Miss Dick is the founder of Hatch, an initiative which was driven by a desire to help youth in Dunedin have access to skills and tools to enable them to be creative and innovative with technology.
Last year, she took part in Startup Weekend and she described the 54-hour long event as ‘‘inspiring'', despite her initially not knowing what to expect.
This year's Startup Weekend, which will run from April 15 to 17, will be based at Otago Polytechnic. An information evening for people wanting to know more about it is being held this Friday at the Startup Space at 6pm.
One of the organisers, Abbe Hyde, said it would be a great weekend for anyone interested in entrepreneurship and starting a business.
It was open to all skill levels, with many of those involved - such as Miss Dick - having never done anything similar before.
It was entirely focused on taking an idea and turning it into a business, with mentors provided to help out.
‘‘On [the] Friday, participants will come in and pitch ideas - the only rule being they can't have done any work prior. They then form teams around the ideas and get straight to work.
‘‘It's action focused and participants spend the whole weekend getting out there and talking to people about what they are doing and determining if the idea is viable,'' Ms Hyde said.
The event culminated in a pitching competition with judges from local businesses offering feedback and making the final call on which business was deemed most viable.
‘‘Though it's technically a competition, Startup Weekend is all about developing the entrepreneurial community; meeting people with complementary skill sets and passion for creating businesses,'' she said.
The coaches and mentors for this year's event are Firebrand managing director Bex Twemlow, Moving Pixel creative director Nate Martin, Nomos One managing director Jonny Mirkin, Timely creative director Alan Bauchop, Powerhouse Ventures regional manager Steve Silvey, PledgeMe chief executive Anna Guenther and design thinker and strategist Dorenda Britten.
Dunedin-based start-up SuchCrowd was being used by the organisers to sell the first 30 tickets, allowing the event to be confirmed, and ticket sales were already more than halfway there.
Miss Dick encouraged people to take part, even if they were not intending to run a business, describing it as like a ‘‘compressed business course''.
A teacher for 20 years, she had chosen to take a year's leave, having decided the education system was ‘‘not quite cutting it'' for children ‘‘keeping up with 21st century stuff''.
She did not know much about running a business and went in to Startup Weekend feeling she could not contribute anything.
But she quickly discovered she only needed to be prepared to work as part of a team.
There were ‘‘awesome'' mentors, who were giving up their time and willing to share their experiences and knowledge and encourage others.
It gave her access to an amazing network and it was through the event that she got her own business mentor.
Hatch, which is now based in King Edward Court, gave children the chance to use technology, based around robotics and computer programming.
At the moment, she was holding after-school classes and it was intended to do school holiday classes. She was also interested in offering some professional development for teachers.
She would also love to see a Startup Weekend run with teenagers, as there were some ‘‘amazing'' teenagers with incredible skills, Miss Dick said.
