Paid summer internships is a smart point. Many of the companies exhibiting at the event are keen to having summer tech interns, and perhaps if we packaged that up better we'd get more engagement from university tutors. Maybe we should create a listing of all the summer internships available as well. Thanks for a helpful idea.
I think this would create a lot of interest in the start-up area.
As part of my course there was a compulsory 6-month placement in industry. Most of the students were blissfully unaware of the start-up opportunities available, especially when the big players were dangling large money incentives and holding big promotion events. Also, if you took a typical internship with a bank, etc, the chances are that you got offered a graduate job. This in itself would prevent a lot of the students looking further for other opportunities even if they were being promoted.
The only time I even had a hint of the start-up world was the odd email from the career officer. (I actually remember the SongKick advert. I was really tempted to apply, even though you were just looking for a graduate position. In hindsight, I should have tried my luck :))
What would be useful in promoting the internships would be a start-up demo-day, where bunch of start-ups would come in and showcase their product/vision, development technologies, and any other 'cool stuff'.
Edit: To clarify, rather that a start-up fair, where students stumble about, the demo-day would be contained in a lecture room with a proper presentation and QA session. These types of events were always packed in uni.
Great feedback, thanks. I think some kind of on campus event is the next step and I love the idea of making it about product demos not standard booths.
