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Techstars Startup Weekend EDU Seattle
Friday, November 17 - 19, 2017
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Techstars Startup Weekend EDU Seattle
Friday, November 17 - 19, 2017
Friday, November 17 - 19, 2017
Event starts at 6:30 pm
Seattle Public Library
1000 4th AVE
Seattle,
WA
98104
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TACKLE BIG CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP!
PITCH-TO-PROTOTYPE IN ONE WEEKEND!
Startup Weekend Education (SWEDU) brings together people of all skill-sets and experience levels to collaboratively launch tools, schools and learning spaces that re-imagine the future of school and education more broadly.
Everyone is welcome and no previous entrepreneurial experience is required!
Unlike other Startup Weekend events, Startup Weekend EDU Seattle is FREE to attend for all participants. However, we are crowdfunding the funds we need to make this event a success! If you're able to contribute, please pitch in, and share the link with your friends, family, and advocates.
Click here for the crowdfunding campaign.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Friday November 17th
6:30 pm
Registration & Dinner
Arrive at the venue and get checked in. Eat food, share ideas, practice pitches, get to know fellow participants
7:00 pm
Kickoff
Take a moment to hear from our speaker and learn more about what will happen over the weekend.
7:30 pm
Pitches Start
Optionally line up to give your 60-second pitch
8:30 pm
Voting & Team Formation
Attendees vote for the top pitches
9:00 pm
Begin Work
Start to formalize teams and take an inventory of skills. Be honest, and direct about what resources and skills are needed for the weekend. You may stay and work up to 11:00pm.
Saturday November 18th
9:00 am
Breakfast
Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
9:30 am
Begin Work
Reconvene with your team, set up your workspace, and get to work!
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm
Check-In
After-lunch check-in, status reports, call for help
2:00 pm
Coach Meetings
Coaches help teams one-on-one. They are here to help!
6:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm
Check-In
After-dinner check-in, status reports, call for help
11:00 pm
Wrap-Up
Finished for the day. You may stay and work as late as the venue will allow
Sunday November 19th
9:00 am
Breakfast
Arrive, simple breakfast & coffee
9:30 am
Check-In
Coaches arrive. Final opportunity to ask questions
10:00 am
Pitch Practice
Work with coaches to start honing your final pitches!
12:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm
Presentation Prep & Tech Check
Final hours of worktime should be focused on perfecting your presentation, tech-check for final presentations also takes place
3:00 pm
Final Presentations
5:00 pm
Judging & Awards
6:00 pm
Wrap-Up
6:00 pm
After Party
Celebrate an amazing weekend with new friends. Location TBD.
Speakers
Domonique Meeks
Creative Director at Ambassador Stories
Domonique Meeks is a data analyst, content strategist, storyteller and documentary filmmaker. His work focuses on improving the ways we use and visualize data to impact community. Domonique’s current projects include the Soul of Seattle mini-series (Season Two), IDLE Seattle (winner of Startup Weekend EDU Seattle 2016), and an untitled podcast. Domonique holds a Masters in Information Management from the University of Washington School of Information and was a founding organizer of the historic launch of Hack The Central District.
Event Judges
Chelsea Byers
VP of Instruction at Galvanize
Chelsea has built her professional career with experience spanning urban public K-12, secular international schools, and adult career education.
In her current role at Galvanize, she oversees educational quality and advocates for and supports teachers at centers that prepare adults for careers in the tech industry. Prior to this, her experience in the tech industry includes roles as an education-based Product Manager and as a Director of Instructor Development for education startups.
Kishari Sing
Co-founder, CMO/COO EdCourage, Inc.
Kishari served as a judge for last year’s Startup Weekend EDU, and is thrilled to return to support entrepreneurs who are ready to tackle critical issues in education. She is a strategic marketing and advertising professional with 20 years working with consumer and B2B brands such as Mattel, Cadillac and Nestlé. Her seven years working with K-12 edtech companies has given her hands-on experience in critical components of today’s education ecosystem: learning management systems (LMS), curriculum, virtual schools, language acquisition, project-based learning and standards mastery. Her current startup company, EdCourage, Inc., offers Contemporary K-12 Curriculum Design. Co-founded a year ago with David Hunter, a dynamic former teacher from Bellevue Big Picture Schools and creator of the innovative Zombie-Based Learning geography curriculum, EdCourage is currently a semi-finalist for the SVP Fast Pitch competition here in Seattle and currently in discussions for funding with top edtech VCs in Silicon Valley. Kishari earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of California, San Diego, and is Pragmatic Marketing certified. She lives in Bellevue, and is always on the lookout for fun ethnic restaurant recommendations.
Mark DeLoura
Games & Education Consultant
A technologist with a background in the game industry. In 2013-2014 he worked at the White House, where he helped kick off the K-12 computer science education effort. Now in Seattle, he is a part of the city's community tech advisory board, and doing consulting work on learning games, CS Ed, and Maker Ed projects.
