Rejection Challenge

Hello, for this week we have continued on narrowing down our final idea. At the moment, it seems like we would be most likely continuing with the network-connected, low-power early warning device for natural and man-made disasters that I have talked about last week. Yet today’s video clip will be about the small exercise that our team have done with all other teams participating as well.

So, in this week’s class, we have done an exercise called the Rejection Challenge. For this exercise, we were provided with a small transparent box which was worth 50 cents and we were asked to trade this item with a stranger for an item that was worth of a greater value. Again, it was a pretty open-ended exercise where we could literally go anywhere for the transaction to happen. Our initial idea for this exercise was to get in contact with as much as people possible. In order to do this, we thought of using a public facebook group page where students sell and exchange various items. Then since this method would not guarantee an exchange we started to look for places where we could get in contact with a lot of people. With us already being in campus, we started with places where students would gather up to study, such as the MLK building. Fortunately, we were able to make our first exchange here with a mini stapler.

Next, as students seemed to not have much item on them (or at least something that they would be willing to trade), we tried places like the Equator Coffees where we were successful in trading the mini-stapler for a muffin (worth of $3).

At this point we started to discuss about what our goal or final item should be that would have a really high value. The conclusion was time. Time is an element of which its value is nearly impossible to be estimated to a certain number. Thus, with that in mind, we thought of an item with a high trade value since it would be difficult to earn someone’s time with an ordinary item.

So, we decided to change the muffin for actual money.

And eventually we were able to ask someone for 20 minutes of their time.

Through this exercise we were able to learn the different reactions of people towards a not interested item and how different approaches can be made to make the item more attractive.