How the Pitch Summit works

The Pitch Summit takes place from Friday evening to Saturday evening. In this time you will be given and trained in the essential tools required for pitching and presenting any idea. Our workshop professionals will conduct sessions on “Leading with Presence”, “Storytelling”, “Communication Skills”, and “Voice Exercise”. The focus of this event is on developing and deepening the all-important skills for pitching. We are not looking for you to develop a startup pitch. There are other opportunities for that (check out the links above). The startup ideas and materials for you to build your pitch around will be given out on Friday evening. The materials underlying your pitches come from some of the successful Hacks that were developed in late January, at the DEISHacks hackathon. You will also get to meet other entrepreneurially minded students, enjoy free food and snacks, present for the $1,000 first prize, and have fun while you learn essential skills not just for pitching a business, but also for presenting yourself and your ideas. Ready to join? Pre-register now.

Presentation Guidelines

Presentation Length: Presentations should be 4 - 5 minutes in length.
Equal Speaking Time: Each person should have approximately equal speaking time.
Media Restrictions: No media/multi-media other than slides (no video or audio).
Slide Limit: No more than 1 slide per person + 1 title slide (5 slides total).
Narrative Structure: Beginning, middle and end is important: 'Tell the story'.
Dress Code: Business casual light (not suits). Comfortable shoes. (Hiatt career closet is a good resource).
Team Considerations: Who will start?
Who will end?
Who is the director, stage manager, note taker?
Don’t lose time over logistics.

Prizes

First Place: $1,000
Runner Ups: $600

Apple Airpods MAX Raffle

Note: Attendance at entire event is required.

Workshop Coordinators

Antonie Knoppers
Antonie Knoppers is a coach, trainer, facilitator, guest speaker and actor. He trains individuals and teams on leadership and personal development, presence, communication skills, storytelling and presentation through the company he is the founder of, D&A Trainingen.
Robert Walsh
With over 40 years of experience working in theater, film and television, Robert Walsh combines his work as an actor, director, producer and teacher to draw the best out of students and to help them position themselves for a career in the industry.
Robert Malenfant
Rob started his career in the Financial Services Industry with Smith Barney in 1994 as a Financial Advisor. Over the last 20 years he has held a succession of Training, Branch Management and Financial Advisory roles. He currently serves as Executive Director and Family Wealth Director for Morgan Stanley in Boston. He provides investment advice and counsel to affluent families, privately held companies, foundations and endowments, corporate retirement plans and family offices.
Alice Ain Rich
Alice Ain Rich is a successful, dynamic and innovative coach, human resources consultant and corporate people expert. Her clients come from all walks of life, at many different levels and seek coaching and support in every stage of the career process. Alice is proficient in all areas of career and executive coaching, including career assessment, resume development and presentation, mock interviewing, networking, salary negotiation and processing change.
Philippe Wells
Philippe Wells is a seasoned entrepreneur in the health and wellness industry. Previously he worked in structured finance at Bain Capital and in strategy consulting at the Boston Consulting Group. Since 2019, Philippe has taught and developed courses at Brandeis International Business School in entrepreneurship, social impact investing, business fundamentals and data analytics for business.