On Friday the 28th of October we took our NewsTruck prototype and pitched it to a group of tutors to get their feedback on the our progress. We were pleased at how positive the feedback was, and were joyed to give what one of the tutors described as "the most unconventional pitch prototype" [seen to date]. Providing a physical prototype that conveyed basic demos of features like: being able to interact with the screen and comment/access page data, providing free Wifi and having a truck screen that updates in real time - meant that we could communicate exactly what we're going for, meaning that the tutors could ask more specific questions. Some of the helpful feedback gave us thought as to ways we can advance our prototype to make it even more impressive, consequently we're using our remaining time to address this.
The most salient point was that with the research we've conducted and the progress of our prototype, we can consider the business and financial prospects of actualising our prototype in a way that could turn NewsTruck into a franchise. As the design strongly remembles the makings of a standard foodtruck and has been deemed feasible to implement, to the point where we can provide a 'start-up guide' for people to create their own foodtrucks either through repurposing their old van/food truck or finding one for cheap, where each element's costs and components can be listed, along with instructions on ensuring the combined electrical circuit for the truck is sound and that the total costs are kept within a manageable range. Consequently, we're looking into creating such a guide for users, and perhaps even for our greater ambitions for NewsTruck, as with the guide it becomes quite a viable business product that could be pitched.
Moreover, we've realised that NewsTruck can be implemented in more scenarios than previously considered - the truck could be parked in a parking space outside of a major sports center event that's about to happen, or in paid functions open to the public. Initially we only considered the truck viable in public areas such as roadside parking spots near major metropolitan areas, public parks or just parked near malls, but it offers a service beyond creating a comfy space for socialising and news consumption - it can also just operate as a vendor on the food-truck side of the van for things that people might expect at events (beer at sporting events, umbrellas and showbags at fairs etc).
A lot of these changes have already been implemented in our promotional video (https://youtu.be/dOTQqf7tYsQ).