I’m off to Egypt in a couple of weeks for the Imagine Cup World Finals. I’m really looking forward to it, but before I start to pack my bags I have to make sure that I’m up to date with all the injections that I’ll need.
Today I wandered over to the Health Centre and filled in a form saying where I’m going and what I’m doing, and they’ve called me back on Friday for some injections. If I see a tanker parked outside the surgery when I turn up, I’m not going in…
Went to Reading today. Spent a bit less time there than I planned, thanks to slow running trains. I was there for a meeting about the Imagine Cup. They had some student teams presenting UK projects and the Microsoft UK academic team, along with Joe Wilson, who heads up the contest.
The students did a couple of presentations and were then subjected to what we call the “Imagine Cup Grilling”. This is where we look at what they have done and suggest ways it could be made better. I was very even handed, in that by the end I think I had managed to offend everybody in the room, at which point I left to catch my train home. Settling down in my seat I was chatting to a lady next to me who was most upset that she had just had to pay 84 pounds just to get back to Nottingham. I responded, rather wittily I thought, by saying that I’d pay that amount just to get out of Nottingham. I’ve really no idea why I said it. I’ve nothing against the place really, and it didn’t go down too well. (actually, I think anyone who knows me can readily imagine me doing this. Oh well. I think I’m too old to change now.)
Anyhoo, the meeting was very interesting. Microsoft’s continuing commitment to the competition is very commendable, particularly in the face of present economic conditions. I think at the bottom line they recognise that the kind of people who enter the Imagine Cup are the future, and engagement with them is a good thing. I told the students that just taking part in the competition and surviving a grilling makes them better professionals and adds a huge amount of value to them as potential employees. I really think this is true, and perhaps the best reason for anyone to enter the competition.
I’m really pleased. Microsoft have picked me as one of the Captains of the Software Design Competition in the Imagine Cup. I love this competition, and what it does for the students that take part. This means that I get to go to Egypt later this year, and see what all the students from around the world have been up to. Wonderful.
Find out more here.
A lot of the teams I spoke to over the week at the Imagine Cup wanted to know what makes a great entry. I told them all most of this, but I thought it might be useful to put it all down in a blog post for all to see.
Make sure that the purpose of your entry is clear. The categories by which the entries are judged in the competition are available for everyone to see, and some of the most important ones are concerned with the purpose of your system. It needs to be very clear who your entry is aimed at, the problem that it solves, and the way that it solves it. Just wanting to "make things better" is all very well, but you need to have clear focus on motivation (why you are doing this) and deliverables (what your project produces). All the entries that I saw in the world final had good, clear, focus, but I've seen ones in earlier rounds which have been very vague about what they do and who would use them.
Don't add too much. Some of the entries suffered because they contained too many functions. The power of modern development tools makes it very easy to add a forum, a mobile client, an expert system or a map to a solution. But before you put these in, consider how much they improve it. Do the features add value, or are they distractions from the core purpose of the solution? The judges are looking for a good solution to a problem, and too many bells and whistles might confuse. However, one thing that does impress is attention to detail around the core idea. If you can show how you have considered what happens if parts of the system fail or are abused by users this adds greatly to your credibility and that of your approach to the problem.
Don't re-invent the wheel. Always try to find ways you can make use of existing systems or software to make your entry better. If users of your solution need a username and password to get access to it, don't create your own user database. People hate being given new usernames and passwords to remember. Instead see if you can use existing login systems such as Windows Live logins or FaceBook accounts to identify users.
Make your hardware viable. Lots of teams are now adding hardware to their project, which is absolutely great. But if you have a hardware element you really have to add sufficient detail to your presentation to give everyone confidence that you can deliver on that part. Simply adding up the cost of the components you have used to build the device and then saying that is how much they will be priced at is not enough. And saying that you expect the cost of the device to be half the price of the parts "because bulk buying will make them cheaper" is also dangerous. If you want to sell hardware you usually have to pay someone to design the circuit board, someone to build it, someone to write the instructions, someone to put it in a box, someone to ship it, someone to put it in their shop and someone to provide warranty support. And you might want to make some profit.This might mean that your device will have to sell for five times the cost of the parts to be viable. We are not looking for detailed business plans and cost projections on this, but you do need to make sure that you have given proper consideration to this issue. You could see if your local electronics department can give you some help on pricing hardware, a good story here can be very useful to your project.
Have a way forward lined up. It is really nice if you can show a clear path forward with your entry. Rather than saying "After this presentation we plan to show this to a few people and see if we can get started. " it is much better to be able to say "We have ACME Manufacturing or the local Board of Health on board to take this project further". Best of all you can get letters of support and engagement from such people and get them into the presentation somehow. Don't be afraid to start small and then build up, this is actually a really good idea.
