IBB Indiana Bond Bank
Flipping finance challenge

About FFC2021

Visitors and innovators guide

Why is it called the Flipping Finance Challenge?

Because we’re looking to flip public finance on its head.  Don’t get us wrong - we love public finance!  We’re passionate about public finance’s ability to make a difference in the lives of Hoosiers by funding their communities, schools and libraries.   But public finance, especially in our government space, may not be what you call entrepreneurial when it comes to solving new challenges.  We wondered what might happen if we paired fresh-eyed innovators from outside the public finance sector with communities seeking new ideas to old challenges.  And the Flipping Finance Challenge was born.

What happens at the Flipping Finance Challenge?

Over an 18-hour design sprint, you will have the opportunity to work independently or with a team on a real challenge presented by a unit of government.  All teams and individuals will submit a presentation on their solutions to the units of government and the winning solutions will receive a prize.

Do I have to be from the community to participate?

Nope.  90%+ of our innovators have no prior connection to the community whose challenge they work on.  Most teams select a challenge that speaks to them on a personal or civic level.  Or, they select one where their skillsets will lend themselves to creating a great solution.

Why would I stay up for 18 hours straight to create a solution for a community I’ve never heard of?

Because that’s what Hoosiers do.  You’re an amazing, civic-minded person, and the communities who are here asking for your ideas do not have anyone on staff like you.   Creating something always feels good.  Creating something for someone else feels doubly good.  And if you’re motivated by money, there are prizes and awards thanks to our generous sponsors.

My job/major/passion is _______.  Am I qualified as an “innovator” for Flipping Finance Challenge?

Yup!  It doesn’t matter what the ____ is.   You are an “innovator”.  We’ve had the director of building security for our office building co-lead a team, and we’ve had the head of innovation for a major local company participate.  We’ve had high school students and retirees.  Innovators all.   The common thread is a civic spirit – a desire to make a difference in the local units of governments here in Indiana.  We are looking for entrepreneurs, origami artists, story tellers, finance majors, professionals, public management majors, business majors, health and environmental subject matter experts and you.

How much does it cost to participate in FFC?

Free.  It’s free to our innovators, and free to our communities to participate.  Thanks to our gracious sponsors who believe in the mission of FFC, we are able to offset our costs while offering unparalleled swag and prizes.  This is our mission.  Facilitating this event is our way of giving back to Indiana.

Do I need to have finance knowledge?

No.  No, no, no.  No.  You’re perfect just the way you are.  For one, you may have noticed there are plenty of non-finance challenges to work on.  From health & environment to data geeks, to design thinkers, to tech experts, you are exactly who we are looking for.  A jack of all trades and master of none – you just might be the glue needed to bring a team’s solution together.  Even if you wanted to geek out about a finance challenge, you’ll have content experts on site to assist.  And three, remember that the reason that some of these issues are still issues is that pure finance challenges haven’t worked.  Maybe you’re the one missing piece they’ve needed this whole time.  Destiny baby.

I know who I want to work with. How do I register as a team?

When registering for the event just select however many tickets you need for each teammate! Make sure that you have their email address when registering so they can also receive event updates as they come in.

I don’t know who I want to work with. How do I find a team?

The Flipping Finance Challenge is providing digital workspace chatrooms to encourage collaboration among attendees through the free online platform Slack. Each challenge has its own workspace provided at the link below, so if you know that you want to work on a specific challenge, click the link below, create a Slack account (download app if using a mobile device), and type a message into the chatroom to others who are interested in creating a team! Slack is a great digital way to work in teams, share files, links, updates etc. beyond what we have provided, so feel free to use your new account to create and organize your own teams outside of the larger challenge channel! If that is not working for you, contact Brian Carman in Slack or at [email protected] and he will get you connected!

Slack Overview and Challenge Workspace Links

More information to come!

I want to work alone on a challenge. Is that cool?

Yep. That’s fine. You still get to create a cool team name.

Can our team work on multiple challenges during the 18 hours and win multiple prizes?

While we wouldn’t encourage it, you can. Previous participants have found the 18 hour timeframe is a tight but fair opportunity to fact-find, ideate, iterate, refine, mock-up a solution and create a presentation for the community. If you’re done with all that with enough time to tackle another challenge for the community, check that you’ve not missed a step.

FOOD AND DRINK

Whatever you can find in your fridge. Unfortunately one thing that we’ve not mastered is how to replicate the awesome food and snacks virtually.😔

What Should I Wear?

Business casual which at this point means sweats and Crocs, right?

Seriously though, it’s a virtual event this year. Please wear clothes on the Zooms and nothing offensive or political or disrespectful, but other than that dress comfortably.

What Do I Need at home to solve challenges?

Whatever you need. This is an open book assignment. Any free, legally accessed resource is fair game!

What’s the schedule for the event?

Event Kick-Off and Challenge Presentations Friday, February 28th | 6:00 PM – Kickoff Dinner

Saturday, February| 8:00AM- Solution Pitch & Presentations

How do I present our solution to the community?

At the end, you’ll have a chance to reveal your solutions and if selected, all FFC sponsors and subject matter professionals!  Your presentation method and style are totally up to you.  It can be one of your team or all of your team.  It can be fun or serious.  More information on the judging criteria to come.

Where do I sign up?

Registration can be completed here!

Registration can be for pre-made teams, though all must register individually.

What should I expect of others?

FFC has a Code of Conduct that we are sticklers for. Check it out here. We’ve never had an issue and honestly I’m always amazed at the caliber and quality of humans that come to FFC. But just in case, we ask everyone upon registration If you’re registering a team, you’ll be responsible for ensuring they understand and adhere to the Code. We’ve created a collaborative, kid-friendly, family-friendly event designed to do good in the world. If you engage in behavior or actions or interactions that run counter to that, we’ll ask you to leave. It’s kind of that simple. We hold ourselves to the same standards, as well as our volunteers, sponsors, partners, innovators, vendors, etc.