2025 Schedule
2025 InnoVators™ Showcase & Pitch Competition
Illinois Wesleyan University | Shirk Center
Date: Saturday, April 12, 2025
RSVP Deadline: Monday, April 1, 2025, at 11:59 PM
2024-2025 InnoVators™ Showcase and Pitch Competition
LOCATION
The event will take place at Illinois Wesleyan University in the Shirk Center. The address of the Shirk Center is 302 E Emerson St in Bloomington, Illinois.
Participants are responsible for transportation to and from the event.
PARKING
Visitors may park on weekends for free in any Illinois Wesleyan University campus lot. The Memorial Center and parking lots can be found on this interactive campus map and this printable campus map. The Memorial Center and recommended parking lots are circled in red in the image below.
InnoVators™ SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 12, 2025
7:30 – 8:30 AM Check In and Setup
8:30 – 9:00 AM Welcome/Judges receive instructions
9:00 – 11:15 AM Demonstration Showcase
| Time | Judging Sequence |
| 9:00-9:10 | 1 |
| 9:10-9:20 | 2 |
| 9:20-9:30 | 3 |
| 9:30-9:40 | 4 |
| 9:40-9:50 | 5 |
| 9:50-10:00 | 6 |
| 10:00-10:10 | BREAK |
| 10:10-10:20 | BREAK |
| 10:20-10:30 | 7 |
| 10:30-10:40 | 8 |
| 10:40-10:50 | 9 |
11:15 AM – 11:45 AM: Lunch / Keynote Speaker – Rod Hightower – Protecting Yourself and Your Intellectual Property
Lunch will be provided for all InnoVatorsTM participants, InnoVatorsTM educators / sponsors, and specially invited guests. Parents or other guests will be on their own for lunch.
11:45AM – 12:00 PM Top 10 Teams Announced
12:00PM – 2:00 PM Top 10 Team Pitch Competition
2:00PM – 2:30 PM Judge Deliberation / Display Teardown
2:30PM – 2:45 PM Awards Ceremony / Photos
3:00 – 4:30 PM: Illinois Wesleyan University Campus Tour & Ice Cream Social (Optional)
Demonstration Showcase Display Guidelines
- Each team will be provided a 2 ft x 4 ft table.
- Your display should share clear information or prototypes of your innovation.
- If electricity is needed, email Blake Whittle at [email protected] by April 1, 2025.
Top 10 Pitch Competition
- Be prepared to present if selected as a Top 10 team.
- Presentations must not exceed 3 minutes, followed by a maximum of 5 minutes for questions from the judges.
- If using slides (PowerPoint or Google Slides), bring a flash drive to transfer your presentation to a PC or be prepared to share the slides with us.
- Practice your presentation to ensure clarity and timing.
Top 10 Preparation
All innovations will be judged with the following criteria:
- Purpose (Why do you exist?)
- Problem you are solving (What is it?)
- People (Who has that problem? demographics? incidence? severity?)
- Proposition (What are you proposing?)
- Product (What product, service, innovation solves that problem?)
- Positioning (How is this different/better than current providers?)
- Production (Who will produce it?)
- Price/costs (How much $ to produce, test, develop, promote, distribute or how much of a savings?)
- Path (How delivered from source to consumer?)
- Promotion (What is your brand name, media to raise awareness, comprehension,and demand?)
- Needed (What investment is needed to launch development and testing?)
- Value (What is the value of your concept today?)
General Notes
- Only the Top 10 teams will pitch live during the afternoon session.
- All students, parents, and guests are welcome to visit Demonstration Showcase booths and watch the Pitch Competition.
Contact Information
Paul Ritter
Cell: (815) 848-5304
Illinois Wesleyan University and InnoVators™ look forward to seeing you soon!