Tecconnect Challenge helps college students sharpen marketing skills
Lethbridge College students put the skills they have acquired in school to the test over five hours this week to pitch a marketing plan for a local entrepreneur. Multimedia Production program and Digital Communications and Media program students participated in the fourth annual Tecconnect Challenge. To prepare, they spent time early this year with entrepreneur Kenny Joss, founder of KJ Concepts, a design and drafting company that uses 3D scanning technology, to learn about his company and the challenges and opportunities within it.
At the competitions, students spent five hours working in collaborative groups to create marketing materials and a distribution strategy for the business, as well as finalizing and making their pitches to a panel of judges.
“It gives them this low-risk scenario to actually practise their professional skills, instead of their first time being faced with dealing with a client after they have got a job,” said Tanya Weder, Lethbridge College Multimedia Production instructor. “It is a short time to get some really good projects, then present them to a panel of judges. The judges are from Economic Development Lethbridge and some local entrepreneurs, so putting their work on display for those professionals is a new and quite a different experience for students. I think it is a bit exciting and both nerve racking for them.”
The challenge gave students a glimpse into the world of entrepreneurship, since both programs have a class dedicated to it for students who pursue freelance after graduation. Tecconnect is a place for entrepreneurship and innovation to thrive and help grow businesses with a supportive environment, making a direct line for the collaboration.
During the last few years the challenge has grown with Economic Development Lethbridge joining in the learning experience to give students a session to learn about public presentations of projects to clients and other industry partners.
“It has been really fun, it is great to come out here and be able to collaborate with the Multimedia Productions students. We haven’t really worked on anything together and this is something that is new and we get a real-life pitch,” said Mack Miles, Digital Communications and Media student. “It gives us real-life experience, it is really interesting coming in here and not having no one teaching us. They just tell us the expectation and for us to go for it. It is giving us real work experience.”
Students who took part in the Tecconnect Challenge made their pitches involving a variety of topics including 360 video, and virtual and augmented reality, to the panel of judges to review and critique to help them sharpen their skills.
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