The Experience
Eight civilisations. One epic challenge. Every team learns. One team wins.
Hypatia of Alexandria, Cleopatra of Egypt, and Zenobia of Palmyra, three women who shaped the ancient world. Their voices guide the students through ours, introducing each phase of the day.
The Most Exciting Time to Enter the Workforce
Every profession, law, medicine, engineering, design, marketing, accounting, is being transformed from the inside. Routine work is being automated, and the work that's growing, and best paid, is the work machines can't do: understanding clients, weighing evidence, making judgement calls, telling compelling stories.
The doctor examines the patient while the scan catches what the eye misses. The engineer designs the system while the code assistant builds the routine. The lawyer advises on strategy while AI drafts the contract. And entirely new roles have appeared, AI ethics officers, automation designers, data product managers, among the most sought-after by graduate employers.
Tech Tempest is a full-day competition built for this world. Students don't study the skills that matter, they use them, and teachers see their students differently: the quiet analyst leads a negotiation, the class joker turns meticulous strategist.
A Day in Tech Tempest
Hudson Hanseatic Bank is building the next generation of its digital banking, and eight civilisation teams are pitching to deliver it. These are the moments that make the day unforgettable.
Eight civilisations take their places beneath a common sun. Athens. Rome. Byzantium. Alexandria. Medici. Silk Road. Sumer. Ming.
Role cards and capability cards spread across the table. Traded at every break, they decide who can capture value when the Tempest comes.
New York. Toronto. Mumbai. Prague. Manila. Every city a different advantage. Every decision changes the numbers.
The strategy is laid out. The bank listens. Every word now carries weight.
Laptops down, eyes to the front. From Zephyr to Typhoon, sixteen segments decide the day: the right capability cards capture value, and the right role and card together withstand the storm.
The scale tips. The contract is raised. Four phases of decisions have led to this moment, and the bank names its winner.
Every moment carries a lesson. Every phase earns its place in the day.
Set in Banking, Not About Banking
The scenario is simply the stage: what students actually practise is the small set of capabilities every organisation runs on, whatever its industry. They work out what a demanding client really needs. They shape a strategy knowing rivals are shaping theirs. They price a decision, weighing cost against risk, quality and time, and then live with the consequences in front of everyone. They use AI as a tool of inquiry, testing and verifying what it tells them rather than taking it on faith. They pitch, defend their thinking under pressure, and adapt when the storm arrives, as it always does.
A hospital, a school, a manufacturer, a government agency and a software firm all recognise these moments, because they are the moments where every organisation succeeds or fails. The bank is fictional. The judgement is real, and it travels with you.
The Cards They Collect
Sixty-four avatars, eight for each civilisation, and every one a real historical figure with a verifiable story. Students claim their role card at the Council, then contest capability cards all day, because when the Tempest comes, the cards you hold decide what you capture and what you withstand. And every avatar carries their own tempest: the storm history sent them, and what survived it.
And role is only half the hand. Each role pairs with a capability card contested through the day: hold The Merchant and win GROWTH, and a marketing disaster that costs another team $3 million costs yours nothing. Hold the Engineer with TECH, and delivery accelerates. The pairing is the strategy.
The Oracle, The Advocate, The Sentry, The Merchant, and the capabilities they contest: six cards of the deck students play all day.
We Bring the Program
Facilitation by Dr John Burgin, creator of Tech Tempest, or a trained facilitator. The video narrators, the physical card system, the apps and the live scoreboard all come with the day. Your school provides a large classroom with a projector, WiFi, and one laptop per player; the apps run in the browser, built for laptops, with nothing to install.
Your students will remember this day.
Will you be the teacher who brought it to them?
Book an Incursion
Available for senior secondary students (Years 10–12) across NSW, Victoria, and
Queensland. Per-school pricing reflects cohort size and day length.
Dr John Burgin · Creator of Tech Tempest® · Founder, SHIFT127