Pitching session: Idea sharing or networking session?

Last week we have the annual CS3216 pitching session. It was quite boring I may say. Too many people came down to give presentations about what they wanted to do. I didn't get most of the presentations. Nevertheless, there were quite a number of interesting people coming down that really caught my attention.

- Dr. Dana Elliott Srither: His presentation is the coolest! I really learned a lot about AED (automated external defibrillator), which was a complete mystery to me before the presentation. His project is for a noble purpose: to save lives, which I think is a good enough incentive for computer geeks like us. Most programmers don't really work for money, instead, we work on things that are either cool, challenging, or meaningful. And as a proof, a lot of my classmates were interested in the idea and approached Dr. Dana after the session. 


- Rueben - Founder of household.sg: Before the pitching session, I received quite a lot of spams from Prof Ben about household.sg. From that, I know it's a good business because well.. Prof Ben doesn't just spam about random people :-P I think household.sg is a good idea. It can be a life changing business if implemented well. Too bad I couldn't find Rueben after the session to ask more about it.


- Laurence from Chalkboard: The shortest presentation. Most of my friends didn't catch what he was talking about. But I found it quite interesting. He talked about an API that Chalkboard is offering for free. Basically, what the API does is that it gives developer's access to Chalkboard's database to create apps related to locations and promotion information of restaurants, cafes and other businesses. I thought it'd be a good idea for the HTML5 assignment and did have a conversation with Laurence after the session. But in the end, my group and I decided to work with Carpool instead.


- The business guy from Carpool: I can't remember his name >"< I'm always bad with names :( Anyways, I knew the guy before from the module MNO1001: Management and Organization I took last semester. Carpool is the project his team did for the module, and it ended up receiving the best project award. The idea is quite good: matching people who drive to NUS with those who need a ride to school. The Facebook group they've created has grown big and messy. That's why they need a more systematic way, i.e. an application, to manage the community more effectively. My fellow teammates and I are all interested in the idea and decided to work with the guy and his team for the HTML assignment. 


Now when I think back about the pitching session, I realize that it's actually a networking session Prof Ben brought to us. It's the chance for CS3216 students to have a talk with people in the industry and find out what they're doing. The presentations are just for students to identify those who they want to talk to afterwards. It's one of the uniqueness that only CS3216 can offer.