1Event overview
Demo Day runs fully online on Saturday, 31 October 2026, 09:45–17:15 WAT. A produced livestream is broadcast to YouTube and LinkedIn, and registered guests also get access to the voting, games and networking rooms.
Nine teams pitch, NPD launches its new website live, and a panel, speakers and games keep online viewers watching and voting all day. With 19 days to go, the plan relies on fast, organic, community-led promotion rather than paid media.
Goals for the day
Showcase the teams
Give all 9 teams a professional broadcast stage to present their product and launch strategy to judges, brands and recruiters.
Launch the website
Launch the new NPD website with a moment people share, and drive its first wave of traffic.
Grow NPD Academy
Position NPD as the place where African digital marketers learn by building, and turn viewers into Cohort 2 enrolments.
Proposed success targets
| Metric | Target |
|---|---|
| Registrations (all channels) | 1,000 |
| Peak concurrent live viewers | 300 |
| Unique live viewers across platforms | 800 |
| Average viewing time per viewer | 60+ minutes |
| People's Choice votes cast | 400 |
| Replay views within 7 days | 3,000 |
| New-website sessions on launch day | 2,000 |
| Cohort 2 leads captured | 200 |
What we borrow from the reference events
| Reference | What it does well | How we apply it online |
|---|---|---|
| Bolt.new hackathon | Public project gallery, livestreamed judging, community voting, multiple award categories | Online showcase of all 9 projects, a People's Choice vote open to every registered viewer, and category prizes so more teams win |
| Adobe Summit | High-production keynote and a playful "Sneaks" segment that reveals new products with an entertaining host | The website launch becomes an "NPD Sneaks" broadcast moment with a countdown, live demo and Easter-egg hunt |
| Google Marketing Live | A tight, scripted product keynote built for the livestream, then on-demand recap content | Broadcast-style production: branded overlays, strict segment timings, and every session clipped for replay |
2Run-of-show: Saturday, 31 October (WAT)
The nine pitches run in three blocks of three, with something interactive every 60 minutes or less. Each pitch slot is 20 minutes: a 15-minute pitch, 4-minute judges' Q&A, and a 1-minute switch.
| Time | Duration | Segment | Online production notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | 75 min | Crew and presenter tech check | Every speaker and team joins the studio backstage; audio, camera, screen-share and backup power checked |
| 09:45 | 15 min | Pre-show goes live | Countdown, music and highlight reel on stream; warm-up trivia (Game 1) open on phones |
| 10:00 | 10 min | MC welcome | How to vote and play, hashtag, one QR code and link, teaser of "something new at 1:20pm" |
| 10:10 | 15 min | Opening keynote | NPD lead: why we teach by building, and the state of digital marketing in Africa |
| 10:25 | 10 min | Hackathon story film and judges' introduction | 3-minute recap video, then judges appear on screen together |
| 10:35 | 60 min | Pitch Block A: Teams 1–3 | Team on screen with slides; judges join for Q&A |
| 11:35 | 15 min | Game 2: "Guess the Brand" | Live leaderboard overlay on stream |
| 11:50 | 60 min | Pitch Block B: Teams 4–6 | Pitch Bingo (Game 3) runs alongside |
| 12:50 | 30 min | Lunch break | Sponsor videos and team teaser reel loop on stream; Meme Caption Challenge (Game 4) runs on social |
| 13:20 | 20 min | NPD Sneaks: new website launch | On-screen countdown, live screen-shared reveal, 5-minute tour, Easter-egg hunt opens (Game 5) |
| 13:40 | 40 min | Panel discussion | Proposed topic: "From Bootcamp to Boardroom: What Brands Want from Digital Marketers in 2027"; audience questions from chat |
| 14:20 | 60 min | Pitch Block C: Teams 7–9 | Last block; voting opens immediately after |
| 15:20 | 20 min | People's Choice voting opens + guest speaker | Judges deliberate in a private room while the speaker is live; proposed topic: AI, search and the new marketing playbook |
| 15:40 | 10 min | Game 6: Rapid-fire Finale; voting closes | Quiz on what the teams pitched; final leaderboard |
| 15:50 | 25 min | Awards ceremony | Winners revealed on graphics; winning teams brought on screen live |
| 16:15 | 15 min | Closing and next steps | Cohort 2 announcement with a Demo Day offer, thank-yous, "cameras on" group screenshot |
| 16:30 | 45 min | Virtual networking rooms | Optional breakout rooms: meet the teams, judges and recruiters |
| 17:15 | — | Close | Replay published the same evening |
Pitch structure for every team (15 minutes)
| # | Part | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Problem and customer insight | 2 min |
| 2 | Product and live demo by screen-share | 5 min |
| 3 | Marketing and launch strategy: positioning, channels, budget, first 90 days, KPIs | 6 min |
| 4 | Traction, business model and the ask | 2 min |
Pitch order is drawn live on the rehearsal stream on 28 October. One team member presents and one stands by on a separate device and network, ready to take over if the presenter drops.
