The objective of the Dating Game is simple: pair up students of BUS477 (suits) with students of ENSC201 (geeks) to form teams around an engineering idea.
Foreplay
- ENSC201 students have formed teams of 2-3. Each team has come up with a cool idea for a technology. The technology idea has been "pitched" (presented) to the instructor and has been approved. Each team has a number. Teams must come up with a compelling 3 minute "pitch" for their idea that they will use to attract the best possible team of suits.
- BUS477 students have formed teams of 1-2. They are keen to pair up with an engineering team with a great idea they can build a viable business around. Each team has a number.
Speed Dating
- geeks go to Tim Hortons. Each team sits at a table and displays their team number.
- enter the suits. Each team goes to a table where they listen to the geek's pitch.
- Match? If both parties feel there is a match made in heaven, they immediately run over to the instructor's table and register the numbers of their teams. Once a complete team is logged, it is highly recommended that the teams exchange names, telephone numbers and emails, as the suits have to do a 3-minute pitch to their class and submit a 1-page executive summary of the plan next week!
- No match? After 3 minutes, one of the instructors will call "time." Suits move to the next table and listen to the next pitch.
- Still no match? After about 45 minutes, remaining teams will be assigned at random.
Notes:
- it is possible that there are more engineering ideas than there are business teams. If an engineering team can not successfully convince the suits to support the idea, they will not be able to participate in the Ken Spencer Competiton and will complete a special project instead.
