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March 24 - 26th, 2023
Schedule of Events
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Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University

Tepper School of Business
Have you ever looked around your world and wished something about it was different?
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Have you ever found yourself noticing how products could be just a little bit better with one small change?
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Have you ever had an experience and thought “they should hire me to fix this!”

If any of these describe you, then Xchange Ideas is a weekend designed for you!

From Friday evening until Sunday afternoon, we’ll be working (and having fun) together to bring your ideas to life. We’ll bring the experts and the expertise and you bring the thinking! No matter what state your ideas are in—you have the idea but it needs a little nurturing, or you want to use this time to come up with an idea—you are welcome.

Our expert facilitators will guide you through a series of exercises from our strategic design toolkit (used by companies and instigators all over the globe) to help you bring those ideas to life!

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Post it notes are so 2019.
Here are a few of these activities we'll do together:

This is an example of an activity called a creative matrix, it is designed to help you generate lots of ideas quickly. We’ll have activities like this available for folks who want to use this time to generate new ideas.

creative matrix example

This is a concept poster, it is a way for you to express your ideas to possible investors, business partners, teammates and supervisors. We’ll have activities like this available for folks who are ready to bring some form to an existing idea.

concept poster example
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From no-tech to low-tech to high-tech,
All people and ideas are welcome!

Throughout the weekend, we’ll make space for you to hear feedback from other participants and experts to help you reimagine your ideas as business concepts!

We’ll end with a celebration of all of the ideation we do together where we’ll award some prizes for the business concepts (or parts of concepts) that really stand out.  

We will have several free tickets reserved for people who want to brainstorm or already have ideas related to certain topics.

Those topics include:‍

  • aging
  • disability employment
  • responsible AI
  • engaging small businesses
  • sustainability
  • food/agriculture
  • digital media
  • workforce development
  • civic engagement
  • health / wellness
  • culinary / hospitality
  • and more!
Food, drink and even entertainment will be provided! We can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!
Register Today
Man with pgh disruptor tshirt on

Schedule of Events

Friday, March 24th

Day 1 | 5 - 8 pm

5-5:30pm

Welcome 

This is your time to settle in, meet others and grab a plate.
Make sure you have signed the photo waiver and have your name tag on!

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5:30-7:30pm

‍Make | Choose your adventure

We invite you to start working on your Protoconcept Poster. Make sure you have an exciting name, a description, and a rough sketch for your idea. 

Pick the winning idea from your creative matrix and start fleshing it out on the protoconcept poster. 

Iterate!
Now it's time to talk to share your draft, talk to coaches, and make changes to your protoconcept poster.

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7:30-8:30pm

You are done! 

Time to wrap up and get those last changes in on the posters.

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Dinner: Fish Fry Friday aka Pittsburgh's #1 Fish Fry! by Community Kitchen Pgh

Community Kitchen Pgh logo
Community Kitchen Pittsburgh's mission is to use food as the foundation to change lives and strengthen communities by providing culinary training and opening career pathways to individuals who experience barriers to employment.

saturday, March 25th

Day 2 | 9 am - 5:30 pm

9-9:30am 

Welcome back

Grab some breakfast and settle in.
Make changes to your posters if needed and start putting them on the walls.

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10-11am 

Time for feedback! 

This is your chance to give and receive good feedback.
Make sure you make a note of ideas that you find interesting during this session. 

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11 - 11:30am

Break

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11:30am - 12:30pm 

Speaker Session + Lunch

Lunch Provided by: Chef Dix

Illustrated portrait of Chef Dix
Who is Chef Jay Dix? Man - Chef - Entrepreneur - Hiphop Artist - Songwriter - Caterer - Designer - God Father - Son - Brother - Internet Personality - International MAN OF LEISURE

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12:30 - 12:45pm 

Decision time! 

You can now choose to either commit to your original idea and build it out further
OR choose to join another idea as a contributor

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12:45 - 2:30pm

Make | Knowing your users
This is where you really understand the users who you are solving for. Think about the larger system. Feel free to use your laptops, call people, or leave the building to do research.

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2:30 - 3pm

Break

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3 - 4:30pm

Make | Prototyping Session

Let us start building! Prototyping allows you to make your ideas tangible making it easier to discuss, get feedback and learn by doing. You are free to use tools that make sense for you. 

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4:30 - 5:30 

Time for feedback! 

Present, act, or showcase your prototypes. This is your time to give and receive good feedback.

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5:30 - 6:30 

Wrap up

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Dinner provided by:

Chef Dix "World's 1st Rappin Chef"

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Evening entertainment provided by the multi-talented event host, stand up comedian, and hip-hop artist:

WAY

Illustrated portrait of artist Way
Listen to WAY on episode 15 of The Goddess and the Medicine Woman Podcast

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Sunday, March 26th

Day 3 | 9 am - 3 pm

9-9:30am 

Welcome back

Coffee and treats provided by: Millie's Homemade

Millie's Homemade logo
Mille's started back in 2014 on a whim and is now available all over the greater PGH area and ships nationwide.

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9:30-10:15am 

Speaker session

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10:30am-12pm 

Make | Final Concept Poster

This is your time to finalize your concept poster, polish the story you want to tell, and get ready for pitching your ideas  

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12 - 12:45pm

Speaker session + Lunch

Lunch provided by: Blanket & Board

Blanket and Board Logo
At Blanket and Board, we believe that food, dialogue, and connection are deeply intertwined and essential for building a strong and inclusive community. Food has the power to bring people together, break down barriers, and foster understanding and empathy. It can be a powerful tool for building connections between individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life. Founded by a social worker in the midst of the pandemic and social unrest after the death of George Floyd; she provided a unique opportunity for friends and family to gather in a safe, socially distant yet intentional way.

1 - 2pm

Time for feedback! 

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2 - 2:15pm

Place your votes 

It is time to place your two votes on the ideas you think are the best!

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2:15 - 2:45pm

Speaker session

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2:45 - 3pm

Announcing the Winners

Make sure you attend the final event of this weekend while we announce the winners on the stage

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