Supporters Forum
Hosting local experts and business professionals is invaluable to our courses. They offer real-world context, contemporary business examples, and personal experience. Student interest in our ENT courses/program continues to grow, however, it has challenged our ability to introduce students to these experts in a way that creates value but isn’t too burdensome on their schedules. Therefore, instead of asking a few founders to give up several hours attending multiple classes over a single day, we are combining the classes and hosting a “forum” (think “career fair” meets “speed dating”)!
As a brief overview, ~30 representatives from a variety of organizations and businesses that provide support to entrepreneurs will each meet with students in two “rounds” (roughly 4-6 students per round). Entrepreneurship “Supporters” (you) will spend 20 minutes with each group, providing an overview of your organization, how it supports entrepreneurship in the region, and fielding a few student questions. Students will preselect their two organizations and be assigned an order in which to meet with them. Before and after the two rounds, you will have time to network with the other representatives and more students. Earlier this month, we conducted this same exercise with founders, and it was a great success. Note, you’ll be meeting with undergraduate business students, mostly juniors and seniors, so please feel free to discuss any internship/job opportunities!
Beyond developing soft skills and introducing new companies, the goal of the forum is to introduce students to the various organizations needed to make a place (city, region) entrepreneurial and further develop students’ ability to quickly and accurately dissect an organization – to break it down into its key elements, understand how it creates value, and consider its underlying assumptions. To support these learning objectives, students will be assigned prework (visit website, prep questions, etc.) and required to complete a detailed "Lean Model Canvas" for each of their assigned “forum” organizations following the event. By the end of the course, and through activities like “The Supporters Forum,” this skill should become “second nature” for students, enhancing their analytical and innovative capacity going forward.
