Why Coaching?
Here’s why we introduced coaching to the Technovation Girls program:
Specialized Support
Teams wanted additional subject matter support during their project development.
Flexible Participation
Volunteers wanted a more flexible way to participate in the Technovation Girls program while sharing their expertise with students.
🚀 Creating Connection
Technovation sought to give teams the extra support they needed and to keep volunteers engaged in ways that feel rewarding and purposeful.
The Coach Experience
- Coaches will meet with individual teams and provide guidance in one of the following areas:
- Ideation
- Coding (in Thunkable or MIT App Inventor or Python)
- Artificial Intelligence
- Business
- Pitch
- Video recording and editing
- Teams will share their questions in advance of meeting with a coach
- Session will be 1-hour in length, with the option to book a follow up meeting
- Sessions will begin the week of January 27, 2026
“I enjoyed spending time with our coach very much, and I would like to know if there is a way to book a session with them again.”
-student who met with a coach in 2023
Who Are You Coaching?
Teams are comprised of 1-5 students. Teams will vary in age and fall into 1 of 3 divisions:
Coaching Categories
Student questions will likely be based around the materials teams need to submit to the competition. Here are some common questions students may ask coaches during their sessions:
Ideation
Student’s Goal:
Identifying a problem in their local or global community that falls under the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- help the team verify the validity of their idea
- help the team pick a single idea
- help the team further develop their idea or give them suggestions of what research
*there are curriculum units about a number of SGDs here.
Artificial Intelligence
Student’s Goal:
Teams have the option of incorporating Artificial Intelligence into their web or mobile app
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- finding/building databases
- make a plan how to train models
- ethical implications of their use of artificial intelligence
Video Recording and Editing
Student’s Goal:
Teams need to create a pitch and technical video
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- filming content and editing it together
- making their video stand out
- ideas for b-roll or how to visually convey their message
Coding
Student’s Goal:
Teams can code a mobile or web app for the program; most will use MIT App Inventor or Thunkable for their coding. Some beginner teams will use Scratch.
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- figuring out the logic to build a feature or finding a block
- may need assistance debugging the app
- “We have all our ideas written down, but we cannot figure out the coding aspect”
- “What are some common mistakes that beginner coders make, and how can I avoid them?”
Business
Student’s Goal:
Junior teams need to submit a user adoption plan; Senior teams need to submit a business canvas
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- selecting a business model
- calculating projected revenue
- how to communicate their idea in a convincing manner
- “We will prepare a draft of our business canvas for the coach in advance, so we would like the coach to review it and give us feedback.”
Pitch
Student’s Goal:
Teams need to put together a pitch outlining their selected problem, its importance, and the solution the team has built
Common Questions and Discussion Topics:
- how to get their ideas across in a concise and engaging way
- team presents their pitch (either written or verbal) in the meeting, coach shares feedback on what is presented
Thank you for volunteering with Technovation!
Click the button below to:
- Indicate area(s) you want to coach
- Review our Volunteer Code of Conduct and Data Use Terms
- Send a completion email to Technovation
Then, we will send you an invitation to Cal.com (scheduling software) and our Slack channel.
Cal.com setup instructions are available in the next training module and can be reviewed once the steps above have been completed.
I still have a question
You can always reach out to Technovation’s Volunteer Engagement Team on Slack or at volunteers@technovation.org.
