MIASF Announces Elevator Pitch Competition Winner

For the past few months the Education and Workforce Committee for the Marine Industry Association of South Florida (MIASF) has been working with Broward schools to organize the second Marine Industry Elevator Pitch Competition for students from South Broward High School’s Marine Magnet Program. Eighty junior and senior students entered the competition to create a one minute “elevator pitch” to sell themselves for a career in the marine industry. This year’s winner was South Broward High School junior Elizabeth Delgado who received a $500 scholarship for post high school education.

The competition started in January with a presentation by Bluewater Training and Toastmasters. The students gave their first presentations in the classroom, where teachers and peers identified the top 40 students to advance to the next round of the competition. These 40 students then presented their pitches to a panel of MIASF education and workforce committee judges. The top 20 students were chosen to compete in the semifinal round at the Refit International Exhibition and Conference at the Broward County/Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center on April 11.

During the semifinal round, students again presented their pitches to a panel of marine industry judges, most of whom are looking for qualified employees for their businesses. The judges helped narrow the field to five finalists and stayed afterward to give the students feedback about career opportunities.

Students were then given an hour to walk the show and speak to exhibitors before meeting at the demo stage on the show floor for the final round. MIASF members and Refit Show exhibitors were invited to watch as each of the five finalists gave their last pitch, this time to a panel of guest judges, including Matt Rocco, president of South Florida Manufacturers Association, Lisa Morley, executive vice president of Maritime Professional Training, Vicki Abernathy, chief operations officer of AERÉ Marine Group, Bill Walker, owner/CEO of Water Taxi Fort Lauderdale, and Phil Purcell, CEO/president of MIASF.