Competitive Events
Click here to jump to the breakout sessions list.
"Hacker Heaven" Competition
"Hacker Heaven" is not for the meek. From the Mason HS creators: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves the recovery of a hidden phrase from Mr. Shade's secure server. Mr. Shade is an eccentric billionaire with state-of-the-art security. You must be able to overcome several obstacles before you recover the data. Our initial reconnaissance shows that you may need the following skills: Linux Shell commands, basic programming, network scanning, understanding of how servers work, knowledge about SSH, general hacker knowledge and basic cryptography." You will have 45 minutes max to solve the puzzle. Time is the enemy, and the faster you succeed, the more points you accumulate.
LEGO Mindstorm NXT Robotics
Compete against 31 other LEGO Mindstorm NXT experts. Facilitated by iSPACE, this competition will test who can most quickly program LEGO Mindstorm NXT robots to complete a series of steps. The tasks the robots must perform will grow increasingly difficult as teams get eliminated each round. Prior experience with LEGO Mindstorm NXT robots is helpful but not required.
QR Scavenger Hunt
"QR Scavenger Hunt" is a 60-minute blitz for teams of 2 or 3 who are good at using their smartphone to move quickly through clues and answers around the Millennium Hotel's TechOlympics Expo playing field. Up to 64 teams will be cut loose to follow clues and come up with answers. The winner of the gold, silver, and bronze will clearly be QR scanning smartphone monsters!
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Up to 64 players will be entered into a bracket tournament to determine who is Cincinnati’s Brawl champion! Standard Wii Nunchuk controllers will be provided; only Expo-provided controllers will be used. The competition will be fierce. You better practice!
Rock Band
Up to 64 "bands" (2-4 "musicians") will enter this Battle of the Bands to show Cincinnati whose band reigns supreme! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used. Each competing band (guitar, bass, drums, and/or vocal) will compete head-to-head against another school.
Mario Kart
Up to 64 individual players will race in a tournament of the most difficult Mario Kart tracks available to determine which school has the most experienced Mario Kart fanatics! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used.
Wii Tennis
Up to 64 players will be entered into a bracketed tournament to prove who is Cincinnati’s Wii Roger Federer! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used.
Speed Keyboarding
Up to 64 schools will pit their absolutely fastest keyboardists against each other in a typing tournament against the clock. Standard laptops (full-size keyboard) will be used to earn the highest score by typing the most words with the least errors/typos, in the shortest amount of time!
Speed Texting
Students show off who is Cincinnati’s fastest texter in a head-to-head tournament bracket. You must turn off "predictive text" during the competition, but you can use your own phone. The participants will text a series of messages against the clock while being monitored by a Speed Texting referee, who will receive the texts and score them for accuracy. Let's see who has Cincinnati's fastest thumbs!
Speed Coding
Test your wits against other coders in the region. Not only will this competition test who writes the best code, but who can do it in the least amount of time! Bring your thinking caps for this one...
Disaster Response Role Play Challenge
This event is for future leaders and problem-solvers who think they can respond well under pressure! You and 4 teammates are each leaders in different roles for a hypothetical city. One of you is the Mayor, one the Fire Chief, one the CIO, one the Police Chief, one the CFO. Your town keeps getting hit with a series of emergencies and disasters, none of which you'll know about till you open the envelopes or draw the next disaster card. Your job is to work with your teammate to create a compelling Disaster Response Plan and implement it, saving lives, re-establishing services, the internet, phone, and losing the least amount of people and money in the process... all in a fixed amount of time. And you will do all your problem-solving in front of a panel of judges who will give you points based on your creativity, your decisiveness, your leadership, and smarts!
Numbskull Academic Super Quiz
This is the event for the academically inspired... "Numbskull" is an online SAT/ACT test prep game, created by one of our own, Mr. Michael Bergan, graduate of Indian Hill High School. We've used Mr. Bergman's engine to create a killer quiz machine that you and 2 teammates take on. It's the ultimate tournament: 64 teams, down to 32, down to 16, down to 8, down to 4, down to 2 to the Gold Medalist. The questions range from challenging to very challenging. This is a no-brainer for the National Merit Scholars in the crowd... but the Gold medal isn't as easy to grab as you may think!
