The Fair Day is the culmination of student projects. Industry, academic, student and family guests are invited to see student projects and celebrate their achievements. The first event was held in June, 2007 and it has come to be a very special day for all concerned. Formal invitations are sent six (6) weeks prior to the event and the CIS News and Events page and CIS homepage advertise the event well in advance of the day.
Within CIS the projects are core in many of our programs such as Software Engineering, Multimedia, Masters degrees and Information Management. In our other degree programs, the project is a popular elective as our students realise the benefit of applying the knowledge they have gained in their academic studies to a problem presented by a client. With projects long located in industry and the community, and long standing joint programs with other Schools such as with the School of Communication and the Multimedia degrees, we believe that CIS is well on the way to achieving many of the experiential goals for programs in the recently released Step 2010.
The CIS Industry Alliance Program is instrumental in recruiting both industry partners and client organisations, both of which have been fruitful sources of student projects. On all Fair Days, all members of the IAP will be invited to attend and, if past events are any guide, attendance will always be healthy. The IAP is critical to further expansion of the number and diversity of student projects.
The day is very special for students. Not only are most of them about to graduate, they have the pleasure of seeing their work recognised academically and by industry, and looking at their most professional in front of family and friends. As you can imagine, the address by the industry speaker and senior academics lend a sense of importance and occasion to this very special day.
The format of the day is a formal welcome, followed by the project exposition. The formal welcome contains addresses by dignitaries, the One Minute Madness Presentation by Project Teams, and the Formal Project Handover to Clients.
The One Minute Madness Presentation is a fast and furious introduction for the audience to all the projects. One member from each project team has one minute and one slide to convince the audience as to why the guests should come and see their demonstration during the Exposition.
The Formal Project Handover is a powerful symbolic event in which students hand over their physical deliverables to their clients or client representative, signifying the end of the project.
In the Exposition, each project team sets up their booth to show off their project to best advantage, and guests are encouraged to visit as many projects as possible. Guests are also important in deciding the winner of the People’s Choice Award as their votes are usually the decider on which team is presented with the certificate at the end of the day.