college

middle & high schools

businesses & organizations

SCHOOLS & STUDENT GROUPS

College

Events & Contests already planned that make it easy to participate
• Your Big Year
• YEC Live
• Photo Contest

Event | Activity Ideas for You to Plan

Bringing Ideas to Life
Model an “Idea to Product Competition” based on the one sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin (ideatoproduct.org). Encourage participants to think outside of the box as they imagine the future impact their ideas could have on the market.

Entrepreneurship Lecture Series
Host a lecture series on entrepreneurship. Encourage university departments with entrepreneurship programs to organize an open lecture/seminar for students on campus, so they can better understand what the program is about and what avenues and possibilities entrepreneurship can open for them.

Students Teaching Students
Get students to organize discussion panels where young entrepreneurs converse with future entrepreneurs about their successes and failures. These discussions should also provide potential entrepreneurs the opportunity to exchange ideas and receive feedback and advice from entrepreneurs with experience.

Getting a Head Start: Launching Your Career Before Graduation
This session will benefit both students studying consulting and entrepreneurial business leaders needing a change. Provide students with the opportunity to show businesses their “new” way of consulting and how it could benefit established businesses. Each student consulting firm will present their ideas to a business leader to receive feedback.

How to Become an Entrepreneur in 10 Days
Each “day” will be a new step in the direction to becoming a mogul in the business world. Ten separate stations will represent each “day” during the one-day event, allowing for a self-guided experience. The “days” will be decided on by experts who have taken the steps to build their empires and be successful in the business world today.

Lunch with a Mentor
Sometimes all a future entrepreneur needs is a mentor and a nudge in the correct direction. Organize a luncheon with future entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial leaders in the community.

Music Festival: To the Beat of Your Own Drum
Organize a music festival that will showcase local talent in all genres of music, allowing kids to perform as well as help with backstage needs. Artists can showcase their talent on stage in front of a large audience, demonstrating how entrepreneurs come in many different forms.

Shadow an Entrepreneur
Seek out local entrepreneurs and ask to observe them on a typical business day. Ask the entrepreneur to share their insights into what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur.

Lights, Camera, Action: Spotlight on Entrepreneurs
Host a film festival showcasing enterprising individuals. Have students create and submit videos on the theme of entrepreneurship and hold a film festival showcasing student work.

Art & Entrepreneurship
Organize an art show featuring artists who explore the basic themes or characteristics of entrepreneurship: opportunity recognition, creativity, problem solving, risk taking, resourcefulness and passion for ideas.

Ethical Entrepreneurship
Organize an event that sheds light on the issue of ethics in entrepreneurship. Put together an expert panel to answer questions that entrepreneurs of all levels have compiled.

High School | Middle School

Events & Contests already planned that make it easy to participate
• World Series of Innovation

Event | Activity Ideas for You to Plan

The True Power of Entrepreneurship
Business is a place to not only make our lives easier, but also to make our world a better place. Organize a competition in which students submit a plan that will not only make money, but improve the world around us. This program will introduce the concept of corporate social responsibility and demonstrate that financial outcomes do not exclude positive outcomes for the environment and social performance (the triple bottom line).

Taking Initiative
Organize a session for students to brainstorm possible entrepreneurial and business ventures. By the end of the session, students should have a business plan that includes how to enact it with their current resources (We recommend establishing a common resource list for all the groups participating.) Challenge students to make it happen.

Local Entrepreneur Hall of Fame
Get students to explore and research the history of prominent local businesspeople and businesses. Each student selects one of these entrepreneurs to present to their class in a creative and innovative format.

Diversity & Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs come from many different backgrounds and each faces unique challenges and situations. Engage students in a discussion, led by a diverse group of entrepreneurs, to provide encouragement and information to those wanting to follow in their footsteps.

Hot Shot Business
Host a competition to see who can earn the highest score on the online game “Hot Shot Business” (disney.go.com/hotshot/today.html). Teach students the basics of business by introducing them to this game that makes solving small business challenges fun.

Art is Enterprising
Entrepreneurship is not just about the world of business and stocks, but also encompasses fields like arts and crafts. Set up activity workshops hosted by community artists and entrepreneurs. Arts and crafts are an excellent way to hold the interest of young audiences, while also enabling them to explore their creative side.

Business Venture Competition
Intended for high school business classes, this competition requires dividing a class into several teams that compete to formulate a money-making business venture. Each team will be expected to select a product to sell for one week (as well as manage the finances, look for investors, conduct market research, etc.). The team that makes the most product revenue by the end of the week wins the competition.

Creativity Workshop
Organize an afternoon workshop teaching students how to unleash their creativity. Design firms, artists or educational institutions would be uniquely qualified to demonstrate various creative processes that elicit the best ideas of participants. The activity may feature case studies of how creative projects developed from an idea to an actuality using different intellectual processes or ways of thinking.