John Krull
Chief Information Officer @ Seattle Public Schools
John Krull is the chief information officer at Seattle Public Schools. He began as a teacher and has 13 years of classroom experience. John then moved to being an adjunct professor of education technology and then to Microsoft in systems engineering and enterprise data work. He then went on to increasingly challenging leadership roles including his most recent experience as chief technology officer for the Oakland Unified School District.
Coaches and Mentors
Ana Redmond
CTO at Infinut
Ana is the Founder and CTO of infinut, an ed-tech company that is on a mission to change what it means to learn math with interactive, fun, engaging games that teach concepts, not rote learning. She architects the data solution, builds the infrastructure for game screens, and provides creative direction. As an entrepreneur, she also handles business development, marketing and fundraising. She previously taught Android and server-side Java programming at University of Washington PCE, and worked as a Software Developer for 15 years. She is the mother of two young daughters and is very interested in seeing more girls and women succeed in STEM.
Jeff Matsushita
Executive Producer at Uber Entertainment, President of the Tesla STEM High School PTSA
Jeff is a video game professional with over 20 years experience in driving the development of games and franchises at Activision, Microsoft, and Amazon. More recently, he built a locally-based Mobile Game Publisher for a global game company before taking on a role as Executive Producer for an independent game studio in Bellevue. He is passionate about education and bringing game development design and processes into the educational sector. He currently serves as the Co-President of the Tesla STEM High School PTSA.
Shashank Gupta
Engineering Manager at Facebook
Shashank is an entrepreneur and a technologist. He holds an MS in Computer Engineering from University of Texas at Austin and has over 15 years of experience in leading teams and building products. In his last role as a co-founder of ThoughtSpot, a startup in the Business Analytics space, he built and led the engineering organization and grew the company to over 100 people. Before this, he held engineering leadership roles at Amazon, Yahoo and Cisco. Shashank is also very passionate about the field of Education and has a Masters in Teaching from University of Washington, Seattle.
Sharon McCarthy
Chief Marketing Officer/Fractional CMO
Sharon is a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer with 25 years
of experience in building or fixing consumer brands. Her experience includes
roles at Discovery Channel (EVP), Hallmark, Taco Bell, Kraft, an early social
network, and most recently, a mobile app that she cofounded and launched in
partnership with Hearst Magazine group. She provides marketing mentoring and
growth hacking to businesses who want the strategic expertise of a big brand,
but the scrappy mentality of a startup.
Eric Caldwell
Instructional Technology Manager @ Seattle Public Schools
Harvey Wright
Instructional Technology Specialist
Harvey is former secondary teacher of English and Computer Science, now working as an Instructional Technologist in Seattle Public Schools. He has participated in most major tech initiatives in the district, including initial planning, RFP, implementation, professional development and ongoing support. He is focused on continually shifting classroom practices to leverage the new possibilities technology affords for improving the learning experiences and outcomes for all students.
Suchit Ligade
Senior Product Manager - Technical
Suchit is a Senior Product Manager at Amazon, working on the Amazon Silk Browser for Fire TV, Tablets and Echo Show. Prior to Silk, Suchit worked in the Kindle mobile app platform, enabling readers to enjoy ebooks better than print books. He is also a co-founder of the InSITE Fellowship non-profit chapter in Seattle. Suchit started his career in hardware engineering in the Internet of Things space, developing sensors and firmware to smartly communicate with each other. While working at startups, he began enjoying product management and operations role, and eventually focused on startup product management. He holds an MBA in entrepreneurship from the Georgetown University and has consulted for several startups on the east coast.
Marion Desmazières
International Expansion Lead, Amazon Alexa
Marion is a tech business developer based in Seattle, WA. She manages international expansion of developer programs for Alexa, the voice service powering Amazon's Echo devices. Before joining Amazon about four years ago, Marion coordinated the 2012 Global Startup Battle and managed partner relations for Startup Weekend in Seattle. She holds a Master's in Business Management from EDHEC Business School and an MBA in Technology Commercialization from the University of Alberta. A Startup Weekend veteran, Marion has facilitated 20+ events in France, Canada, the US, Algeria and Morocco.
Alison Hughes
Instructional Technology Specialist
As a former classroom teacher of 17 years, Alison Hughes sharpened her passion for developing meaningful tools that inspire highest levels engagement for students and teachers. Before moving to Seattle in 2015, Alison worked as a Professional Development Specialist for Discovery Education, as an independent consultant, and as a Gifted Support, Learning Support, and 5th Grade teacher in the Spring-Ford Area School District located in the Philadelphia suburbs. She has coached collegiate women's lacrosse and 3 separate Girls on the Run teams in her former school district. Alison was fortunate to work as an Instructional Technology Specialist in Seattle Public Schools and currently works for the Education Engineering Team at Microsoft as the lead content developer and strategist for Professional Development.
Alison's degrees and accreditations include a Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Special Education, a Master of Science in Reading Instruction, post-graduate work in Instructional Technology, and she is a National Writing Project Fellow.
Organizing Team
Techstars Startup Weekend Seattle is 100% led by volunteer community leaders.
Learn how to get involved here
Facilitators
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