ArtTech Graphic Design Competition
The ArtTech Graphic Design Competition is open to as many from each school as want to enter a piece of digital art. Your entry may be a website or a digital drawing or anything NOT animated (no Flash, etc.). You can use any tools you want to create your entry, but your submittal must be in jpg format and must be under 10MB in size. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best High School Newspaper
Schools particularly proud of an edition of their school newspaper (paper version) may submit their entry issue to the Cincy’s Best High School Newspaper judges. The judging committee, comprised of professionals in media, publishing, and journalism, will select the "2012 Best Cincy High School Newspaper" Award. The entry issue of your school newspaper should be from the 2011-2012. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best High School Yearbook
Schools particularly proud of their yearbook from the graduating classes of 2011 may submit a copy of their entry issue to the Best Cincinnati High School Yearbook judging committee. The judges, comprised of professionals in media, publishing, and journalism, will select the "2012 Best Cincy High School Yearbook" Award. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best Student Website
Any student who has created a website for their school, a business, or simply a personal site, should submit a link to the website to the Cincy's Best Student Website judging committee. The judging committee, comprised of professionals in web design and graphics design, will select the "2012 Best Cincy Student Website" Award. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
"Hacker Heaven" Competition
"Hacker Heaven" is not for the meek. From the Mason HS creators: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves the recovery of a hidden phrase from Mr. Shade's secure server. Mr. Shade is an eccentric billionaire with state-of-the-art security. You must be able to overcome several obstacles before you recover the data. Our initial reconnaissance shows that you may need the following skills: Linux Shell commands, basic programming, network scanning, understanding of how servers work, knowledge about SSH, general hacker knowledge and basic cryptography." You will have 45 minutes max to solve the puzzle. Time is the enemy, and the faster you succeed, the more points you accumulate.
LEGO Mindstorm NXT Robotics
Compete against 31 other LEGO Mindstorm NXT experts. Facilitated by iSPACE, this competition will test who can most quickly program LEGO Mindstorm NXT robots to complete a series of steps. The tasks the robots must perform will grow increasingly difficult as teams get eliminated each round. Prior experience with LEGO Mindstorm NXT robots is helpful but not required.
QR Scavenger Hunt
"QR Scavenger Hunt" is a 60-minute blitz for teams of 2 or 3 who are good at using their smartphone to move quickly through clues and answers around the Millennium Hotel's TechOlympics Expo playing field. Up to 64 teams will be cut loose to follow clues and come up with answers. The winner of the gold, silver, and bronze will clearly be QR scanning smartphone monsters!
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Up to 64 players will be entered into a bracket tournament to determine who is Cincinnati’s Brawl champion! Standard Wii Nunchuk controllers will be provided; only Expo-provided controllers will be used. The competition will be fierce. You better practice!
Rock Band
Up to 64 "bands" (2-4 "musicians") will enter this Battle of the Bands to show Cincinnati whose band reigns supreme! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used. Each competing band (guitar, bass, drums, and/or vocal) will compete head-to-head against another school.
Mario Kart
Up to 64 individual players will race in a tournament of the most difficult Mario Kart tracks available to determine which school has the most experienced Mario Kart fanatics! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used.
Wii Tennis
Up to 64 players will be entered into a bracketed tournament to prove who is Cincinnati’s Wii Roger Federer! Only Expo-provided controllers will be used.
Speed Keyboarding
Up to 64 schools will pit their absolutely fastest keyboardists against each other in a typing tournament against the clock. Standard laptops (full-size keyboard) will be used to earn the highest score by typing the most words with the least errors/typos, in the shortest amount of time!
Speed Texting
Students show off who is Cincinnati’s fastest texter in a head-to-head tournament bracket. You must turn off "predictive text" during the competition, but you can use your own phone. The participants will text a series of messages against the clock while being monitored by a Speed Texting referee, who will receive the texts and score them for accuracy. Let's see who has Cincinnati's fastest thumbs!
Speed Coding
Test your wits against other coders in the region. Not only will this competition test who writes the best code, but who can do it in the least amount of time! Bring your thinking caps for this one...
Disaster Response Role Play Challenge
This event is for future leaders and problem-solvers who think they can respond well under pressure! You and 4 teammates are each leaders in different roles for a hypothetical city. One of you is the Mayor, one the Fire Chief, one the CIO, one the Police Chief, one the CFO. Your town keeps getting hit with a series of emergencies and disasters, none of which you'll know about till you open the envelopes or draw the next disaster card. Your job is to work with your teammate to create a compelling Disaster Response Plan and implement it, saving lives, re-establishing services, the internet, phone, and losing the least amount of people and money in the process... all in a fixed amount of time. And you will do all your problem-solving in front of a panel of judges who will give you points based on your creativity, your decisiveness, your leadership, and smarts!