Don't fall in love with your project. Passion and enthusiasm are great. You should have belief in what you are doing. But if someone comes up with a solid objection or an idea which is better than yours then make it your business to use what they have said to make your solution better. And don't assume that everyone will flock to use your system just because it is there and it is yours. You need to show that there are compelling reasons why your system should be used. People are motivated to do things out of good will, but there is a limit to this, and beyond that they will go for things that either make their lives easier or save them money. Showing that your system does either (or both) of these things will make it much more compelling.
Make your presentation tell a story. If you look at the finalist presentations you will find that all of them told a story with a definite beginning (set up the problem) middle (say what we have done) and end (say where we are going with this). There are a number of ways you can do this. Scenarios are good, as is a bit of role play. Look for things that engage the audience and don't be afraid to add things to keep the audience interested during the talk. And then rehearse until everyone is happy with their parts and you have got lots of feedback about how you can make it better.
Look like a team. This is very important, and pretty much everyone this week did this really well. Even so, in some presentations I saw members of the team looking into space or staring at the floor when their team presenter was talking. Even if you have heard the words a hundred times or more (and with rehearsals you probably have) you should still look at the person talking and appear to agree with them. It all helps to build confidence that everyone really knows what they are talking about, and you are all in agreement with it. It is best if the presentation can be spread around the team members, with everyone playing a part. Matching dress, even if it is just the same colour trousers and shirt, does play a huge part in making a team look like they mean business, and that is the message that you want to send out.
Enjoy yourself. And remember that this is just the start. Your Imagine Cup entry is not the only great thing you will ever do. It is just one of the first. Whatever you do, whether you make it to the final or not, taking part in the competition will make you better. Potential employers are always looking for people who do stuff. The Imagine Cup is some of the best stuff you can do. The competition is great fun, win or lose. Entry into competitions like this all help build up the brand that is you. So go to it.
I don't know how they do it, but Microsoft now have the site for the Imagine Cup 2009 competition all ready. They have made some neat changes to the way that things are set up, with the themes for the entries being set for the next three years. This means that you can work on your application for a bit longer before you submit, and it makes it easier to make your entries part of the taught curriculum.
And just to properly put you off, and give you an insight into what you might be up against, here is a picture of me in full on "Judge Mode"....
I've said before that you can regard the Imagine Cup as a kind of alternative reality where you are surrounded by people passionate about technology, the food and drink is free and you are in some amazing location. I think the time also moves faster too, since I can't believe that we have already been here nearly a week. Anyway, today everything is rounded off with all the students showing the projects for everyone to see, business leaders and high powered politicians dropping by to take a look and the announcement of all the winners.
The whole setting was amazing and it was really nice to get a chance to look at some of the projects that I hadn't had a chance to see during the judging process. I also had some good chats with teams that I had seen, who were very keen to know what I thought. The best thing for me was that everyone I spoke to was determined to come back next year and do it all again. And these were people that had been without sleep for the best part of a day and a half and sweated and strained to get the best possible project and presentation into the competition.
The festival itself was hosted by Joe Wilson, who seemed as surprised to be wearing a suit as we were to see him in one. I've put loads of photos up on Flickr, I'm sure the Imagine Cup website will have some better ones.
Finally the results of our deliberations were announced and Project Soak was revealed as the winner. This entry from the Australian is an innovative watering system with the ability to make sure that plants get precisely the right amount of water and no more. It considers all the angles, from the current soil moisture, the needs of the crop and even the current weather forecast, to make sure that no water is wasted.
The team already have a farming estate signed up to prove that their idea holds water, so to speak. With a good looking and functional interface and a realistic development plan it is a very strong winner, and we look forward to seeing it achieve great things in the future.
After the presentation we all went back to the hotel to get ready for the final night party. At this point there was nothing left to play for, and everyone was keen to relax and have a good time. So we did.
The party itself was held at an amazing place just under one of the bridges of Paris. With a DJ specially flown in from the 'states, lots (and I mean lots) of really good food and drink. I only managed to last until 11:00 (my excuse is that I have to be up early tomorrow) but it was great just to meet up with the team members and chat about life, the universe and everything.
This afternoon finds me as one of the distinguished judges at the Imagine Cup Software Development Challenge finals. This is being next to the Louvre in the centre of Paris. A good place to make an exhibition of myself methinks.
