Business Simulation · School Incursion · Year 10–12

TECH TEMPEST®

Eight civilisations.

One epic challenge.

Every team learns. One team wins.

🏛️Athenian Assembly
⚔️Roman Collegium
🕌Byzantine Architects
🎨Medici Network
🐪Silk Road Consortium
🔭Alexandrian Order
📜Sumerian Syndicate
🐉Ming Dynasty Builders

A full-day simulation your students will still be talking about months later.

See How It Works

The skills that shape the future are the ones that have always mattered. Technology is just making them more important.

Hypatia of Alexandria, Cleopatra of Egypt, and Zenobia of Palmyra — the three narrators of Tech Tempest

Hypatia of Alexandria, Cleopatra of Egypt, and Zenobia of Palmyra — three women who shaped the ancient world. Now their voices guide the students through ours.

The Changing World of Work

The Most Exciting Time to Enter the Workforce

Every profession — law, medicine, engineering, design, marketing, accounting, psychology — is being transformed from the inside.

Routine work is being automated. The work that's growing — and the work that's best paid — is the work machines can't do. Understanding clients. Weighing evidence. Making judgment calls. Telling compelling stories.

The Doctor

Scans catch what the human eye misses. The doctor examines the patient, weighs the options, and plans the care.

The Psychologist

AI tracks mood and language over weeks. The psychologist listens, understands, and guides the change.

The Engineer

Code assistants build the routine. The engineer designs systems, products, and outcomes.

The Designer

AI generates concepts in seconds. The designer shapes the idea, curates taste, and decides what's worth making.

The Marketer

Algorithms target the audience. The marketer crafts the message, builds the brand, and tells the story.

The Lawyer

AI drafts the contract. The lawyer advises on strategy, risk, and negotiation.

The Accountant

Software does the books. The accountant advises on tax, growth, and decisions.

And entirely new roles have appeared. AI ethics officers. Automation designers. Data product managers. Sustainability strategists. Roles that didn't exist five years ago are now among the most sought-after by graduate employers.

The skills that unlock all of this — curiosity, evidence, judgment, collaboration, persuasion — are skills every student can develop.

Tech Tempest is designed for this world.

Tech Tempest is a full-day competition built around this shift. Students don't study the skills that matter — they use them.

For Every Student

Skills That Transfer Everywhere

The analyst who finds the pattern. The storyteller who lands the pitch. The strategist who sees three moves ahead. Every role a workplace needs — in a single day.

For Every Teacher

See Your Students Differently

The quiet analyst leads a negotiation. The class joker turns meticulous strategist. Tech Tempest reveals capabilities classrooms rarely surface.

Business · Commerce · Economics

Real Commercial Decisions

Pricing. Competitive positioning. Partnership negotiation. Profit-vs-risk trade-offs. Made, lived with, and defended to a client panel.

Digital Technologies · IT · Design

How Tech Transforms Work

Use AI tools. Evaluate data. Discover how automation changes every role. Not a coding exercise — a window into how technology amplifies every profession.

A Day in Tech Tempest

Scenes From the Contest

Eight civilisation teams. Twelve modules. One winning team. These are the moments that make the day unforgettable.

Eight civilisation teams claim their identity
🏛️
Scene 01 · Module 1
Eight civilisation teams claim their identity
Module 1 · Form Your Team
Eight civilisations take their places beneath a common sun. Athens. Rome. Byzantium. Alexandria. Medici. Silk Road. Sumer. Ming.
A team studies the cards spread before them
🃏
Scene 02 · Module 4
A team studies the cards spread before them
Module 4 · See Different
Each civilisation has its own way of seeing the world. The team decides how theirs shapes what they build.
A team studies global cities on a wall map
🌍
Scene 03 · Module 7
The world as a strategic map
Module 7 · World of Work
New York. Toronto. Mumbai. Prague. Manila. Every city a different advantage.
A team pitches before the bank panel
🎤
Scene 04 · Module 10
Pitching to the bank
Module 10 · The Art of Sales
The strategy is laid out. The bank listens. Every word now carries weight.
The Tempest Wheel spinning as the storm arrives
Scene 05 · The Tempest
The wheel spins. The storm arrives.
The Tempest Arrives
Ventus. Tempestas. Pluvia. Variabilis. Serenitas. The ancient wheel decides which teams' strategies survive the storm.
The contract is awarded to the winning team
📜
Scene 06 · The Decision
The contract is awarded
The Contract Is Decided
The scale tips. The contract is raised. Twelve modules of decisions have led to this moment.

4 Stages · 12 Modules · The Tempest

By the end of the day, students have designed, costed, defended, and pitched a banking service their civilisation would be proud of.

01

Discover

Choose your civilisation. Claim your role. Declare your rival. Identity shapes every decision.

02

Design

Know your customer. Interrogate evidence. Select features using data, not instinct.

03

Deliver

Choose your city. Build your roadmap. Manage costs. Every decision has a consequence.

04

Defend

Assess risk. Build alliances. Pitch the bank. Then the Tempest arrives.

What Educators Say

"Tech Tempest is an engaging learning experience, invaluable for supporting students' understanding of real-world problems and technology that will impact their future careers."

Maddi Voumard
Head of Computing Curriculum · Camberwell Grammar School

"Tech Tempest is an authentic and connected student experience, enabling discovery of emerging technologies and the changing world of work."

Timothy Barraud
Principal · Balmoral State High School, Queensland

Built for the Australian Curriculum

Maps to the Australian Curriculum's general capabilities — not as an add-on, but as the engine of the experience.

Digital Literacy

Research markets, evaluate data, use AI creatively — technology enhancing every professional role.

Critical and Creative Thinking

Trade-off decisions with real consequences. No right answers — defensible strategies built from evidence.

Ethical Understanding

Automation, AI ethics, workforce change, data privacy — encountered as decision-makers, not observers.

Personal and Social Capability

Leadership, negotiation, collaboration, and self-awareness — developed through high-stakes team decisions all day.

Literacy

Persuasive pitching, evidence-based argument, interpreting data, and presenting to a client panel.

Intercultural Understanding

Ancient civilisations as frameworks for innovation, governance, trade, and knowledge.

Everything You Need to Know

We bring the entire program. Your school provides a room and WiFi.

What's Included

📋
Full-day facilitationDr John Burgin leads the session — no teacher prep
📱
Five custom web appsNightingale, Design Studio, CyberTempest, The Eye, Scoreboard
🎬
Video narratorsHypatia, Cleopatra, Zenobia and more introduce each module
🃏
Physical card systemCivilisation, role avatar, and capability cards
📊
Live scoreboardReal-time team tracking projected for the room

What You Provide

🏫
A large classroomTables for up to 8 teams of 3–4 students, projector
📶
Internet accessWiFi for simulation apps and creative tools
💻
Student devicesPhones or laptops — one laptop per team ideal
👨‍🏫
Teachers participateJoin the simulation, monitor progress, judge the pitches

Your students will remember this day.

Will you be the teacher who brought it to them?

Book an Incursion →

Available for Year 10–12 across NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.

Per-school pricing reflects cohort size and day length.

Dr John Burgin · Founder, SHIFT127
john@shift127.com.au · 0415 118 811