Big Data Combine Judges and Contestants: Roles, Responsibilities and Benefits. Background on Combines Engineered by Battle Fin, Big Data Combines are rapid-fire, live tryouts for computer scientists with elite predictive analytics capabilities intent on monetizing their skills. Similar to athletic combines where college athletes participate in speed, strength and agility drills to compete for a shot at the pro s, the Big Data Combine is a talent show with a combine and draft wrapped into one live event. Combine participants showcase their skills and our unique group of judges draft the winners of the Big Data Combine. 12 finalists are selected from a huge applicant pool to compete in the live event on October 25, 2013. The data scientist will have only three minutes to present in non-technical terms 3 items: personal background; predictive model description; explanation of how the model can be used in finance. BattleFin will reach out to each winner on October 2 to determine next steps. The winning contestant will have until October 4 to book travel arrangements with our preferred agent Helena Marks at Protravel Inc. If hotel ticket and airfare is not booked by October 4 a new candidate may be chosen in your place. Participants will be expected to work with BattleFin to prepare a quality presentation our judges
will expect that. We will coach you through the process from October 4 until the Combine. We want you to be prepared and will help coordinate slide presentations. Remember we are only expecting 3 slides from you. Role of a Big Data Combine Judges There will be 5 teams of judges at the Big Data Combine. Judges (10 total) will be paired in groups of (2). Judges don t just quickly discern which competitors are talented today - their keen eyes help identify who has the potential to be great tomorrow. Judges aren t simply evaluating the competitors, their models and their performance. The judges question and critique in an effort to determine who might outperform in the future. Certainly, there are no guarantees. But our goal is to scout talent that deserves a shot. Judges are crucial for this task. Each pair of judges will have at least one person with the technical skill set necessary to judge the data scientists. Judges are also selected because they know how to have fun. The Big Data Combine is built to be useful and lively. Rarely are group events in finance or technology light hearted and we want to break that mold. Clearly, finance is serious business. But that doesn t mean we have to take ourselves too seriously. If judges have fun, the audience will have fun and, most important, the competitors will have fun. This is calculated not just for entertainment value. As competitors relax, their true colors grow sharper so judges evaluations can too. This kind of personal evaluation is more art than science - which is why we recruit only world-class pros to be our judges. Since we have the utmost faith in them, we won t hand out some checklist as though they re sitting front and center at a community talent
show. Instead, we want them to be themselves and think of the Big Data Combine as a series of interviews. The best hypothetical question Judges can keep in mind is, Which competitors would I personally invest in or hire for a data science job? Questions and critiques are born from this approach: Why would I invest my hard earned cash in one of these competitors? Why not? What else would I like to know to inform that decision? After a competitor presents, judges have two minutes of open time to probe and analyze the competitor and his or her approach. Judges should feel free to go ahead and ask anything they want - ticket holders relish the chance to hear those questions, regardless of how sophisticated or basic. Roll of Big Data Combine Participants Participants will work with BattleFin to make a great presentation to prepare you for the combine. You will only have 3 slides and 3 minutes to impress the judges. This might be stressful but BattleFin will help you prepare starting October 2 if you are selected. We will make your slides pretty and rehearse your pitch with you to make sure you shine at the Combine. Remember the goal is to pitch the concept of your predictive analytics at a very high level. For example, converting your science to a coin flip analogy or a the odds of a poker game might be something the audience can understand and comprehend. On October 2 we will give the winners two days to register with our travel agent Helena Marks at Protravelinc. By October 4 winners will be booked to attend the Combine. Remember we won t have a lot of time after the tournament ends on Kaggle so please make space in your calendar now if you have any confidence at all in your model. If you aren t booked by October 4, we will go down the list line of winners until we have our 12 contestants booked.
Attendance at the Big Data Combine All participants in the Kaggle tournament are welcome to attend the Big Data Combine and will receive FREE access to the event ($300 retail value). Over the two-day period, contestants and judges responsibilities, options and benefits are captured in this schedule: Thursday October 24th Evening: 7 pm: Meeting at the Loews Hotel Bar. Winning data scientists will be staying at the Loews Hotel on Miami Beach. Please check out the hotel online. Its pretty amazing and right on South Beach!!! 8 pm: Optional presentation review sessions. Friday October 25th Day: BIG DATA COMBINE: 1:00 pm: Pregame: Audience Registration / field pass 1:15 pm: Facebook Kick Off: Itamar Rosen 1:20 pm: Matt Iseman star of American Ninja Warrior to introduce the judges and participants along with the rules for Judges Draft live at the Combine 1:25 pm: Overview of tournament data revealed live at the combine and on twitter. Answer key released. 1:45 pm: 1 st Half: 6 presentations presented; Seeds 1-6. Judges questions and answers. Participants present from 3 page slide deck that BattleFin assists data scientist to prepare from Oct 2 Oct 22. You have 3 minutes to pitch what you created with BattleFin from October 2 the Combine.
2:30 pm: 1 st Half ends 2:35 pm: Intermission entertainment 2:45 pm: 2 nd Half: 6 presentations presented; Seeds 7-12. Participants present from 3 page slide deck that BattleFin assists data scientist to prepare from Oct Oct 22. 3:30 pm: 2 nd Half ends 3:35 pm: Judges Draft Lottery 3:55 pm: Draft Lottery Ends 4:00 pm: Judges Draft Selection Process Starts 5:00 pm: The winner of the Draft is crowned as the Big Data Combine Champion, Friday October 25th Evening: 7:00 pm: Dinner with select members of the Big Data Combine community for all participants at Casa Tua private members club in Miami. Saturday October 26th Morning: 9:00 am: Hotel Check out Our Thanks The Big Data Combine, Miami will be a distinctive, prominent and thrilling event and we appreciate that each participant and judge is keystone for its success! Questions
Please contact BT@battlefingroup.com