Technovation 2026 Volunteer Sign-Up

Volunteer Name
Volunteer Role(s)

Please note: Mentors CANNOT Judge! Due to the time commitment of the mentor role, we suggest that if you would like to take on another role, you select Speaker or Event Volunteer.

For full position descriptions, visit our Volunteer Page.

Mentor Information
Please let us know the following to help us with our team-mentor matching process. 
Re-order Beginner Division Junior Division Senior Division Any Division Weight Operations
Ages 8 - 12; approx. 30 mins - 90 mins a week per team
Ages 13 - 15; approx. 30 - 60 mins a week per team
Ages 16 - 18; approx. 15 -45 mins a week per team
Ages 8 - 18; avg. 45 mins a week per team (division dependent)
Mentoring Format
All meetings and communications with your teams will be via video calls and the Waterloo Chapter slack.
Weekly check-ins and communications will be virtual, in addition to attending one or more of our monthly in-person events.
Please provide a Google-enabled email address (e.g., email linked to a Google account) that we can invite to our Waterloo Technovation 2026 Google Classroom.

Mentors DO NOT have to be experienced in any of the topic areas (business, coding, etc.) covered in the Technovation program. Mentors primarily act as project managers and point of contact for the team(s),  and help connect them with resources. 

Occasionally, we have teams request mentors with specific areas of expertise. If you are knowledgeable in any particular topic(s), please list them below (if not, write N/A). If you have programming experience, please list the language(s) you are comfortable assisting teams with.

We ask that mentors be committed to working with their team(s) throughout the ENTIRE season. Please confirm that you are available to consistently work with your team throughout the season.

If you are unable to commit to the entire season, we suggest volunteering as a COACH instead. 

Speaker Information

Speakers will work with Waterloo Chapter Lead(s) to prepare and present a 15-minute talk on a topic during one of the weekly online workshops (Wednesdays, 4:30 - 5:15 pm). An outline of the presentation, resources, and instructions for corresponding activities on the topic will be provided in advance.

Please let us know which topic(s) & days you are interested in being a speaker for so we can create our season's speaker schedule.

Session Topics & Times

Please select all workshops in which you are interested in being a speaker. We will contact all speakers with a schedule of their assigned workshop(s) and topics for the week of January 20th, 2026.

Jan 28th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
Feb 4th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
Feb 11th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
Feb 18th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
Feb 25th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
March 4th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
March 4th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
March 11th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
March 18th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
March 25th, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
April 1st, 4:30 - 5:15 pm
Coach Information
Wednesday Virtual Coaching Sessions Availablity

This year, we are asking coaches to join our weekly virtual workshops (Wednesdays, 4:30–6 pm via Zoom)! Each workshop will consist of a 30–45 minute presentation (4:30–5 pm) followed by 45–60 mins of team working time (5–6 pm).

We invite coaches to join us for the team working time (Wednesday, 5–6 pm ET via Zoom), to check in with each team and answer any questions they have about that week's topic and/or their project.

Please select the virtual workshops you are available to attend this season:

In-Person Working Session Availability

In addition to weekly workshops, we host monthly in-person Saturday working sessions. Please select which in-person workshops you are interested in coaching at (if any).

Note: working sessions run on Saturday from 10 to 3 pm and are hosted at local tech companies in Kitchener-Waterloo. Coaches are not required to attend the entire event. We will reach out to all volunteers a week or two before each workshop to confirm their availability for the upcoming session.

Topic: Program Intro & Ideation
tentatively scheduled for February 21st
March 7th @ SAP Waterloo
tentatively scheduled for March 28th
tentatively scheduled for April 11th
Not available for in-person coaching
Please list which areas you can coach/you have experience with. If you have programming experience, please describe what languages/programming areas you are able to help teams with. 
Event Volunteer Information
Event Volunteer Availability

Please indicate which sessions you are interested in volunteering at.

Volunteer shifts for workshops are:

  • Morning (9:00 am - 12:30 pm)
  • Afternoon (12:00 pm - 3:30 pm)
  • All Day (9:00 am - 3:30 pm)

Note: working sessions run on Saturday from 10 to 3 pm and are hosted at local tech companies in Kitchener-Waterloo. We will reach out to all volunteers a week or two before each workshop to confirm your availability for that particular session. 

Topic: Program Intro & Ideation
tentatively scheduled for February 21st
March 7th @ SAP Waterloo
tentatively scheduled for March 28th
tentatively scheduled for April 11th
May 2nd - final event of the season!!
Judge Information
Judges will be contacted at the beginning of April with more information on how to register as a judge on the Technovation Global platform.
Judges are asked to review their assigned submissions (at least 5 projects) in advance of the pitch event. We aim to provide the judges with their assigned projects by April 22nd. Please plan 5 - 10 hours to review submissions. 
Date: Saturday, May 2nd, 2026; 10 am - 3pm @ UWaterloo Davis Centre
Please select the divisions you are interested in judging

Note: judges will only be assigned to a single division.

Ages 8 - 12
Ages 13 - 15
Ages 16 - 18