TechOlympics explained

TechOlympics
Status:Active
Genre:Conference
Dates:2010–present
Frequency:Annually
Venue:Procter & Gamble Headquarters
Location:Cincinnati, Ohio
Country:United States of America
Years Active:13
Founded:2010
Last:2023
Next:2024
Attendance:~550
Area:Greater Cincinnati
Organised:INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati
Filing:Non-profit
Website:Official Website
Footnotes:Current Theme (2024): Empower

TechOlympics is an information technology (IT) conference for high school students. It connects students with IT professionals and with companies in order to promote the field of IT. The conference was originally held at the Millennium Hotel from 2010–2019, the Great American Ball Park in 2020 and 2023, virtually in 2021–2022 due to the global pandemic.[1] [2] [3] The venue changed again to the Procter & Gamble Global Headquarters in Cincinnati for the 2024 event.[4] The event is run by the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, a non-profit organization seeking to empower students through a robust knowledge of IT. Colleges and other organizations are present at the event as well. Schools often attend as groups, but individual attendance is also permitted. The conference takes place over the course of one weekend, starting of Friday and going until midday Sunday. The events that take place during the conference fall into one of five categories: a Breakout, a Competition, a Workshop, a Showcase Demonstration, or a Speaker Presentation. However, there are other events that do not fit into one of these categories. Each year, the theme of the conference changes, and as such, so do the Breakouts and competitions offered, as well as the speakers presenting.[5] [6] [7] [8]

Breakouts

TechOlympics offers the opportunity for students to learn from professionals through breakouts. Breakouts are talks that typically last one hour long and generally focus on IT. A selected list of topics covered in past breakouts is provided below.

Competitions

TechOlympics is home to many competitions ranging from Wikiracing to competitive hacking. Below is a selected list of competitions.[9]

Showcase Demonstrations

A showcase project is large project that a group of students, often from the same school, take part in working on, in order to present the project to a panel of judges. This project is in competition with other projects to be the best project submitted. Winning this event is seen as a very important feat during the conference.

Workshops

For the past few years TechOlympics has offered workshops, bringing in professionals to teach students a skill. A selected list of past topics can be found below.

Speaker Presentations

Generally, after each meal, students will hear from a speaker, often one with an IT background, that discusses the merits of entering the IT field.

Yearly Themes

In the first year, the event had no theme and was simply titled "TechOlympics Expo 2010".[10] Subsequent years were similarly titled by the year they took place, until 2015, which began a tradition of declaring event themes, starting with "Connect".[11]

!Year!Theme!Source
2015Connect
2016Accelerate[12]
2017Amplify[13]
2018Imagine[14]
2019Level Up[15] [16]
2020Activate
2021Illuminate
2022BYTE Back[17]
2023Electrify[18]
2024Empower[19]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: INTERalliance Presents TechOlympics 2020: ACTIVATE. 2021-11-11. finance.yahoo.com. en-US.
  2. Web site: 2020-12-28. INTERalliance Announces TechOlympics 2021: Illuminate. 2021-11-11. GlobeNewswire News Room. en.
  3. Web site: Staff. FOX19 Digital. Demolition of Millennium Hotel underway. 2021-11-11. Fox 19. en.
  4. Web site: Home - TechOlympics 2024 . TechOlympics.org . INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati . 2 November 2023.
  5. News: Jones . Hannah . 2012-03-12 . Talented students show off skills at Tech Olympics . Local12.com . Cincinnati, Ohio . 2018-03-02.
  6. News: Heyne . Mark . 2015-02-02 . TechOlympics provides students with look at Information careers. WVXU . Cincinnati, Ohio . 2018-03-02 .
  7. News: . 2012-04-06 . INTERalliance hosts TechOlympics Expo for area students . Cincinnati Business Courier . Cincinnati, Ohio . 2018-03-02.
  8. Gundrum . Kyle . 2017-07-06 . INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati: Connecting High School Students with Information Technology Career Pathways . MS . University of Cincinnati . 2022-12-15.
  9. Web site: Competitions . Competitions - TechOlympics 2019 . INTERalliance . 21 December 2018.
  10. Web site: TechOlympics Expo 2010 . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20091230085443/http://www.techolympics.org/ . 2009-12-30 . TechOlympics.
  11. Web site: Join us at TechOlympics TechOlympics Expo 2015 . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20141222050918/https://www.techolympics.org/ . 2014-12-22 . TechOlympics.
  12. Web site: Join us at TechOlympics TechOlympics Expo 2016 . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20151212032201/https://techolympics.org/ . 2015-12-12 . TechOlympics.
  13. Web site: TechOlympics TechOlympics . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20170524154847/https://techolympics.org/ . 2017-05-24 . TechOlympics.
  14. Web site: TechOlympics 2018 – The nation's largest student-run tech conference . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20180613092414/https://techolympics.org/ . 2018-06-13 . TechOlympics.
  15. Web site: TechOlympics 2019 – The nation's largest student-run tech conference . deviated . https://web.archive.org/web/20190103132159/https://techolympics.org/ . 2019-01-03 . TechOlympics.
  16. Web site: Badlani '20 . Neil . CCDS Students “LEVEL UP” at TechOlympics . 2023-10-12 . The Scroll.
  17. Web site: Cincinnati . INTERalliance of Greater . 2022-01-17 . INTERalliance Announces TechOlympics 2022: BYTE Back . 2023-10-12 . GlobeNewswire News Room . en.
  18. Web site: 2023-02-19 . High-schoolers compete in everything from editing to engineering in TechOlympics . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20230316033213/https://local12.com/news/local/techolympics-electrify-technology-competition-expo-interalliance-greater-cincinnati-high-school-students-great-american-ball-park-ohio . 2023-03-16 . 2023-10-12.
  19. Web site: 2024-02-17 . 'TechOlympics 2024: Empower' is the nation's largest tech conference for high school students . 2024-02-20 . WLWT . en.