Numbskull Academic Super Quiz
This is the event for the academically inspired... "Numbskull" is an online SAT/ACT test prep game, created by one of our own, Mr. Michael Bergan, graduate of Indian Hill High School. We've used Mr. Bergman's engine to create a killer quiz machine that you and 2 teammates take on. It's the ultimate tournament: 64 teams, down to 32, down to 16, down to 8, down to 4, down to 2 to the Gold Medalist. The questions range from challenging to very challenging. This is a no-brainer for the National Merit Scholars in the crowd... but the Gold medal isn't as easy to grab as you may think!
ArtTech Graphic Design Competition
The ArtTech Graphic Design Competition is open to as many from each school as want to enter a piece of digital art. Your entry may be a website or a digital drawing or anything NOT animated (no Flash, etc.). You can use any tools you want to create your entry, but your submittal must be in jpg format and must be under 10MB in size. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best High School Newspaper
Schools particularly proud of an edition of their school newspaper (paper version) may submit their entry issue to the Cincy’s Best High School Newspaper judges. The judging committee, comprised of professionals in media, publishing, and journalism, will select the "2012 Best Cincy High School Newspaper" Award. The entry issue of your school newspaper should be from the 2011-2012. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best High School Yearbook
Schools particularly proud of their yearbook from the graduating classes of 2011 may submit a copy of their entry issue to the Best Cincinnati High School Yearbook judging committee. The judges, comprised of professionals in media, publishing, and journalism, will select the "2012 Best Cincy High School Yearbook" Award. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Cincy's Best Student Website
Any student who has created a website for their school, a business, or simply a personal site, should submit a link to the website to the Cincy's Best Student Website judging committee. The judging committee, comprised of professionals in web design and graphics design, will select the "2012 Best Cincy Student Website" Award. You must submit your entry by Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
Breakout Sessions
Required Student Breakout Session -- "IT & U"
You must attend one session of "IT & U". This is a 60-minute small group discussion, 8 students at a time, with a senior, executive director, or manager from an INTERalliance sponsoring company. You will have a chance to explore how Information Technology touches your career interests. And you will get to do it with a local manager who might hire you someday - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
“Could It Be Possible?! Innovation in Health IT”
Sunnie Southern, CEO, Viable Synergy
An up-close look at 3 amazing health innovations that leverage information technology. Get a glimpse of the future...
“The Amazing NKU Center for Applied Informatics”
Josh Rodamer, CAI, NKU
Nothing local comes even close to the amazing mobile app development being done right here in your backyard at NKU. Check it out!
“Way Cool Stuff from the Air Force Research Lab”
Dr. Todd Nelson, Chief, Battlespace Acoustics Branch Air Force Research Laboratory
If you have a mad scientist or secret spy inside you, take a peek at what the Air Force Research Lab has been cooking up!
“TopCoder – How to Earn Bucks By Simply Being Smart!”
Jessie D'Amato Ford, TopCoder, Inc.
If you’ve got a brain for math and algorithms, you’ve got to see what kind of stuff TopCoder is willing to pay for. Very cool!
“IT in 2032… Where Are We Headed?”
Presented by IBM.
So how’s your crystal ball. Hear what the proponents of “Let’s Build a Smarter Planet” have to say about the future 20 years out.
“Living the Dream! Starting Your Own Web Business”
Danny Stull, CEO, VenturePax
Can it be done? Danny did it! He’s a recent Indian Hill High School grad with an impressive success story that’s going to inspire you.
“Facebook of the Future! Social Media Outlook”
Tim Schigel, CEO, ShareThis
Where is all this social media stuff leading us? Is Facebook doomed? Or is it going to keep getting bigger and bigger? Hear what Tim is seeing and causing as his own social media widget is becoming sought after by the “big boys”.
“LEGO Robotics, the Next Generation”
Tom Viars, iSPACE
You may have tried this stuff when you were younger. But boy oh boy have they added some new twists! Spend an hour and check out some very cool stuff at this demo by one of the guys who facilitates the LEGO Robotics program at iSPACE.
“Secrets from the Other Side of the Grade Book – The Professor Perspective”
Dr. Jaime Newell, professor, UC College of Business
How do you survive all the pressure put on you by demanding college professors? Why not ask one yourself? Dr. Newell will give you some tips, tricks, and traps to avoid. A must hear!
“Life After Microsoft - How to Use 'Big Company' Experience to Launch Your Dream”
DeVaris Brown, Marmalade, formerly Academic Evangelist for Microsoft.
