Students have the opportunity to form a team and pitch an idea to solve one of three sustainability challenges and help us achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This competition is being held during SDG Week Canada. 

• McMaster Challenge: How might we encourage waste reduction in McMaster’s Centro dining area using a 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) approach?
  • Download McMaster Challenge Brief
• City Challenge: How can we increase active and sustainable travel before, during, and after Light Rail Transit construction?
  • Download City Challenge Brief
• International Challenge: How do we achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment?
  • Download International Challenge Brief

• Currently enrolled Undergraduate and Graduate students of McMaster University.
• Students can participate and pitch their ideas as part of a team of two to six team members.

Information Session (optional):  

• Date: Monday March 6, 2023  
• Time: 5:00-7:00pm   
• Location: Mills Library L304
• Ask questions to industry experts from McMaster’s Hospitality Services, Office of Sustainability, Facility Services and International Affairs; City of Hamilton’s Sustainable Mobility, Traffic Operations/Roads, and Public Health departments; and Metrolinx. You can ask questions about your challenge. 
• Register by 9am on March 3rd to let us know that you’ll be joining the optional information session on March 6th to learn more about the competition and work with experts to refine your pitch. 
• You don’t have to participate in the information session to participate in the pitch competition.  

Pitch Competition 

• Date: Wednesday March 8, 2023 
• Time: 3:00pm – 8:00pm 
  • 3:00pm-5:00pm (optional) – Meeting rooms will be available in McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) for groups to work on their pitch
  • 5:00pm – First round of 3-minute pitches to be given to a panel in a designated meeting room in MUSC
  • 6:15 – Pitch Competition Opening Remarks
  • 6:30pm – Top nine finalists to deliver their 3-minute pitch to an in-person audience and panel of judges in MUSC Atrium
  • 7:45pm – Winners announced 
• Location: MUSC meeting rooms and MUSC Atrium  
• Registration for the Pitch Competition opens at 6:30pm on March 6th (during the Information Session). Register early to secure your team’s spot for the Pitch Competition on March 8th. Only one team member needs to register and include names and McMaster email addresses of other team members. Seven team spots are available for each of the three challenges, so be sure to register early. 

Judges include academics and industry leaders from both McMaster and the City of Hamilton. 

McMaster Challenge

• Liana Bontempo, Sustainability and Wellness Manager, Hospitality Services
• Carlos Figueira, Director Custodial, Grounds, Logistics and Mail Services, Facility Services
• Lalita Goray, Director, Design & Construction, Facility Services and Co-chair of the McMaster Sustainability Advisory Council

Hamilton Challenge

• Daniel Chong, Project Manager, Daily School Route
  • Learn more about Daniel’s work with the Daily School Route in this Spectator Article
• Heather Harvey, Manager, Chronic Disease Prevention, Healthy and Safe Communities, City of Hamilton
• Peter Topalovic, Project and Program Manager, Sustainable Mobility, City Of Hamilton

Global Challenge

• Dr. Lin Sun, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Gender Studies
• Dr. Tony Porter, Professor/Associate Director IGHC
• Dr. Karen Balcom, Academic Co-Director for Teaching and Learning, Office of Community Engagement and Associate Professor of History and Gender & Social Justice 

• The purpose of this week is to promote awareness of the SDGs among students, faculty, and staff in higher education and inspire them to take action in furtherance of the goals on their campuses and in their local community.¹ 
• At McMaster, SDG Week takes the form of a Student Pitch Competition aimed to address three challenges: one at McMaster, one in Hamilton, and one internationally.  
• Learn more about SDG Week programming happen nationally and at McMaster. 
• The global initiative is hosted by the University Global Coalition in partnership with State University of New York.¹ Local leaders include UBC and SDSN Canada.² 

There are many different ways to pitch a great idea. You could tell a story, focus on the data, and/or provide a vision for what’s possible if your idea were to be implemented. As for delivery style, you can leverage your professionalism, your creativity, your emotional intelligence, and more.  

Here’s just one possible structure that you can consider: 

1. Clearly present the problem, particularly the part of the problem that your idea will solve. 
2. Introduce a compelling tagline for your idea and offer evidence suggesting it will work.
3. Share how you (or the responsible stakeholders) would go about implementing your idea. 
4. Consider the stakeholders (i.e., groups, departments) who need to be involved and why. 
5. Specify the talent, treasure, and/or time required to bring your idea to life. 
6. Highlight the potential impact and measures of success. 

Should we prepare slides?
There will be one introductory template slide for each group. Each team member can add their photo (optional), name, department, and faculty.

This introductory slide is meant to save you time introducing yourselves. The slide will be up as you begin and end your pitch, so the judges know who you are. This way, you can jump right into your pitch!

Additional slides are optional. We suggest only including slides if they are necessary and will add something meaningful to your pitch. Each team can have up to three additional slides.

How long is the pitch?
Three minutes maximum. The microphone will be turned off at the three-minute mark.  

Do all members of my team need to be present?
We recommend that only one team member present the pitch and all or most team members be in attendance for the pitch.  

Other things to consider:
Speak clearly and audibly into the microphone. During the finals, pitches will be delivered in the MUSC Atrium, which is noisy. Presenters will need to be intentional about their pitch delivery to ensure the judges and audience can hear and understand. 

If you have additional questions, let us know! Email @asp.mcmaster.ca or DM us @macsustain on Instagram.  

We want to hear your great ideas from students. We know you’re not consultants with all the facts and might not be experts on these topics just yet. Ultimately, we want to know that the idea addresses the stated problem, is feasible, and will have an impact. 

Judging Rubric:

How much time commitment would this require? 

~5 hours. This would include 2 hours to prep and 3 hours for the event day. 

Do we have to use the prize money to implement our idea? 

No, the prize money will be divided amongst your team members for you to use however you wish. There is no requirement to implement your idea, but by taking part you’ll be connected to academic and industry experts involved in each challenge area. Every big change starts with a bold idea! 

Do we have to have all the details of our idea figured out?  

No! We really just want to hear your great ideas. We also have a team of academic and industry experts available to help you access information, answer your questions, and refine your ideas. Come to the info night, come early to the pitch competition, and reach out to us if we can help!