Over the week of 2 December 2019, 70 students in year 10 from Brighton Secondary School participated in ‘Bright Tank 2019’. Students used their creative talents and entrepreneurship skills to come up with solutions to real world business problems provided by local businesses, pitching final solution to an audience and industry judges. Bright Tank 2019 gave a great opportunity for students to make connections that could lead to employment opportunities and pathways to careers, whilst developing and demonstrating 21’st century and entrepreneurial capabilities.
Students split into 10 groups and were allocated a separate workspace, choosing to work alongside different business and organisations whose 90 second pitch resonated with them the most, or inspired them to want to make an impactful change that would lead to solving business problems.
With many members of each team being unfamiliar with each other, a team building activity to make a representation of the team. Each group was given a packet of balloons and 30 minutes to design and pitch a creation – alongside practicing pitching to an audience, students were able to distinguish different personalities within the team and decide different roles.
Each day of Bright Tank 2019 kicked off with an introduction and welcome by Scott and Hayley, followed by growth hacking where teams worked on solutions to their provided problem, conducting surveys of the public, brainstorming ideas, testing and validating, using sources on the internet and social media for feedback and evidence. Teams were all guided by business mentors and teachers who gave feedback and ideas for improvement on pitches and solutions. Most teams stayed in close contact with the business they were working to help, approving ideas and getting answers to questions. Social media channels were created on the second day of ‘Bright Tank’ and were used to market and promote each teams solution, with one page reaching 105 followers by the final day.
Several speakers attended throughout the 5 days of Bright Tank 2019 including Sanja
Jovanovic, Neha Awasthi, Stuart Snyder, Paul Gordon and Scott Perry, who all gave informative speeches that inspired students as well as provided reliable information that was then displayed in each teams marketing, reach and final pitch.
On the final day, 10 teams pitched unique solutions that demonstrated each group’s individuality, creativity, entrepreneurial thinking and progress throughout the week, all which contributed to solving real business problems with fantastic feedback and prizes including vouchers from Telstra.
You can watch this video to understand how Bright Tank works:
What a week! On Monday I gave these Year 10 students my business problem: how do I get my stress management program to more teens? 5 days later they pitched their solution to a full theatre and a panel of judges. They designed an app and tried it out on the audience. Brilliant! Now I just need to find the funding! Annie Harvey.