SPEED DATING AND WORLD CAFE EXPERIENCE
During the last meeting of Ad discovery creativity lab on Monday 30th of April, we have the chance to get familiarized with two bussiness processes which helped us to move on and enhance our start up projects . Since these two methods heps us to expose our start-up idea giving and receiving feedback! These methods are the “SPEED DATING” and the “WORLD CAFE EXPERIENCE”.
The methodology of speed dating for startups is a very interesting process as it lets students dive into the world of entrepreneurship and start ups connect with ambitious students.In general, the whole process is quite simple as it is consisted of three roles: the pitcher , the questioner and the observer. First of all, the pitcher exposes the main idea of his start-up in a few minutes and at the same time the questioner asked him about more details and further information about the project. After that, the observer who doesn’t participate until this point giving feedback to both of pitching person . This procedure required that all the participants have changed the roles by the end of every round and they have spoken with equivalence!
Our team is “The Chocomists: The alchemists of chocolate” and our start-up is called “EL MEJOR”: the best chocolate of all”. We are chocolate lovers and makers and our fundamental idea is to produce a chocolate based on raw cocoa and many other plentiful healthy ingrendients having an irresistible taste. ( https://medium.com/@gmitsoulas98/el-mejor-chocolate-8b21d7fb9f28 )
My personal involvement in this process was a great experience as the whole thing was totally new and very challenging simultaneously.This method helps every student to communicate with other peers exchanging groundbreaking ideas and different opinions .As a result we can broaden our cognitive horizons.Furthermore,through it students are able to learn how to give and receive feedback in a short of time and how to represent clearly their projects keeping the attention and the interest of their audiences.
PITCHING TO DIFFERENT PEER-STUDENTS
The role of pitcher was the most challenging and rigorous part of the speed dating method as in this stage you must be able to expose explicitly the main idea of your start-up and it is required to known in detail all the context of your business otherwise it is very possible that your dater will be confused!Moreover,having this role you are able to respond to questions and feedback in short of time without ignoring anything.Besides , the feedback is the stepping stone to advance and enhance your project as through this receiving very useful advices which can provoke a reconsideration about your project.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN BY ASKING CRITICAL QUESTIONS AND GIVING FEEDBACK TO YOUR PEER-STUDENTS?
This part of the method is very crucial since when you ask critical questions and give feedback you ought to be very concentrated and effective in the interaction with your peer students.Firstly,listening to other pitchers was a pretty good chance to evaluate your own pitching ability . Secondly,by asking critical questions and giving feedback you can get the chance to sharpen your social and cognitive skills as you ought to manage plentiful information and suggestions . Additionally, you can learn how to give balanced feedback and useful advice to others start-up projects.
Observer
The final stage of the speed dating method including the role of the observer. As a observer you are an invisible participator in the conversation.You must do many things simultaneously such as you ought to to take notes , to listen carefully , to understand the body of language! I strongly believe that the role of the observer is the most demanding role of all as you must be neutral and not interrupt the flow of conversation but at the same time you ought to conceive the main points of both start-ups which interact each other.
Coming to World-Cafe format- changing tables and meeting new startup fellow-students founders…..
The methodology of “World-Cafe” is a very interesting and innovative tool as it can offer us the opportunity to multiply our insights . This happens as the participants in this process changing tables and interacting with other startups founders.As a result, they exchange their ideas and discover more aspects about their projects.Finally, each person take benefits from this process since it realizes that every student can offer plentiful advice and feedback.
Conclusion :
In nutshell, the compilation of these methods helps us to understand how important is the interaction between others start-ups founders . Furthermore,through these processes we can evolve our project and fill the gap which may have.Last but not least, seeing that our idea have a great appealing to our target groups and our audience made us to have the will to continue our dream and achieve our goals.
