Congratulations!
You have made it to the Semifinal round of the GIST Tech-I Competition 2015!
The expert reviewers thought that your application was great and that you deserved to be selected as
one of the 76 semi-finalists. Now is your time to shine in the public voting stage of the competition!
Remember, only thirty people will be selected as finalists and continue on to the live pitching finals at
the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, Kenya in July. Whether you will be selected as a finalist
will depend on your expert panel scores and voting score. Now that the voting has begun, it is your time
to show the world how amazing you and your idea are!
From our experience, we have found that the best advocate for your innovation is YOU! In previous
years, those finalists who actively promoted their innovation not only received the most votes but also
many received funding to start their ventures from investors. That is why we have put together this
toolkit to help you promote your innovation and to pass on our best advice to help you!
We are aware that there is a lot of information to take in, but please take some time and carefully read
through this document. It is here to help you succeed in this competition. As always, we are here to help
you so if you have any questions please feel free to contact us!
Voting Explanation:
The public voting portion of the competition is an exceptionally exciting phase which we are excited to
assist you through the process. This is your opportunity to develop key skills in communication and
advertising while putting them into real practice in order to get people to vote for you. This portion of
the competition can seem like hard work and feel very competitive but it will all be worth it. You will
find that the more active and passionate you are about your project, the more you will get in return.
During voting for Tech-I 2014, our 67 finalists achieved a massive 405,000 votes for their applications
with the highest number of votes for one person exceeding 45,000! In this one month of voting, over 1
million people visited the Tech-I website and watched the semi-finalist videos. Due to this exposure, 4
semi-finalists had their ventures entirely funded by investors!
Below is a list of some of the activities which semi-finalists were involved in last year:
• Semi-finalists appeared in international and domestic newspapers;
• Some semi-finalists were interviewed on television including BBC World;
• Semi-finalists were invited to embassies and public speaking events at Universities;
• Countless blogs and web articles were written about the semi-finalists;
• Here at AAAS we hosted several voting parties and promoted everyone through all of the US
scientific and innovation networks;
• Semi-finalists held voting parties in their homes and local malls.
This list of activities could continue for several more pages!
This year we want the voting to be even more successful! Throughout voting, the AAAS Tech-I team will
be available to assist and advise you on what activities and opportunities would help you and your team.
We are here to promote all of you in order to achieve the greatest publicity and level of success for each
and every single one of you. Now that you have been selected as 1 of our 76 semi-finalists we want to
help promote you!
Voting Rules:
Before you start recruiting people to vote for you, it is important that you understand the rules and
guidelines associated with the public voting portion of the competition.
Key points for all semi-finalists before we get into the fun stuff:
•
•
You will receive an email update with both your number of votes and those of the other semifinalists two times per week. This update will provide you with the number of votes received but
not the score associated with each vote (more on this to follow); and
Fraudulent activities associated with voting will not be tolerated in the GIST Tech-I competition.
This is clearly detailed in the terms and conditions laid out in the Program Announcement. If
anyone is suspected of fraud or has fraud occurring on their account, you will be contacted by a
member of the Tech-I Team and have your votes frozen. Should the fraud continue, you will be
removed from the competition. Last year, 2 semi-finalists were removed from the competition
due to fraud. To combat fraudulent activities we have a number of fraud detection technologies
built into the system including an increased number from last year. Moreover, each and every
single vote is checked by a member of the AAAS Tech-I Team.
And now to the fun and exciting stuff!
Voting is really easy, but to help we have written the following easy guidelines for you to pass on to
everyone else.
1. Voting Log In - In order to vote everyone must first log in using either your Facebook account or
an e-mail account. The log on is required to ensure that we have the best possible competition
and to reduce fraud.
2. 5 Star System - Everyone will be able to vote on each video using a 5 star system. With this
system, 5 stars is the HIGHEST score for your favorite videos and 1 star is LOWEST score.
