Tiger Tradeshow
What is the Tiger Tradeshow?
Tiger Tradeshow is a fun and non-competitive opportunity for Pacific students, staff, faculty, and alumni to showcase a new product, service, or business they are working on developing. Participating teams will get a “booth” and will be required to have a poster outlining their product, service, or business and why it represents a valuable innovation. Attendees will be given a handful of “gold coins,” instructed to mingle with the companies and ask them about their ideas, and “invest” their gold coins as they see fit. The tradeshow floor will be mapped out, with “thematically similar” teams clustered around the room. At the end of the hour, the teams with the greatest number of coins will be awarded first, second, and third place prizes.
What are the prizes?
The prizes include a combination of cash and in-kind prizes. They are as follows:
- 1st Place: $500 + in-kind prizes
- 2nd Place: $300 + in-kind prizes
- 3rd Place: $200 + in-kind prizes
Who can enter?
Any individual team with a Pacific affiliation (student, staff, alumni, faculty, supporter) who submits the online form expressing their interest will be guaranteed a spot, as long as they are genuinely interested in participating and as long as there is space available.
Individuals and teams without a Pacific affiliation (e.g. students from other colleges and universities, members of the community, etc) are also welcome to submit the online form and will be considered on a competitive basis depending on space availability.
When and how to enter?
- April 1: Interested individuals and teams should send an email to entrepreneurship@PACIFIC.EDU no later than April 1st
- April 3: They will receive confirmation of their participation by April 3rd
- April 13: They will need to confirm completion of their posters and any additional material (prototypes, flyers, etc) by April 13th
- April 14: They will need to arrive at the University Commons ballroom by 3 pm to set up their booth
What should the poster include?
The poster can include anything you want, but should the following information at a minimum:
- The Problem, Need or Opportunity: What is the problem, need or opportunity that your product, service, or business addresses? Who experiences the problem or need? What proof is there that the problem or need is significant for them?
- The solution (product/service and value proposition): What is the product or service that will solve the problem? You should emphasize not only the features but the “value” it delivers in addressing the customer’s need?
- How the solution works: A depiction, prototype or sample can be used to give the viewer a more concrete sense of how the product or service would work. For example, showing a user interface for an app or a drawing or prototype for a product will help viewers get a tangible sense of the solution.
- Competitive Advantage: What other products, services, or businesses are there in the market that try to solve the same problem or need, and what will give you a competitive advantage over them? This can be shown visually using a table that compares features across products.
- How will you make money (Per Unit Economics): Show how the product, service or business will make money by showing (a) what your price per customer or product will be, (b) what your variable costs (the costs that depend on the volume or products) will be and (c) what your fixed costs are (the costs that don’t vary depending on volume).
How to be successful in the Tradeshow:
Keep in mind that the Tradeshow will be a very social, hectic, and interactive environment. You will only have a few minutes to convince passersby of the value of your product, service, or business and get them to “invest” their coins in you. In this process, three things really matter:
- Having an interesting product, service or business and really knowing both your product and your customer well. An interesting product will be crucial for getting their attention but knowledge will be crucial to effectively answering the questions they have.
- Having good visual and physical aids. The poster and any other materials (prototypes, flyers, etc) should aid your engagement with attendees. They should be visually appealing and easy to understand but at the same time well thought through and credible. Remember that you’re are convincing them based not only on research and logic but also based on what they see and touch.
- Being engaging and interactive. Ultimately the ability to hold an effective conversation and sell yourself as well as your idea in a short period of time is crucial to success.