The setting was fantastic. The whole hall had been decked out with moving Imagine Cup logos and video screens, plus this really cool little camera on a boom, which gives all an excellent view of the hardware projects. In the middle of this we have the student teams who now step up from presenting to a handful of judges in a little room to performing in front of an audience of many hundreds.
First up were the embedded challenge finalists. These presenters not only had to deal with an unfamiliar stage with camera crews milling around but also the scary prospect of giving live demonstrations of their systems. They were all excellent. The subjects varied from remote robotic environmental sensors to systems to protect animals crossing highways, preventing them from becoming road-kill.
My personal favourite was the Irish entry, which uses a cunning combination of hardware and software to allow a standard diesel engine to run on ordinary cooking oil. This system was so effective they had even managed to drive all the way to the venue on fuel they picked up at the local supermarket.
Then it was on to the Software Development finals, and my turn to shine, quite literally as we had to sit in the glare of the TV lights when we posed our questions to the presenting students. It is quite un-nerving when you are trying to think of something sensible to say and you glance up to see a huge image of yourself, looking sweaty and harassed, on the video screen above the stage.
Anyway, I managed to get to the end without asking anything too obviously stupid, and then we were ushered out to complete our deliberations. The judging is based on categories set down in the competition rules, and so we all filled in our numbers, passed them on to the organisers and then were pleasantly surprised to find that we were in broad agreement about the winners.
I said in the final that I love watching presentations and I hate deciding who has won. Every project had its own merit, and all of them were presented with spirit and style. One of the judges, a battle hardened venture capitalist who has seen many pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs, commented that several of the presentations were better than ones he has seen in the course of his job. And these were delivered by students on technical subjects, who are not expected to be good at this kind of thing. So, fantastic job everyone.
I'm sworn to secrecy over the results, which will be revealed tomorrow at the grand presentation.
This morning there was a tiny lull in the Imagine Cup proceedings, and so we went off to climb the Eiffel Tower. The queue for the lifts was huge, but there was nobody waiting to climb the stairs, so off we went. Of course I had the camera with me.
Looking up from underneath
Even at the first level the views were amazing.
I've actually got a a confession to make. At the first level you can transfer to the lift (which is actually worth knowing, and a way of beating the queues on the ground) and so we took a lift to the next stage.
Telescope
Waiting
Impressive sky
And more so
At this point we kind of ran out of time, because we had to head off to the Imagine Cup finalist presentations. So I never quite made it right to the top. But I will next time.
Tonight we were all invited on for a boat trip. Free food. Free drink. On the Seine. In Paris.
Sign me up.
The boat was huge, I couldn't believe that they would get everyone on board but they did. I took the big camera, and loads of pictures (there are a bunch more on Flickr).
All aboard
Kite from a bridge
Nice sky
The tower by night
The whole thing was excellent. At the end I staggered back to the hotel and collapsed for the second time in a day...
If there is one person who should have an idea of where computers are going it is Andrew Herbert. As Managing Director of Microsoft Research he gets to spend a lot of time thinking about the future of this business. I was very pleased that I woke up from my impromptu nap just in time to go off and hear his talk to Imagine Cup students where he gave a brief exposition of the way he thinks things are headed.
Very interesting. He made the very good point that even though computer use has changed massively since he started in the field, with personal computers now commonplace, and everyone carrying around huge amounts of processing power in their phones, cameras and laptop pcs, the processors inside these devices work in fundamentally the same way as the first ever computer. The rise of increasingly clever and friendly systems has been on the back of the continuous improvement in processing power that has made more advanced software possible.
The bad news is that the way we build solutions in the future is going to have to change, for two reasons.
Firstly we are running out of scope to improve the speed of computers. The processors themselves, and the memory they use, cannot be made to work faster in the future. Instead we are going to have to build systems which get performance by providing extra throughput from multiple processors, rather than a single chip that goes more quickly.
Secondly it is becoming increasingly hard to create and deploy software with the level of complexity that is expected today. Many large developments end up being abandoned just because we cannot produce something which solves the problem, or can be made reliable enough to be useful.
All this points to massive change in the way that computers will be programmed in the future, with a need to mathematically prove that crucial software always works, and new programming languages being created to allow code to make better use of the new arrangements of hardware that will become commonplace.
Programmers of the future will have to use different ways to express their solutions, and develop new techniques of building, documenting and proving the correctness of what they write. The model of computer use itself is also changing, with distributed systems being used to access large centralised services via the network, leading to even more change.
The great news is that nobody in the room seemed particularly scared by these prospects. They didn't seem to regard them as things to worry about, but as a whole new set of challenges and opportunities to make their mark and do great things, which is just as it should be.
