Reflections | Projections 2025 Recap

Reflections | Projections 2025 is officially in the books! The Midwest’s largest student-run technology conference has concluded its 31st annual conference since it started in 1995. Hosted from Tuesday, September 16th to Saturday, September 20th, this year’s conference featured speakers from a wide range of fields in technology, including startups, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence. We also hosted corporate events from HRT, Qualcomm, Aechelon, and Capital One, with the goal of providing students the opportunity to prepare for their future careers. As a conference made for students by students, we know what our attendees are looking for and design the entire conference around it.

The Name

Reflections | Projections has been the name of the conference since its inception in 1995; it was created to highlight the two main goals of the conference:

• Reflect: Take a look at the current state of technology and learn from innovators who have shaped the industry.
• Project: Apply skills and knowledge towards the future by networking with companies and preparing for one’s career.

The Theme

This year’s R|P theme was inspired by F1 and racecars. In addition to our designs for our website, app, posters, and social media, we also decorated the first floor of Siebel to match our aesthetic. This theme proved incredibly successful, introducing many new faces to the conference and getting them excited about our events. We also introduced a leaderboard for the first time, where attendees earn points by attending events. The top 50 attendees on the leaderboard each day unlocked exclusive prizes, including a car keychain, a car stress toy, and a beanie. This was another way to encourage attendance at our events and provide attendees with unique prizes! Our speaker theme was also “Racing Into The Future,” with a specific emphasis on looking ahead to what the future of the industry will entail.

R|P 2025 By The Numbers

With 40+ staff members, 10+ months of preparation, 13 guest speakers, 12 sponsors, over 1500 attendees, over 800 meals handed out, and over 100,000 social media impressions, this year’s conference crossed the finish line at full speed!

Mobile App

For the first time in R|P history, our incredible development team deployed an official mobile app to streamline event operations. Users were able to flag events, receive push notifications, track their leaderboard standings, view food menus, and get scanned in for events, food, and swag all in one place.

Driving Innovation Showcase

This year, we hosted R|P’s very first startup showcase, allowing students to pitch their startup ideas to Qualcomm engineers to get feedback. We had over 10 groups pitch their innovative ideas, from deepfake detection to increasing AI accessibility.

Students presenting their ideas during the Driving Innovation Showcase.

Career Fair

Our annual career fair brought hundreds of students to the first floor of the Siebel Center for Computer Science! Attendees had the chance to speak with representatives from companies like HRT, Qualcomm, Caterpillar, Aechelon, Everfox, and Cloudflare, and some attendees even landed internships and job offers from our career fair!

Students connecting with recruiters at the R|P 2025 Career Fair.

MechMania and PuzzleBang

R|P includes two additional events every year: MechMania, a 24-hour AI hackathon, and PuzzleBang, a week-long puzzle hunt! Both of these events are organized to allow attendees to have some fun and utilize skills that they learned. MechMania was sponsored by Caterpillar this year and had record participation as teams built a bot to beat a soccer game. PuzzleBang coincided with our racing theme and created numerous themed puzzles and even a mechanic-themed escape box, all organized by UIUC alumni.

We are so proud of all the work our staff members put into making this year’s conference a success. While we might have reached the pitstop, we’re already turning the corner to R|P 2026!