Student Entrepreneurs Meet to Compete and Network
Calling all ambitious college students! Most of us have brainstormed some plan, whether it is for a company, product or service, which we hope will make us absolutely rich and famous. Brainstorming plans is a good start, but those ideas will always remain just dreams if you never take any action. That is why more than 800 student entrepreneurs from all across the country recently met in Orlando, Fla., to learn how to make their own business dreams become reality.
The students came to participate in the 2005 Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO) national conference. My job was simple: To listen, observe, meet new people, and learn about entrepreneurship. In only one day I learned a semester's worth about business plans, ideas that other students have, and how to develop a great idea of my own.
"This event is my favorite all year," said Sara Buckett, a student attending the conference. "All of the idea makers come together and get to meet one another."
The CEO mission
CEO was started in 1983 in Chicago, Ill. The organization's mission is "to inform, support and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunity through enterprise creation." CEO provides excellent resources through networking, leadership training and other chapter programs. Schools all over the country have their own chapters of CEO that meet on a regular basis to help students learn about building their ideas and networking with other entrepreneurs who have ideas of their own.
Guidebooks, professional entrepreneurs, youth magazines, small businesses and ambitious students lined the halls of the Sheraton World Resort in Orlando for the conference, which was billed as "The Wonderful World of Entrepreneurship." A complete weekend of speakers, panel sessions, networking breaks, workshops and competitions was planned for all collegiate members attending the conference. "When the Going Gets Tough," "How to Build a Business to $1 Million in Sales Before You Graduate" and "Six Steps to Self Employment" were just some of the workshops available. The students in attendance represented 115 different colleges and universities all over the country.
"The best part of the weekend is the networking opportunities we get," said Alex Zines, an undergraduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. "I've never been around so many people with so many unique ideas."
In one workshop entitled "The One Page Business Plan" students were taught basic steps for building their business plan, which is one of the most vital parts of the entrepreneurial process. Professor Peter Hackbert of Sierra Nevada College led an exercise where participants took their individual ideas and developed business strategies, mission statements and objectives. This exercise helped students to envision their ideas and determine if they could be turned into reality.
The workshop encouraged student entrepreneurs to develop personal vision statements. A vision statement says who your company is, what it is going to do, how long it will take the company to achieve the goals you set, and the rate at which your company will grow. This "one page" business plan could then be submitted by entrepreneurs to angel investors and venture capital funders. Students were free to ask as many questions as they wanted and some of them even had the opportunity to read their business plans for the speaker to critique.
"With all of this information I can now make my idea come to life," said Brian Henderson, a student at the workshop.
Business in an Elevator
Could you pitch a business plan in the time it takes you to ride up an elevator? That was the question of the weekend at the conference. Every year, the conference has an elevator pitch competition. Students get a limited amount of time to pitch their companies, products and services to a panel of judges and a live audience.
Christopher Surdi of San Jose State University won the competition and earned $2,500 along with a scholarship to attend the GrowAmerica™ Funding Academy, an Orlando-based nonprofit group that teaches entrepreneurs how to raise money to build their business.
Last year, the winner was Charles Cudjoe from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University whose product was solar powered cell phone chargers.
"This event is really important - it teaches you to think outside of the box," said Cudjoe. "The recognition I received from this event was very encouraging."
Does your school have a CEO chapter? Check out the group's website at c-e-o.org to find out more about this ambitious organization.
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