3Pitch format and judging
Four judges score every team out of 100 on a shared online scoresheet, with marketing strategy carrying the most weight. People's Choice is a separate viewer award, so the main result cannot be swung by whichever team brings the biggest online crowd.
Judging panel (4 seats, all remote)
Brand marketer
A senior brand or growth marketer from a recognised African brand.
Founder or investor
A founder or early-stage investor.
Product lead
A product or technology lead.
NPD faculty
Chief judge and tie-breaker.
The virtual format lets us invite judges from anywhere in Africa or the diaspora. Each judge receives a webcam-and-headset checklist and joins the 28 October rehearsal.
Scoring rubric
| Criterion | Weight | What judges look for |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing and launch strategy | 30 | Clear audience, positioning, channel mix, budget, 90-day plan, measurable KPIs |
| Product quality and live demo | 20 | Working MVP, core action completed live on screen, polished and trustworthy interface |
| Problem and customer insight | 15 | Real African problem, evidence the customer cares |
| Creativity of the launch idea | 15 | A launch moment people would talk about and share |
| Business model and feasibility | 10 | How it makes money or saves cost; realistic next steps |
| Pitch delivery | 10 | Clarity, on-camera presence, time discipline, handling of Q&A |
Scores are entered in a locked Google Form or sheet during each Q&A and collated by the programme lead during deliberation.
Timekeeping rules
- An on-screen countdown timer overlay is visible to the team and to viewers.
- The producer shows chat cues at 5, 2 and 1 minute; at 15:30 the team's audio is faded and the MC steps in.
- Overruns cost 2 rubric points per 30 seconds.
- Every team submits by 27 October a 3-minute backup demo video and a full pre-recorded pitch, played if their power or internet fails.
Awards
| Award | Decided by | Suggested prize |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Winner | Judges' total score | Cash prize, digital trophy and certificate, feature on the NPD website, partner mentoring |
| Runner-up | Judges' total score | Cash prize and certificates |
| Best Marketing Strategy | Highest marketing score | Tool credits or ad credits from a sponsor |
| Best Product Demo | Highest product score | Tool credits |
| Best Pitch | Highest delivery score | Speaking slot at a future NPD event |
| People's Choice | Viewer vote | Digital badge and social media feature |
| Audience Champion (top 3 players) | Game leaderboard | Data bundles, airtime, NPD course discounts |
Physical trophies and certificates are couriered to winners in the week after the event.
People's Choice voting
- Run on Slido or Mentimeter, gated by registration: one vote per registered email, checked against the attendee list.
- Voting opens at 15:20 and closes at 15:50, after all nine teams have pitched, so early teams are not disadvantaged.
- Each project gets a page in the online showcase gallery on the new website, so viewers can review every team before voting.
4Audience engagement: virtual games and live voting
Six short games run on one cumulative leaderboard, with prizes awarded only to people present at the finale. Everything is played on a phone or second screen through one link and one QR code.
| # | Game | When | How it works | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warm-up trivia | 09:45–10:00 | Brand and marketing trivia on Kahoot or Mentimeter | Gets everyone onto the voting tool before the show starts |
| 2 | Guess the Brand | 11:35 | Brand clues shown as emojis or taglines on stream; fastest correct answers score | High-energy break between pitch blocks |
| 3 | Pitch Bingo | Block B | Digital bingo card of marketing terms; mark them as teams say them, then shout "Bingo" in chat | Keeps viewers listening closely |
| 4 | Meme Caption Challenge | Lunch | Caption a screenshot from the stream and post it with the hashtag; the MC reads winners on air | Generates organic social reach during the break |
| 5 | Website Easter-egg Hunt | From 13:20 | Five hidden clues on the new NPD website; first correct submissions score | Drives real traffic and exploration of the new site |
| 6 | Rapid-fire Finale | 15:40 | Ten questions about what the nine teams pitched | Rewards watching all day; builds tension before the awards |
Keeping the online room alive
- One link and QR code for games and votes, shown as a permanent on-screen overlay and pinned in every platform's chat.
- A dedicated chat moderator on each streaming platform welcomes people, answers questions and passes the best comments to the MC.
- The MC reads viewer names and locations on air ("greetings to Abeokuta, Accra and London"), which makes people stay and invite others.
- Polls every 20–30 minutes, such as "which launch channel would you use?", with results shown on stream.
- A live WhatsApp community for registered viewers gets segment alerts, such as "Website launch in 10 minutes".
