This past week I went to Ignite Corvallis.
I think my favorite part of the event was the trade show. For a more serious reason, I was able to talk with the OSU business school representatives, specifically about the entrepreneurship program. As I am eating, sleeping and breathing NVC these days, anything related to new ventures, business schools and MBA entrepreuenrship programs catches my eye.
The single most important question I like to ask is: Why do MBA students choose your entrepreneurship program over other programs? The answer from the OSU rep. was because it has a flexible schedule with night classes that allows students to fit the program into their schedules – entrepreneurs are also brought in at the end of the term to have the students pitch their ideas and receive feedback. One interesting thing about OSU’s program is that there is a resident hall specifically for these students to live in order to create a community of like-minded individuals.
When talking to MBA students in the entrepreneurship program at U of O as well as international MBA students who compete in NVC, it seems that the single most important aspect is the experience. Both seem to be more “full time” than “part time” and the community feel and educational aspect provided by the community of MBA students, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists seem to be repeated qualities of both U of O’s Entrepreneurship program as well as NVC.
ANYWAY, onto the more exciting part…the tradeshow…
Why is it that companies feel obligated to supply pencils (with erasers that smudge the lead), XXL t-shirts with the company logo, frisbees, candy in a bowl (usually the candy no one likes), text heavy pamphlets, and employees in khakis and matching colored polos?? Out of all the things one could provide to represent a company – why pencils and frisbees??? I just. don’t. get. it.
I did like this guys booth though – I have no real interest in his product, but I stuck around to look through the board because it was an interesting visual element:
