Social LaunchPad Guidelines

Purpose

The Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Creative Inquiry recognize the need to provide experiences beyond the classroom for budding entrepreneurs, inventors, and developers. Social LaunchPad is designed to recognize individuals and/or teams for their outstanding social or environmental contribution to our society. The competition requires that a team prepare a 3-minute, three-slide presentation as outlined below.

Competitor Qualifications

Competitors must be full-time students of Clemson University. Applicants can be solo individuals or teams of up to four members. To be eligible the team leader must supply an email address with @clemson.edu. Presentations should be sent to spiro@clemson.edu to be entered in the competition.

Nature of Social Entrepreneurship

The competition is a venue for sharing an act of volunteer work that the applicant has completed. The work may specifically be classified as socially or environmentally conscious. The following are examples of possible presentation topics:

Involvement in Campus Cleanup (ie: developing a program to reduce trash on Clemson’s campus)
Volunteering for a non-profit group (such as God’s Helping Hands or the Greenville Humane Society)
Assisting the homeless in downtown Greenville (ie: designing or improving a system to hand out blankets/soup/etc.)

Presentation Guidelines for Finalists

Each team has exactly 3 minutes to make its presentation. The format should include the following three slide headlines. Contestants may include more slides at their discretion, but must stay within the three-minute time limit. Each slide should answer some of the following questions.

Slide 1: The Problem

The problem slide should include:

Your name and how you became involved with the issue
What is the problem?
Why does it require attention?

Slide 2: The Solution

The solution slide should include:

How should this problem be solved?
What is required to solve the issue?

Slide 3: Your Impact

The impact slide should include:

How did you create an impact on your community, or those affected by the problem?
Will you be continuing to work on this issue?
How did your volunteer work affect you?

Judging Criteria and Evaluation Process

There will be three judges. Judging will be based upon the selection of those entities that have created a positive impact, either socially or environmentally, through a volunteer basis. Each judge will submit a grading sheet, and awards will be presented to the top two presentations.

Prizes

$5,000 in prizes! Cash awards will be given to the top two presentations as determined by our panel of judges. Both winners receive $2,500.

Schedule

March 1, 2013 — Final date for submission of entries including three-slide PowerPoint and one-page executive summary.
Mid-March 2013 — Final cut to top 10 entries. These entries will be provided with constructive input for preparation of final presentation.
Early April 2013 — Final judging.

Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Guidelines

Participants in Social LaunchPad will retain ownership rights of all submitted materials before, during and after the competition except as stated below. Clemson University, the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Creative Inquiry will respect the ownership rights of all participants but will not sign nondisclosure agreements because of the open character of this competition.
Please refrain from using sensitive information you wish to keep secret in your presentations and summaries as presentations will be open to the public and materials may be used for promotional and educational purposes.
Clemson University, the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Creative Inquiry may make photocopies, photographs, videotapes and/or audiotapes of the presentations including the PowerPoint slides and executive summary. They retain the right to use any and all materials and information submitted during the course of the competition for promotional and educational purposes throughout the world in all languages and media forms. The applicants retain all proprietary rights to their business concepts and designs.

This program is not a vehicle for raising funds and is void where prohibited.