- Audience prizes delivered digitally: data bundles, airtime, NPD course discounts and one full Cohort 2 scholarship.
5Organic promotion and listing opportunities
Our audience is anyone in Africa or the diaspora with a phone, and the message is "watch from anywhere, free". The strongest free channel is the people already invested: 9 teams, 4 judges, speakers, panellists and bootcamp alumni.
Event listing platforms
| Platform | Why use it | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Luma | Clean registration, automatic reminders and calendar invites, popular with tech communities | Primary registration page; all other listings link here |
| YouTube scheduled livestream | Viewers tap "Notify me" and YouTube reminds them when we go live | Schedule the stream by 15 October; share the link everywhere |
| LinkedIn Event (with LinkedIn Live) | Attendees are notified when the stream starts; reaches recruiters and brand marketers | Create from the NPD page, attached to the LinkedIn Live broadcast |
| Eventbrite | Event discovery, including its online events category | Mirror listing linking back to Luma |
| Tix.Africa | African event discovery audience | Free online-ticket listing |
| Facebook Event (online) | Reaches Facebook groups and older audiences | Create from the NPD page; cross-post to groups |
| Meetup and AllEvents | Extra discovery for online tech and business events | Quick listings |
| NPD website event page | Owned, searchable page with Event schema marked as an online event | Publish by 15 October; it becomes the replay and recap page afterwards |
Owned and community channels
Bootcamp leads, past enquirers and alumni: announcement, team spotlights digest, final reminder with the watch link.
NPD channel, broadcast lists and a Demo Day community for registrants; teams share in their own groups and status updates.
Instagram & TikTok
Behind-the-scenes clips from the sprint, team spotlights, countdown Reels.
X
Event hashtag and a pre-event X Space with two teams and a judge.
Judge and speaker announcements, team spotlights, an "Inside the Hackathon" LinkedIn Live.
Communities
African tech and marketing communities, Google Developer Groups, women-in-tech groups and university marketing clubs.
Earned media
- Send a press release on 15 October to African tech and business media such as Techpoint Africa, TechCabal, Benjamindada.com and BusinessDay. Pitch the angle "nine teams with no coding background built and launched real products in four days".
- Offer journalists and creators a press link, a media kit and an interview slot with the winners straight after the awards.
- Ask each judge's and speaker's company to share the event from their brand pages.
Team ambassador programme
- Every team gets a share kit: a branded team poster, a short video template, caption copy and a tracked registration link.
- A public referral leaderboard shows which team has brought the most registrations; the top team gets a "Hype Squad" shout-out on air.
- Teams are motivated naturally, because their own audience can vote for them in People's Choice.
Hashtag: pick one short, unique tag (for example #NPDDemoDay) and check it is unused before announcing.
619-day countdown: promotion and attendance campaign
Registration and the scheduled livestreams must be live by 15 October. From 18 October, one team spotlight per day gives us nine days of fresh content and pulls each team's network in turn.
| Date | Workstream | Key actions |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 13 Oct | Planning | Choose the streaming studio and platforms; confirm budget; invite judges, panellists and speaker; pick the hashtag |
| Wed 14 Oct | Brand and pages | Event brand kit and stream overlays; Luma page and NPD event page built; share kits drafted |
| Thu 15 Oct | Launch promotion | "Save the date" across all channels; YouTube and LinkedIn Live scheduled; all listings live; press release sent; teams get share kits |
| Fri 16 Oct | Promotion | Judges revealed |
| Sat 17 Oct | Promotion | Panel and speaker revealed; sponsor outreach closes |
| 18–26 Oct | Meet the Teams | One team spotlight per day (Teams 1–9): short video, product, team photo, tracked link |
| Wed 21 Oct | Live content | X Space or LinkedIn Live: "Inside the Hackathon" with two teams and a judge |
| Sat 24 Oct | Website teaser | "Something new launches live on 31 October" teaser; Easter-egg hunt announced |
| Mon 26 Oct | Presenter kit | Every team and speaker gets the tech checklist, overlay guide and studio link |
| Tue 27 Oct | Teams | Final decks, backup demo videos and full pre-recorded pitches due; run-of-show frozen |
| Wed 28 Oct | Full rehearsal | Complete online rehearsal in the studio; every team does a timed dry run; pitch order drawn live on stream |
| Thu 29 Oct | Reminders | Email and WhatsApp reminder; referral leaderboard update; "add to calendar" push |
| Fri 30 Oct | Final checks | Studio, overlays and website launch dry run; final reminder with the watch link and game QR code |
| Sat 31 Oct | Demo Day | Live social coverage all day; leaderboard and highlight clips posted during the stream |
| 1–7 Nov | Follow-up | Winners announcement, thank-you email with replay, recap film, 9 pitch videos, showcase gallery, Cohort 2 push |
Reminder sequence for registrants: confirmation with a calendar invite on sign-up, then 7 days, 2 days, the morning of (08:00), and "we're live" at 10:00. Many online registrants miss the live stream, so the replay email to everyone who registered matters as much as the reminders.
