Event Review
Elizabeth Bryan
Deanna Tenorio
Comp 1120
18 April 2024
Event Report
For the event report, I attended the Lobo Hackathon event, located at Lobo Rainforest on April 11th and 12th. The event was designed for people to attend and come up with a new business idea, as well as hear from many professionals in the business and engineering field. A few people came up with ideas and everyone else joined a group to help them with their idea. There were 12 groups in total who presented their new business idea. I wanted to do this event because it was something I had never heard of, and it was pertaining to business, which is my major. Another reason I chose Lobo Hackathon was because I knew I was going to hear from very experienced professors and deans to further my education. For the business idea portion of the event, I ended up going in a group that created a new app for Johnsson gym. I figured this new idea would be the most beneficial for UNM students, which is why I chose to be in that group.
The people I met from graduate students, undergraduates, professors, even the Dean of Engineering, were so beneficial for me because I was making important connections. Honestly, I wasn’t fully sure what the entire event entailed because I did not have any expectations when I went in, but I learned a lot more than I expected. The event was very educational because we had to learn how to properly present a business from the technical aspect to the marketing and financials. The main knowledge I received was when I got to hear a few speeches on the first day. The first was from the Dean of Engineering who talked about the logistics of engineering in the business world and how they all tie into each other. She was one of my favorite speakers because I never realized how much engineering goes into everything I've been learning about. I also heard from engineering graduate professors who explained further on what the Dean had talked about but also their personal experiences with the combination of engineering and business. We lastly heard from economic development officers who explained what economic factors we have to consider heavily when creating a business proposal. The professionals we got to listen to were the most beneficial part of the whole event for me because I got to learn so many technically skills about business entrepreneurship that I would have never thought about.
There was not much writing involved in this other than when we wrote out our business plans for the application. I think the speakers at this event had a lot of experience, which I would not be able to do as well. Public speaking is not my main forte, but I would have to practice my speech multiple times if I were to do something similar. However, everyone at this event was very prepared for all the presentations and speeches involved. I had to memorize 2 slides before the presentation on the second day. Everyone in each group participated in the presentation as part of the event to make us better public speakers and business leaders. The group leaders had done so much research prior to this event so they had their business mostly figured out. I would have to say that Christina Salas, who is in the graduate engineering program, was the most interesting speaker to hear from on the first day. She talked about using 3D printers to create models of products certain groups wanted to design. Her take on the whole design process was very interesting to me.
Overall, this experience was certainly helpful for me because it taught me a lot about what goes into creating a new product. I think it was a very well put together event that worked out great for everyone's learning experience. I have learned a lot more aspects about business during this two-day event than I have in a while, which has helped me with understanding the environment tremendously. There is a very good possibility that I will be going back to the Lobo Hackathon event again next year because of how educational it was for me.