Lights, Camera, Action: Spotlight on Entrepreneurs
Host a film festival showcasing enterprising individuals. Have students create and submit videos on the theme of entrepreneurship and hold a film festival showcasing student work.

Businesses & Organizations

Events & Contests already planned that make it easy to participate
• Startup Open
• Clean Tech Open Global Ideas Competition

Event | Activity Ideas for You to Plan

How to Do Business In ____ (Insert Name of City)
Encourage the Small Business Office, Procurement Office, or Minority Business offices in your city to host an event about the process of doing business within your city. Learn about the ins and outs of starting a business, the resources available to entrepreneurs from the city, how to win government contracts and other related information for your community. Include city officials, as well as local entrepreneurs, who can share their experiences on how to use the available resources.

Awards Gala
Coordinate an event to recognize successful, established local entrepreneurs as well as promising, new entrepreneurs. The event could double as a fundraiser for positive entrepreneurship initiatives.

FastTrac
FastTrac is a practical, hands-on business development program offered by 300 partner organizations around the world. Get your local existing FastTrac network involved by conducting an introductory class for aspiring entrepreneurs. For FastTrac locations near you, visit fasttrac.org.

Showcasing Women Entrepreneurs
The growing numbers of women entrepreneurs in the United States are shaping and redefining the American workplace. Recruit female entrepreneurs in the area to speak to the young women in your community.

Non-profits via Pro-profits: Mutual Synergies
Create a how-to workshop on legal and practical skills, including ways to create mutually beneficial relationships in sales, how to service a product delivery and how to present a compelling business idea that simultaneously creates commercial and social value.

Marketing Yourself for Success
Gaining a competitive edge in today’s markets can make or break a business. This forum provides helpful hints about marketing strategies to use when promoting enterprises. This event is perfect for up-and-coming entrepreneurs who have products and services waiting for a breakthrough into the market.

Think Big: Revitalize your Community
Promote entrepreneurship and put your community on the map. Host a forum that creates and initiates discussion about public policy, entrepreneurship, and specific ideas to benefit your community. Make the event open to the public so that all ideas will be heard and discussed.

Revitalize Your Business
Encourage participants to expand their market strategies to include other purchasers, both individuals and companies. New and innovative marketing tactics can only improve the quality of a business.

Entrepreneur Gatherings
Launch a networking opportunity for local entrepreneurs during GEW. One day each month, select a venue and time for entrepreneurs to gather and build their contacts.

Show me the Money: Getting Your Business Financed
Money plays a key role in the entrepreneur’s day-to-day expenses, and figuring out the bottom line can lead to troubling situations. Host a session geared toward such start-up companies, discussing the key ingredients for financial success in the entrepreneurial world.

Innovation Expo
Organize an interactive entrepreneurship fair. Invite entrepreneurs, investors, franchisers, suppliers, innovators, etc. to showcase their work to the general public. This event works best in a large open space where each vendor can set up a booth to display their product or service to visitors and spectators.

Community Based Workshop for Entrepreneurs
Invite local entrepreneurs and experts to give a workshop in entrepreneurial skills training. This workshop should provide the potential entrepreneurs the opportunity to speak with successful local entrepreneurs and get a sense of what it takes to open up a business venture in the local community.

Entrepreneur’s Market
The growing popularity of farmer’s markets have allowed for local farmers and artisans to experience a profitable enterprise. Put on a local entrepreneur’s market in your city and instill a sense of community, while at the same time allowing for resident entrepreneurs to “shop” for lucrative ventures.

Supplier Showcase
Hold a supplier showcase for local manufacturers and suppliers to display their products to local entrepreneurs. This will help suppliers build their networks and also give potential entrepreneurs the chance to explore untapped opportunities in their local communities.

Local Entrepreneurship Studio
Start an “Entrepreneurship Studio”, where professional entrepreneurs can receive constructive criticism about their current business practices and strategies.

Policy & Entrepreneurship
Start a lecture series to inform entrepreneurs about key policy that impacts their ventures. Invited speakers can discuss topics such as taxes, start-up visas, regulation and trade.

Seminar Series: Where Do I Begin?
Starting a project is always the hardest part. Host a seminar about how to start up a company the right way and include a Question & Answer session.

The Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
This workshop, taught by successful entrepreneurs, will showcase the skills and knowledge that have made them successful.

How to Make It Big In Business
Organize a day for aspiring entrepreneurs to observe and experience the day-to-day operation of a business venture. Invite local small businesses to open their doors and share their experiences with up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

Viral Marketing: Run Your Own Show
At your festival or expo have a booth where students and entrepreneurs can be videotaped talking about entrepreneurship or performing a skit on entrepreneurship. At the end of the day, submit the individual short clips to YouTube or Jib Jab and harness the power of viral marketing to ignite interest in entrepreneurship.

Art & Entrepreneurship
Organize an art show featuring artists who explore the basic themes or characteristics of entrepreneurship: opportunity recognition, creativity, problem solving, risk taking, resourcefulness and passion for ideas.