If you are looking for a field where what you do can have the greatest impact on the largest number of people and how they live their daily lives, I think you will be hard pushed to find one more interesting than computing just now.
Today is a rest day. I thought it might be fun to search out the Paris Flea Market at Porte de Cligancourt and so off we went.
Here comes our train
During the journey a bloke turned up with an amplifier and microphone and serenaded us for a while. Dennis and Nannette don't seem that impressed to be honest.
This was the view from the place we had lunch. I could have bought a rug, but in the end I didn't. The food was great though.
The market was huge. We were there for a while, and we only saw a tiny part of it.
Got some nice presents here.
Then we wandered back to the metro, ambled back to the hotel by way of a pavement cafe and I sat down on the bed for a second and woke up an hour later....
Today was the second day of judging. All of the teams gave their presentation in front of another group of judges. Then, from all the teams a set of 12 were picked as going into round 2. The round 2 then repeated their presentations and then the final 6 are going to be selected for the grand final on Monday. That means that over the day I've watched 10 student teams strut their stuff.
And loved it.
The teams in the second round were doing their talks for the third time. If they were tired of the material it certainly didn't show. They were excellent. As one of the judges I then had to put numbers to all the performances (that bit I really hate, as I wanted to give everyone full marks) and then these are fed into the system along with all the scores from all the other judges.
Where it all goes down..
The final six will be announced tomorrow. After all the presentations the students took over the auditorium here to show off their projects. I took a wander around with the camera.
The embedded solution produced by the UK team. I'll grab a picture of the team at the big Expo on Tuesday.
The UK Team (Dominic Green and Ben Nunney) flanked by their mentor Tom Randell on the left and Ed Dunhill from Microsoft on the right. Their entry is an innovative game to raise awareness of environmental issues . You can find out more about it here.
An overhead view of the booths.
The Irish embedded team who used their project, a system to make an ordinary diesel powered car run on cooking oil, to actually bring them to Paris. On the way over a wheel came off (no - really) but they were still here this morning demonstrating their engine modifications.
The sunset from my room tonight. Very nice.
Tomorrow is a rest day, I'm hoping to actually be able to leave the hotel complex for a while and take a look outside.
No pictures today. Not had time to upload any. I've been too busy having fun watching students give presentations about their projects. And there have been some excellent ones. Anybody concerned about the future of the planet, and the general decline of the way things are, should come to an event like this and watch young people speak so well, and with such passion, about the big problems that we face.
I can't believe that I get to come and do this for free. It is just so nice to be a part of the whole enterprise. The only hard part is deciding what marks to give at the end.
Eight more presentations tomorrow. I can't wait.
I've been lucky enough to go to quite a few Imagine Cup finals. Each host nation works really hard to give the contestants the best time ever, and this time it is the turn of France. I was looking forward to this. If there is one thing the French are good at, it is having a great time.
First off we boarded the bus to the opening ceremony, which was being held at City Hall. I had been told this place was pretty impressive. We shall see...
On the way there we drove straight towards the Eiffel tower, which was nice.
City Hall is impressive. Very impressive. The ceilings in the entrance staircase were good enough, but when you got into the main rooms things got serious.
The poshest ceiling I've ever seen. We got to mill around and take pictures (I took lots - there are more on Flickr). It was nice to meet up with old friends from previous finals.
Each team got to walk up the "stairs of fame" into the competition, to a round of applause from those in the hall. This is the UK team having their moment of glory. Then we had a few speeches.
This is the Deputy Mayor of Paris, the chap on the right is his interpreter. I'm quite proud of the fact that I understood some of the bits that he said in French.
Jean-Phillipe Coutois very cool He talked about computers from way back when, stuff that I actually remembered using. Young developers have it so easy these days....
Joe Wilson made the very good point that this is probably the largest gathering of international students there has ever been. With teams from 61 countries here, there has never been a gathering like this before. That in itself makes the Imagine Cup pretty special, before you even look at the entries.
Finally Eric Boustoulier rounded things off by reminding everyone that we actually are going to go out there and build something of the future.
Once the ceremony had completed, and the competition was underway it was time for some food and a look around Paris.
Our train back to the hotel.
Tomorrow the judging gets underway.
Set off today to Paris, for the Imagine Cup world final. I've again been appointed as a judge, which is great. I thought I'd take the train.
Hull Trains to London
St. Pancras Station (spelt correctly for a change)
The streets of Paris
Taking the taxi
I've just got to my room, next step is to bounce back out again for he opening ceremony.
Today is the day that the Imagine Cup entries are due in. Cue much panic, tweaking of software and poster preparation.