7Operations checklist
Tick each item as it is done; anything still open on 28 October is escalated at the full rehearsal. Ticks are saved in this browser.
8Roles, risks and contingencies
Eight named roles cover the broadcast, coordinated through a private backstage WhatsApp group and the cue sheet. Names are still to be assigned.
| Role | Responsibilities | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Event lead | Final decisions, sponsor and VIP relations, budget | — |
| Executive producer | Runs the studio: brings people on and off screen, plays videos, controls overlays | — |
| Backup producer | Mirrors the studio on a separate network and power source; takes over if the main producer drops | — |
| MC | Hosts the stream, runs games, polls and awards | — |
| Programme lead and timekeeper | Run-of-show, chat cues to presenters, judges' scores, deliberation room | — |
| Team liaison | Briefs teams, collects decks and videos, keeps the next team ready backstage | — |
| Chat moderators | One per platform: welcome viewers, answer questions, pass comments to the MC, remove spam | — |
| Social and content lead | Live clips and posts, hashtag, recap content | — |
Risk register
| Risk | Likelihood | Contingency |
|---|---|---|
| Presenter loses power or internet | High | Standby team member takes over; otherwise play the team's pre-recorded pitch and run Q&A live once they reconnect |
| Pitches overrun | High | On-screen timer, chat cues, audio fade at 15:30, penalty points |
| Viewers drop off during long blocks | High | Game or poll at least every 60 minutes; segment alerts on WhatsApp; prizes only for those present at the finale |
| Producer loses power or internet | Medium | Backup producer takes over in the same studio within a minute; holding screen shows meanwhile |
| Stream drops on one platform | Medium | Other destinations stay live; moderators post the alternative link in chat and on WhatsApp |
| Live demo fails | Medium | Switch to the backup demo video; no score penalty for the switch |
| Spam or abuse in chat or rooms | Medium | Moderators on every platform; slow mode on; registration-only access to networking rooms |
| Vote manipulation | Medium | One vote per registered email; votes checked against the list before results |
| Website launch glitch | Low | Soft-launch behind a password on 30 October; switch to a pre-recorded walkthrough if needed |
| Judge or speaker drops out | Low | One reserve judge on standby; MC extends the panel by 10 minutes |
9Recommendations: duration, attendance and impact
Keep the main event to one day, inside a virtual "Demo Week". A single six-hour broadcast on the 31st keeps the focus sharp. Short online sessions before and after it build momentum and extend the reach.
Online, extra days cost little, but more than about six hours of live viewing in one day causes heavy drop-off.
| Day | Format | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Wed 28 Oct | Livestream, 1 hour | Public pitch-order draw streamed live; teams share 60-second teasers |
| Fri 30 Oct | Livestream, 90 minutes | "Demo Day Eve" masterclass with a judge or speaker; showcase gallery previews the 9 projects |
| Sat 31 Oct | Livestream, full day | Demo Day as planned above |
| Mon 2 Nov | Livestream, 1 hour | Winners' AMA and Cohort 2 information session |
Alternative: if viewer fatigue is a concern, split Demo Day into two half-days. Pitches would run on Friday 30 October (afternoon), with the website launch, panel and awards on Saturday 31 October. This works only if the 31st stays the headline day.
Drive attendance
- Let teams sell the event: People's Choice and the referral leaderboard give all nine teams a reason to bring their networks online.
- Make the live moments worth catching: tease the website launch and awards, and give audience prizes only to people watching live.
- Use daily content, not one announcement: the nine-day team spotlight keeps the event visible every day until 26 October.
- Recruit through partners: each judge, speaker and sponsor shares once, and community leaders get named on-air shout-outs.
- Go beyond Lagos: a virtual event can reach students and professionals across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and the diaspora, so promote it in those communities too.
- Invite hiring managers: "meet job-ready digital marketers" gives brands and agencies a reason to join the networking rooms.
Achieve more from the same day
Cohort 2 enrolment
A Demo Day-only discount code shown on screen, valid for 7 days, plus the lead form on the new site.
Sponsorship
Simple packages (award naming rights, game prizes, branded break segments) to cover costs and reach partner audiences.
Talent pipeline
Share a digital profile book of every participant with brands and agencies in the networking rooms.
Content library
The full recording becomes 30+ assets: replay, recap film, 9 pitch videos, panel clips, Reels and a search-optimised blog recap.
Website momentum
Keep the showcase gallery live as a permanent "Built at NPD" portfolio that supports both SEO and enrolment.