Project Proposal Pitches

Recall that the final for this course is a 2-5 page project proposal, which we will do in teams. But before we form those teams to write that proposal, we will start with short individual elevator pitches for future work ideas related to proof automation.

The goal of this class is to help you form an interest-based team with whom to write your final proposal. To do this, you will pitch some future work idea related to proof automation for about 60 seconds to the class. It doesn't have to be good, and it doesn't have to be novel. The important part is just to get up there and say something. There will be plenty of time to team up, refine ideas, discard ideas you don't like, think of new ideas, and so on, before you turn in the final proposal.

Before class, please write a short pitch for a future work idea related to proof automation, and practice it to make sure it's about the right length (60 seconds). Your goal in the pitch is just to communicate the gist of the idea to the rest of the class---what the problem is and how you want to solve it.

If you have trouble thinking of a pitch, I recommend that you look back at your answers to previous discussion questions in the class forum. You've all had a lot of really great ideas that you've written about in the forum already! Many of those will make really great proposals. You can piggyback off of one if you'd like. (And remember, the idea doesn't even have to be great. There will be time to refine it.) You can also piggyback off of any of your thoughts from the brainstorming session last week.

You can piggyback off of someone else's idea from a previous class forum post or the brainstorming session if you'd like, but if you do, please be sure to give them credit during your pitch. It's OK if multiple people pitch the same idea---you'll probably make a good team! But intellectual honesty and credit are important when others inspire us.

Once you have an idea, it should be enough to just write down the problem and how you plan to solve it. This will probably take about 60 seconds to communicate alone, without much technical detail. Be sure to practice at least once before class to make sure the timing is reasonable.

In class, we will present the pitches alphabetically by last name. Each student will have 60 seconds to give their pitch. You will get six points toward your final course grade just for doing this pitch. Again, it doesn't need to be good, it just needs to happen.

Once all students have given their pitches, we will use the rest of the class for students to talk to other students whose pitches they found interesting, and exchange ideas with one another. Accordingly, when other people are giving their pitches, be sure to tune in to find ones you may be interested in. If you find some common interests with other students, you'll make a great team for the final proposal!