..and a five minute trip around the campus to get a picture of Team X in their natural habitat. You think writing software is hard? Try getting these three to all smile at the same time.
Anyhoo, the entry deadline is midnight tonight. I reckon they'll make it with minutes to spare. Minutes...
Today was pitch day. But before Team X got to strut their stuff we had a talk from Andrea Blakersley from Mudhut. She did a session to help the teams how to make their pitches stand out and how to structure their presentations for maximum impact. This was excellent. I don't know how much Mudhut were being paid for the session today. But I do know that the session and the support that was given was worth it. First class stuff.
I've been presenting for a while (although I've never given a venture capital pitch) and Andrea managed to come up with some insights on the process that gave me cause to think about what I do. Wonderful stuff, and just what the competitors needed at this point. I don't think that many of the students at the session actually realize how lucky they were to get tuition at this level, but I do, and you were big winners today folks.
Dave from Rare (industrial mentor) and Anthony, Johno and Jon from Team X
Team X went through the rehearsal, got some feedback, incorporated it into their material and then sallied forth for the big pitch. They were excellent. These are first year students, who joined us in September. They have not even finished my programming course yet. But the way that they sharpened up during the day, and their professional approach to the competition bodes really well for these people. Whether they win the cup or not. The other three teams from Hull were also working away during the day (to my eternal shame I forgot to take pictures of you all - for that I apologise). I think they all got a great deal out of the event, and thanks to Microsoft for setting it up.
Just before the big pitch....
The next phase is to work up an entry and get some code running, ready for the next part of the competition.
We are in a ultra-posh hotel in Manchester. Microsoft really do look after you in these competitions. For some reason I've been upgraded to a posh suite, which has a patio, huge bed and all kinds of extras (and like a proper hotel also has a kettle and stuff for making tea). Excellent.
I arrived in Manchester just in time to meet up with the team and have a look at their presentation. Things had been coming along quite nicely (as is usually the case until I turn up....)
Anyhoo, after we had to move out from the hotel meeting room to make way for the Guitar Hero setup, of which more later, we repaired to my room for a planning session. We got set up, and were just about to get to the important stuff when all the lights in the room went out. Yours truly, the suave, globetrotting traveller had forgotten to put his room card in the switch at the door, which meant that all the power and lighting had timed out. So it was a series of muffled curses and stubbed toes as I made it the length of my suddenly enormous room to put the lights back on.
So, after that we met up for a Guitar Hero competition. People seem to confuse me owning a game (I've got lots) with me actually being any good at it. This is a common mistake, in that I don't actually spend too much time dwelling on my abilities in the games (just as well), but it did mean that I ended up playing my round of the competition on the "normal" mode, as opposed to my preferred easy setting. I made a right idiot of myself, but fortunately as we were being ranked for the competition I only had to play once..
Johno from our team turned out to be quite the guitar whizz, and finished third. He took away a really nice webcam. The winner, a chap from St. Andrews, was a well worthy champion, with amazing axe skills. He got an Xbox 360. Then, after a few more tunes, it was time for bed.
Anthony and Johno getting to grips with the guitar.
Andy and Dave from Microsoft giving it their all
My digital home from home. I just like the shadows.
Apparently today is officially the "Worst Day of the Year". A combination of Christmas credit card bills, lousy weather and failed New Resolutions conspire to make today the worst day ever.
But not for me.
I've just found out that Hull University has got four teams into next round of the UK Microsoft Imagine Cup Software Development competition. Congratulations to Stuart, Kamilla, Callum, Ashley, David, Kenny, Sam, Nicholas, Anthony, Jon and Jonathan who make up the successful teams. Well done everyone! What is especially impressive is that at least two of the teams are made up of first year students who only joined the department in September last year.
The next stage for each team is a trip to Manchester to further develop their competition entries and perfect their pitching skills, leading to a Dragon's Den style final in London later this year.
I can't wait.
In response to requests from lots of universities, Microsoft have again extended the deadline for Imagine Cup Software Design Challenge entries to January 16th.
They have also set up a Windows Live Messenger account where you can discuss deas and entries for the competition. This is on imaginecup@hotmail.co.uk and there should be someone on the end of this at most times.
If you are thinking about entering but aren't sure if your idea will hit the spot, you could have a chat with them about it before making your pitch.
I can't stress strongly enough the value of taking part in things like this. We are finding that employers are more and more concerned that potential hires should be "Out of the Box Useful" when they arrive in their job. Entering competitions, preparing and pitching ideas and working with other people are all the kind of thing that help build you up as a useful person, and you should take every possible opportunity to beef up these skills.
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
Make your own programming language. Find out more here.
