo and Gustavo (SD) @ Guarulhos airport

#1
If you have time, evolve application towards feature bombing!
Final Preparation Tips

ArtiFACTORY Feature Bombing:
Change requests with e-mail integration
Reasearch pane
“ Mapper” to associate entities to artifacts

#2
Get your presentation stable as soon as possible!
Final Preparation Tips HOT TIP!

#3
Create additional promotional goodies for your solution, such as posters of leaflets!

TravelMates leaflet: outer-side

TravelMates leaflet: inner-side

#4
Do not include gifts (mugs, pens, etc.) as additional presentation resources!

#5
Design and print business cards!

#6
Polish your English!

#7
Try to finish presentation and demos before traveling!
Final Preparation Tips HOT TIP! Coding at Yokohama Pan Pacific Hotel: not a good experience at all!

#8
Try to know more about the local culture and language in advance

#9
Ensure required documents (passport, visa, etc.) are all OK!

Presentation tips Time to sell your fish! Igor and Leo (SD) @ Fish market, Tokyo

Presentation Tips
#10
Check your environment prior to presenting
HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
#11
Be polite: introduce yourself and the team!

Presentation Tips
Solvent-SD introduction:
“ Technology enthusiasts with complementary skills ”
Gustavo The Balance Restorer Leonardo The Visionary Innovator André The Operative Engine Igor The Sparkle Brain

Presentation Tips
#12
Have a pain slide (one or more)!
HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
Pain slide:
Key points you are trying to make: what's the pain to be solved?
Don’t solve the pain on the pain slide! Leave that for the presentation
You have the answer, but the question must appear on the pain slide
Keep it humorous, if possible at all

Presentation Tips
An ArtiFACTORY pain slide:
Documents...
Are they friends? … or boundaries?

Presentation Tips
Another ArtiFACTORY pain slide:
Semantics from one document to the other are not carried out automatically!

Presentation Tips
#13
Briefly introduce your application before demo-ing!

Presentation Tips
#14
Bring competitor analysis into discussion!

Presentation Tips
TravelMates competitors:

Presentation Tips
#15
Develop and present a persuasive business plan!
HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
#16
Avoid “reading impression”!

Presentation Tips
#17
Make fun of yourself, but not others!

Presentation Tips
#18
Allow only relevant content to be part of your presentation!

Presentation Tips
#19
Respect the time in qualifying rounds!

Presentation Tips
#20
In the final round there may be a time tolerance. Explore it!
HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
#21
Avoid saying “ I’m nervous ”, “ Sorry, but I’ve forgotten this ” or similar

Presentation Tips
#22
Keep focus on technical/innovation “meat”; forget about exceptions, robustness, etc.!
HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
#23
Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse!
Then rehearse again!
SUPER HOT TIP!

Presentation Tips
#24
Do a final rehearsal just before presenting!

Presentation Tips
#25
Sleep well the night before!
“ I have a dream”: Madson @ Yokohama Pan Pacific Hotel

Powerpoint tips Beware obvious but treacherous traps Solvent-SD final presentation @ Yokohama

Powerpoint Tips
#26
Do not use standard templates!

Powerpoint Tips
#27
Use enough color contrast!

Powerpoint Tips
#28
Avoid small fonts!

Powerpoint Tips
#29
If something cannot be seen/understood, cut it from the ppt!

Powerpoint Tips
#30
Cut not useful slides as well (such as a “Credits” slides at the end)!

Powerpoint Tips
#31
Don’t let the “Agenda” slide to be too boring

Demo tips Proving your competence practically Solvent-SD Final Presentation @ Yokohama

Demo Tips
#32
Reduce demo load time: shortcuts, pre-loading to the cache, defrag, turn off antivirus, etc.

Demo Tips
#33
Adjust Windows for better performance unless you need all of its “beauty”

Demo Tips
ArtiFACTORY needs “windows beauty” because of the Document Actions Pane:
“ adjusted for performance” layout more visually pleasant layout

Demo Tips
#34
Start with the sexiest demo first to grab them, build others to a crescendo!
HOT TIP!

Demo Tips
#35
Bring real world experiences to supplement your demo!
TravelMates Language Translator

Demo Tips
#36
Emphasize advantages: how worse do people live without that feature?
TravelMates journey diary

Demo Tips
#37
Summarize each and every demo by answering the question: "So what?"

Demo Tips
#38
Need to skip demos to make up time? Don't let they know!

Demo Tips
#39
Ensure you can always set the machine to the demo initial state
HOT TIP!

Demo Tips
#40
Have a few extra demos in your pocket!

Demo Tips
#41
Have a demo script that you can “cheat from” whenever you need
HOT TIP!

Demo Tips
#42
Use Virtual PC if you can and if performance permits!

Judges’ questions tips Ensuring the “grand finale” Software Design Judge Panel, Yokohama

Judges’ Questions Tips
#43
Let the judges finish asking their questions!
HOT TIP!

#44
Before answering, repeat the question, rephrase if possible!

#45
There are better ways to say “Sorry, we did not implement that”!
HOT TIP!

#46
There are better ways to say “I don’t know”!
HOT TIP!

#47
Ask for clarification, case you need!

On-site tips Once there, go for it! Solvent-SD (and others) arriving at Japan

On-site Tips
#48
Be ambitious; earn victory appetite !
Leo (SD) @ Solvent-SD celebration HOT TIP!

On-site Tips
#49
Carry a whole nation with you!
Solvent-OD awarding @ Yokohama HOT TIP!

On-site Tips
#50
Relax from the competition when you can!

On-site Tips
#51
Observe every detail, learn from everything!

On-site Tips
#52
Dive into the local culture!
“ Bento box”, traditional japanese food

On-site Tips
#53
Blog to the community! ex.: afurtado1980.spaces.live.com

On-site Tips
#54
Do as much networking as you can!
Coffee-break hall @ Yokohama HOT TIP!

On-site Tips
#55
Please... have FUN!
Many teams @ Sankein Garden, Yokohama HOT TIP!

Domo arigatô!
I wish you a great Imagine Cup!
May I help you?
afurtado1980.spaces.live.com
Thank you and good luck!

http://www.slideshare.net	18
http://leftclik.blogspot.com	9
http://www.leftclik.blogspot.com	5
http://www.laerciosimoes.com	3
http://static.slideshare.net	2
http://twitter.com	2
http://192.168.10.100	1
http://minhyungko.blogspot.com	1

Imagine Cup Tips

by AFurtado on Nov 13, 2007

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

8 Embeds 41

Statistics

Imagine Cup Tips — Presentation Transcript