Optional pitch practice

Despite not being required and not having any direct impact on our grade, we decided to take part into the optional pitch practice proposed by Ackley in the last lecture of this course. In this sense, we considered that we could improve our pitch in somehow, and having direct feedback from Professor Ackley would be one of the easiest ways to get it.

We based our pitch on the model that we cleaned up during our last team meeting. From my point of view, this time the demo slides flew better than other presentations in class, and Matt. S. spoke calmer and more confident. Anyway, Professor Ackley give us useful feedback on the presentation and the demo:

Presentation reactions:

• Slightly long (1 minute over the scheduled time)
• Set up issues (again). We need to get everything setup before the presentation, and we should keep the VGA cable unplugged until all is ready.
• Hide the left sidebar (Ubuntu) when displaying the demo.
• We have to think about a "catchy" slogan to display at least on the first and the last slide (Ackley suggested: "Help you become a better you").
• Mention in some point of the presentation the fact of cheating is in fact "hurting yourself". So, this game does not make sense if users cheat.
• Introduction & facts: match rankings and speech.
• Our slides look "too academic". We need a new theme with bigger fonts (more striking).
• Remove the "Demonstration" slide. Just show the demo.
• Change the title of Sustainability slide to something more informal like “Keeping the lights on”.
• Be sure to mention in the Competition slide that Demigod "puts everything together for free".
• Some minor changes regarding to the slides order.
• He liked the technology choice justification.
• He do not like the lack of email confirmation when a new user sign up.
• Change the name of the non-logged page (first page that user see when enter the website) from "marketing page" to "Home page" or something similar.
• He also do not like the fact of starting the demo by showing how to create a custom challenge. Move this example later, and emphasize on the Demigod's flexibility and customization.
• Choose a challenge (as an example) that you can really do. For example, ride your bicycle twice a week, and say something like "I have ridden my bicycle to come here".
• Consistence on text capitalization. There are several inconsistencies especially on the home page.
• Close the presentation with the slogan and the URL. We need to cause impact on the audience.

Now, I believe that we are ready to the project showcase which is going to be held next Tuesday. Cross our fingers, and go ahead!