So what does the guy who was responsible for championing Microsoft in the schools do when he moves to his next gig? Some pretty bizarre and amazing things! Come meet DeVaris and share an hour with a true IT innovator!
“The Future of Advertising”
Eric Bishop, Rockfish Interactive
Are you a marketing junkie? Do you enjoy figuring out how to predict and influence what people will buy? Eric Bishop does! Come hear the stories and secrets of this guy who’s seen the inside of P&G, Pepsi, Smuckers, and Folgers...
“Scratch – Learn to Code in an Hour”
Ted Tollefson
Can you really learn to write a computer program in an hour? Ted Tollefson says you can! Put him to the test, and check out this very cool approach to cutting code!
“IT Security – Foiling the Hackers”
Brian Lawlor, Chief Security Officer, The Kroger Co.
So... just how hacker-proof is the Internet really? Do you know how the pros keep the hackers out? Brian Lawlor of Kroger will let you in on some inside secrets of the trade.
You must attend one session of "IT & U". This is a 60-minute small group discussion, 8 students at a time, with a senior, executive director, or manager from an INTERalliance sponsoring company. You will have a chance to explore how Information Technology touches your career interests. And you will get to do it with a local manager who might hire you someday - a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
“Could It Be Possible?! Innovation in Health IT”
Sunnie Southern, CEO, Viable Synergy
An up-close look at 3 amazing health innovations that leverage information technology. Get a glimpse of the future...
“The Amazing NKU Center for Applied Informatics”
Josh Rodamer, CAI, NKU
Nothing local comes even close to the amazing mobile app development being done right here in your backyard at NKU. Check it out!
“Way Cool Stuff from the Air Force Research Lab”
Dr. Todd Nelson, Chief, Battlespace Acoustics Branch Air Force Research Laboratory
If you have a mad scientist or secret spy inside you, take a peek at what the Air Force Research Lab has been cooking up!
“TopCoder – How to Earn Bucks By Simply Being Smart!”
Jessie D'Amato Ford, TopCoder, Inc.
If you’ve got a brain for math and algorithms, you’ve got to see what kind of stuff TopCoder is willing to pay for. Very cool!
“IT in 2032… Where Are We Headed?”
Presented by IBM.
So how’s your crystal ball. Hear what the proponents of “Let’s Build a Smarter Planet” have to say about the future 20 years out.
“Living the Dream! Starting Your Own Web Business”
Danny Stull, CEO, VenturePax
Can it be done? Danny did it! He’s a recent Indian Hill High School grad with an impressive success story that’s going to inspire you.
“Facebook of the Future! Social Media Outlook”
Tim Schigel, CEO, ShareThis
Where is all this social media stuff leading us? Is Facebook doomed? Or is it going to keep getting bigger and bigger? Hear what Tim is seeing and causing as his own social media widget is becoming sought after by the “big boys”.
“LEGO Robotics, the Next Generation”
Tom Viars, iSPACE
You may have tried this stuff when you were younger. But boy oh boy have they added some new twists! Spend an hour and check out some very cool stuff at this demo by one of the guys who facilitates the LEGO Robotics program at iSPACE.
“Secrets from the Other Side of the Grade Book – The Professor Perspective”
Dr. Jaime Newell, professor, UC College of Business
How do you survive all the pressure put on you by demanding college professors? Why not ask one yourself? Dr. Newell will give you some tips, tricks, and traps to avoid. A must hear!
“Life After Microsoft - How to Use 'Big Company' Experience to Launch Your Dream”
DeVaris Brown, Marmalade, formerly Academic Evangelist for Microsoft.
So what does the guy who was responsible for championing Microsoft in the schools do when he moves to his next gig? Some pretty bizarre and amazing things! Come meet DeVaris and share an hour with a true IT innovator!
“The Future of Advertising”
Eric Bishop, Rockfish Interactive
Are you a marketing junkie? Do you enjoy figuring out how to predict and influence what people will buy? Eric Bishop does! Come hear the stories and secrets of this guy who’s seen the inside of P&G, Pepsi, Smuckers, and Folgers...
“Scratch – Learn to Code in an Hour”
Ted Tollefson
Can you really learn to write a computer program in an hour? Ted Tollefson says you can! Put him to the test, and check out this very cool approach to cutting code!
“IT Security – Foiling the Hackers”
Brian Lawlor, Chief Security Officer, The Kroger Co.
So... just how hacker-proof is the Internet really? Do you know how the pros keep the hackers out? Brian Lawlor of Kroger will let you in on some inside secrets of the trade.