Resource:How to host a shark-tank event

Intro

Based on the hit television show ‘Shark Tank’, John Hopkins University hosted their own Shark Tank event. JHU hosted a Biomedical Shark Tank event with graduate students as their participants. It was hosted by the Biomedical Engineering department at JHU. Before the Shark Tank event, the BME got guest speakers to talk and held a poster session for undergraduate students.

 http://www.bme.jhu.edu/news-events/news-highlights.php?id=362

Need and goal

JHU UIF fellows saw the need for biomedical students to be more business/marketing savvy. They believed that most biomedical engineering students were more than talented in terms of engineering, but were not apt at commercializing their research or their work. Shark Tank would help them ‘dumb’ down their research so that the general populace would be able to understand it. This event would also help the students learn to market their idea and themselves. The BME department also wanted physicians to see the talent in their BME department.

Audience 

This event was aimed towards biomedical engineering faculty, biomedical engineering graduate and undergraduate students, and JHU physicians.

Speaker/s and content 

Two speakers were invited – Dr. Gautam Gulati and Henry Ahn. Dr. Gulati holds many degrees in biomedical engineering. Henry Ahn has his own startup in the biomedical field. Both were brought in to talk about their experiences in the industry.

Format 

During the early part of the day, the speakers addressed the audience. During the afternoon, undergraduate students in the BME department showcased their research and work in poster format. This poster session was open to the general public – so physicians, BME faculty and grad students were all part of the audience. There was a slight overlap between the undergrad poster session and graduate Shark Tank event. Overall, the entire day of events had lasted approximately 7 hours.

Reaching out to potential speaker/s 

Dr. Gulati holds many degrees in the fields of biomedical engineering. Henry Ahn owns a startup in biomedical engineering. Both Dr. Gulati and Henry Ahn had ties with JHU, and were found through either faculty or by extensive research. Reaching the speakers was done by emails and cold calling.

Cost

Because the highly endowed BME department was funding the entire event, budget was not a constraint. The only few things that required payment was the venue, food that was being offered to audience and participants, and the prize money.

Date 

The date and time were planned beforehand. The most convenient time for undergrads and physicians was found and chosen. The BME department really wanted the physicians to be able to attend, so that was the first priority.

Fundraising and sponsorships 

No sponsors were needed as the BME department funded the entire event.

Space 

The event was held near the JHU hospital where graduate studies are. This was 30 minutes away from their main campus. Because the BME department was targeting physicians and faculty, this was the location that was chosen. JHU UIF fellows chose a glass room so that viewing capability was high from all angles and people who were just passing by would come attend due to curiosity.

Branding

Initially, there were a few names other than Shark Tank that were considered for the event as faculty believed that Shark Tank would not promote the sharing of ideas. At the end, however, Shark Tank is the name that stuck as it was well known and popular. The overall message that was sent out to the participants was that all ideas were worth working on. This is different from the message the TV show Shark Tank sends to its participants. 

Promotion 

To raise awareness, flyers were handed out in a common area. Along with that, a Facebook page was created to inform undergrad students. Faculty and JHU hospital physicians were sent ‘Save the Date’ emails months in advance so that they could free up their schedule. Graduate students were informed via email as well.

 
Support 

The event pretty much ran itself. The most support was needed to set up and break down the venue, guide the audience, and to judge the Shark Tank event.

Event logistics

Before the event, ‘Save the Dates’ needed to be sent out in order to assure that attendance by ‘important’ people would be high. Catering needed to be done before the day of the event as well. Other than that, there were no major logistics prior or during the event.

Media capture

Shark Tank event was not captured through videos or photographs due to IP restrictions. However the speakers asked for their speeches to be recorded. This can be found on the website.

Evaluation 

JHU UIF fellows believe they reached about 80 audience throughout the event. The audience didn't stay throughout the day, but kept coming and going.

Sustainability and planning for future events

Save the Date emails would be important in planning a future event. Also, student participants would need to be informed at least a month in advance so that they can prepare themselves for the competition.

Future leadership 

No specific person was chosen to lead Shark Tank after JHU UIF fellows graduated. The UIF fellows were a part of an entrepreneurship group and gave the reins to that group. Because Shark Tank was done along with the BME department, the BME faculty know exactly how to run it, therefore if they want to do it again, they'd be able to instruct students to do so.

Lessons learned and tips for others (what worked and what didn’t, and your recommendations for others)

 

JHU UIF fellows believed that though it was nice running this event through the BME department, the would do it differently next time. Aiming it towards just one niche of engineering department really closed off their audience. Next time, they would hold a more general Shark Tank in a venue closer to the undergrad’s reach. They would choose to stay on the undergraduate part of campus instead of the JHU hospital.

 

The JHU fellow that was interviewed for this article was Nishant Ganesh Kumar (nishantgk@gmail.com).