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Workshops and Seminars
Idea Pitch Winners Reception 2009
This last Tuesday
afternoon, November 17, Louisiana Tech’s Enterprise Center
hosted the celebration for this year’s TOP DAWG Idea Pitch
top ten winners. ABESE, the student entrepreneurship club,
hosts the TOP DAWG Idea Pitch. This event is a competition
where individuals or teams pitch their business venture,
technology or social service to a panel of judges. The
judges then grade the presentations and those scores are
added up to decide which teams or individuals make the top
ten. The members of the top ten will receive $200 and a
chance to compete in the TOP DAWG Business Plan Competition
where their idea will be further developed into a plan. The
reception was held at 5 pm during the Profit 101 workshop.
Along with the 28 winners, there were 20 other guests
comprised of local business people, faculty, and students of
Louisiana Tech. There was food and then entertainment
provided by Dr. Bill Deese, Johnson Professor of Chemistry
at Louisiana Tech. Dr. Deese talked to the audience about
how juggling is like starting up and running a business and
further proved his point by performing juggling feats as he
spoke. During the reception, Idea Pitch winners conversed
with local business people and networked their ideas to an
eager audience. Finally the teams were escorted to another
room where Debbie Inman, Coordinator of Entrepreneurial
Studies and the Association of Business, Engineering, and
Science Entrepreneurs Faculty Advisor, briefed them on the
schedule for the business plan competition. The winners also
got an opportunity to meet with their mentors. All in all,
the event proved to be a great showcase for these young
entrepreneurs and a fun time for all. Now everyone is
excited to see these budding business people grow and
compete in the business plan competition on February 19,
2010
Finding Your Idea Workshop October 8, 2009
“A journey of a thousand miles begins
with a single step,” and on Thursday October 8th
some Louisiana Tech students and individuals from the
surrounding community began their journey towards
entrepreneurship at the Finding Your Idea Workshop (FYI).
The Technical Business Development Center (TBDC) hosted the
workshop at the Louisiana Tech Enterprise Center where 20
people gathered with their new ideas and an eagerness to
learn.
The workshop featured presentations by
the TBDC Director, Kathy Wyatt, and Dr. Jon Pratt, a
professor in the College of Business. Wyatt discussed the
steps and strategies involved in developing an idea, while
Pratt informed the audience on how to present or pitch that
idea. Attendees learned what is expected in proper
presentations and the questions that need to be answered
during the development of their ideas. As their ideas are
still in the early stages, many participants will grow their
ideas and pitch them in the TOP DAWG Idea Pitch on October
26 in the TONK. But since not everyone in attendance is
eligible to compete the information also has applicability
in the real world because the process is the same.
Some came in with big ideas, others
with simply a thought, but all walked out armed with the
knowledge of what needs to be done in order to help make
their dream a reality. Now that they have the knowledge,
each of them must decide to embark down the road. Perhaps
one day we will see the fruits of the seeds that were
planted at this year’s FYI Workshop.
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