Hi!
Firstly, to the staff, I'd like to say what a neat event you've got going on here, and I'm happy that it's been opened up to outsiders as well as academic folk. Personally I consider myself to always be a student, and appreciate the thoughtfulness of this inclusion. Secondly, to all the competitors, I'd like to say "Bring it on!" I'm sure that everyone will learn a thing or two and I look forward to seeing the end results, and maybe some postmortem discussion.
Thanks for reading my greeting, and good luck.