3. How Many Times Can People Vote For Me? - Everyone will be able to vote on each video once
per day. For example, today your friend will be able to log in and vote on all 76 videos but if they
want to vote on your video for a second time you will have to wait until tomorrow. This also
means that you can get your family and friends to vote for you every day. If they vote every day
that will count as 32 votes!
4. Tell Me More About The Entries - If you click on the name of any semi-finalist you will be taken
to their page where you will be able to find out more details about where they are from (also
see our great interactive map on the semi-finalist page online) and learn more about their
project.
5. Get Others Voting - With the voting platform you are able to share your video on Facebook and
Twitter. This is a great way to get your friends and family involved!
6. Video Order - When you start voting you will discover that the videos are displayed in a random
order. You are also able to search using the name of the semi-finalist or company or
alternatively search by region and sector. The order of videos does rotate so if you are not on
the front page this hour, do not worry. Rotation of applications takes place every hour!
New this year is the March to One Million Votes Campaign that looks to draw attention to each and
every single GIST Tech-I semi-finalists by generating one million total votes. As part of this campaign
there is the additional opportunity for everyone to vote in order to win a GIST Regional Startup Boot
Camp for your country or a country of your selection in 2016. The country with the highest number of
votes will win a Regional Boot Camp in 2016!
GIST Startup Boot Camps empower young science and technology innovators and entrepreneurs
through on the ground training and mentoring delivered by top U.S. mentors and in-country partners.
Training and mentorship combined with exposure and access to capital encourage entrepreneurs to
confidently apply their skills to advance science and technology ventures. Regional Startup Boot Camps
accept entrepreneurs from the local region or a pre-selected sub-set of countries in a region to expand
the reach of a single country event.
Where to Start:
The best place to start is with the people who know you best! This may be your team, family, friends,
colleagues, or social media followers. These are the people who will want to support you and to vote for
you. More importantly, they will also be the people who help to start your promotion by telling their
friends about you, who then tell their friends, who tell their friends and so on!
The other great reason to start with your friends and family is that you can use this as a chance to
practice how to advertise yourself and how to get people to vote for you. It is also a great opportunity
for you to practice your quick pitch to get the attention of others.
Who to Contact:
Once you have contacted your family and friends, we next suggest that you reach out to media in your
area to promote yourself and your innovation. This can include local newspapers, radio, universities etc.
You should definitely think outside the box!
Your own government can also provide help encouraging people to vote and you do not need to stop
there! You should contact your local governments, such as city or regional governments. Outside of
government, you can reach out to non-government groups. For example, local clubs or associations
would likely be happy to help you. If you need any help locating these groups let us know and we can
look into assisting you.
We will also be promoting you here in the United States in addition to contact the United States
Embassy in your country. You may therefore here from us with requests for you to contact people or to
conduct interviews! We will also contact previous GIST Tech-I winners in your country to assist you with
great contacts and outlets for promotion.
What to Say:
First, you should always state your name and that you are a finalist for the GIST Tech-I Competition.
Overview of the Program
Even if you are speaking with the U.S. Embassy, it is always good to go over the competition. Below is a
short overview of the program that you can use.
The GIST Tech-I Competition is an annual competition for science and technology entrepreneurs from
emerging economies worldwide. The competition is a U.S. State Department initiative and is
implemented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Aspiring innovators
submit their ideas and startups online in an application consisting of an executive summary and
promotional video. Their applications are then reviewed by experts and voted on by the global voting
public in order to determine the finalists. Thirty finalists receive an all-expense paid trip to the Global
Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), this year in Kenya, to showcase their ventures and to receive intensive
training. Tech-I winners, selected by experts at the GES, win mini-grants, and receive one-on-one
mentorship and training.
Statistics
Numbers always help people understand what a great opportunity the challenge is and how you have
excelled in the competition. Be sure to say that you were one of 76 chosen from a total of 792
applications worldwide.
Your Biography and Innovation
Make sure that when you reach out to people and groups that you talk a little about yourself such as
where you come from and any background information you feel is important. People will want to hear
about you! You should also talk about what your innovation or start up is. Tell them why you came up
with the innovation and why it is important.
