Washington, DC & Morristown, NJ – February 19, 2019
The American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) and Schindler Elevator Corporation are proud to announce its third year of partnership. We have teamed up to bring back the ‘Elevate Your Pitch’ student competition to the AIAS membership. This competition presents university students with a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges for a chance to win recognition and earn one of three cash prizes.
“Schindler is proud to partner with the AIAS for the third year in a row with the Elevate Your Pitch competition,” says Mike Ramandanes, senior vice president; New Installations, Schindler Elevator Corporation. “We are impressed by the remarkable business ideas that have come out of the competition in prior years and look forward to the potential innovations it will bring this year.”
An elevator pitch is a quick description of your business and/or idea in the time it would take to ride up an elevator (60 seconds). Presenting yourself effectively is an essential tool in the architectural profession; it can lead to new partnerships, new clients, and ultimately, new business. Ideas may be at any stage of development, ranging from creation of concepts, to an established business or product. Once again, we are welcoming AIAS members to think about including other disciplines at each university, provided one member per team is an AIAS member. This will allow AIAS members to collaborate with students in business, communications, or engineering disciplines to come up with a truly innovative pitch.
Last year’s second place winner, Samantha Pires of New Jersey Institute of Technology, spoke at AIAS Grassroots, “I’ve had this idea [for Studio Mug] for a while now. Once I saw the competition, I thought it would be a good way to test [my concept] out and resolve some of the issues I had with the idea, and to use the skills we learned in architecture school for a different purpose.”
Upon asking what advice Pires has for students interested in submitting their ideas for the 2019 competition, she said, “The most important part is to brainstorm and share ideas with friends. Refine your ideas and look at it again. Make sure you’re preparing and explaining your idea in the most efficient way.”
This year’s competition will run from February 19, 2019 to June 1, 2019, at which point a jury of various backgrounds will select the top entries. The finalists will be notified and asked to join us at the AIAS Grassroots Leadership Conference held in Washington, D.C. on July 18-21, 2019, where they will introduce their video and compete in the finals.
Details are available at www.aias.org/pitch and submissions will be due by Saturday, June 1, 2019. Winners will be announced in July at the AIAS Grassroots Leadership Conference.
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ABOUT THE AIAS
The American Institute of Architecture Students is a non-profit, student-run organization dedicated to programs, information and resources on issues critical to architecture and the experience of education. For more information, visit www.aias.org or call Kimberly Tuttle at (202) 808-0036.
ABOUT SCHINDLER ELEVATOR CORPORATION
Schindler Elevator Corporation is the North American operation of the Switzerland-based Schindler Group, a leading global mobility provider of elevators, escalators and related services. Schindler supports sustainable urban development with safe, reliable and sustainable mobility solutions, moving more than one billion people every day all over the world. Behind the company’s success are over 60,000 employees operating in more than 100 countries. For additional information about Schindler Elevator Corporation, visit the company’s Web site at www.us.schindler.com