Highlight the Benefits
In order to get people to vote for you, you should also bring up the positives of you being a part of the
competition. At minimum you should mention that the competition will allow you to share your
community with the rest of the world. You might be surprised at how many people will vote for you just
because they want to see someone from their village, city, region, or nation go on to the world stage
and be recognized.
You should also highlight any potential benefit your innovation or startup will have for the community.
For example, if it will save lives or create jobs, be sure to mention that to people you are speaking with.
Also don’t forget about the March to One Million GIST training Boot Camp for the country that receives
the most votes!
Make sure to mention!
-Finalists get mentorship and have a chance to win prizes.
-Finalists get the chance to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, Kenya in July and to
meet investors, mentors, and international leaders including President Obama.
-Direct them to where to vote! The website is gistnetwork.org/tech-i/vote
Tools
Provided Materials
With this packet, you will find a poster and images to promote voting in English, Arabic, French, Spanish,
and Russian. Use these to your advantage and post them around your community. You can always write
on the posters asking people to vote for your innovation. You also will have the acceptance letter from
us. Feel free to use that letter as proof that you have made it to the semifinals when dealing with the
media.
Voting Party
A great way to get your family and friends voting for you is to hold voting parties. Semifinalists in the
past have had success with this approach to getting votes. All you need to do is set up a computer with
internet access and invite people over to vote. You can entice them by offering food or drinks if they
vote. We even had a semifinalist’s mother cook food to help bring people in to vote.
Online Tools
Facebook
Facebook is a great tool for promoting your innovation to your friends in your social network. If you do
not already have a Facebook account we encourage you to sign up for one, it is free and easy. We
encourage you to post links to your innovation. To share the link to your application, just copy the link
from the website of you application and post it in the post section. You can add comments as well. Ask
friends to share the post to help promote your reach.
We have set up a Facebook page just for semifinalists which we will be sharing ideas on how to promote
yourself and allow you to engage with other semifinalists. That Facebook pages
is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GISTTechI2015Semifinals/. Please connect with us! We have also
provided some good groups to follow or join on Facebook below. If you need help finding additional
regional groups to follow, please let us know and we can help you.
Follow:
GIST: https://www.facebook.com/GISTnet
Entrepreneur Magazine: https://www.facebook.com/EntMagazine?fref=ts
Global Entrepreneurship Week: https://www.facebook.com/unleashingideas
The Entrepreneurship Club: https://www.facebook.com/oureclub
Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship: https://www.facebook.com/bransoncentre?fref=ts
AIESEC: https://www.facebook.com/AIESECglobal/timeline
LinkedIn
Like Facebook, LinkedIn allows you to create a profile and connect with others. It is more of a
professional website but it still allows you to promote your innovation to others in posts. Just like
Facebook,
it
is
free.
You
can
join
our
Tech-I
group
at: https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=6956013. Other groups we suggest following are listed
below.
Follow:
Entrepreneur Magazine: https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=1406987
Global Entrepreneur Network: https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=4431818
Young Entrepreneur Connections: https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=3098496
Twitter
Twitter is another great tool. Just like Facebook, if you do not already have a twitter account, it is free
and easy to set up. If a new user, search for people to follow and friends to connect with. We suggest
following the groups below.
Follow:
GIST: https://twitter.com/GISTNetwork
Spark Entrepreneurs: https://twitter.com/StartTheSpark
Eversole Associates: https://twitter.com/EversoleAssoc
Entrepreneur Magazine: https://twitter.com/Entrepreneur
Create a Webpage
A webpage is a wonderful way to make sure people can get more information about your project and
you. There are great free options for creating a webpage. www.blogger.com
and https://wordpress.com/ are good examples of free webpage tools. It is easy to use and you do not
need to know how to create a website to use it.
Please remember that we are here to help you promote yourself and your innovation. If you have
questions about anything that has been laid out above please let us know. Also, if you need any help
reaching out to an organization or media outlet, let us know and we can aid you in your outreach.
Best of luck!