On Wednesday, April 28, more than 130 participants will gather at the Syracuse Technology Garden for Emerging Talk. The event will help entrepreneurs find resources in the community and will place students, investors, and business owners in an environment which fosters conversation.
Students from SU, Le Moyne College, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Onondaga Communi
ty College, Cayuga Community College and Morrisville State College will converge to gather information and resources to help them act on their ideas.
Emerging Talk will begin at 6 p.m. with a brief reception and the naming of Orange Tree Award recipients. The Orange Tree Fund supports the Student Startup Accelerator, which has three main components designed to maximize the success of student start-ups in courses, iVenture, and the Syracuse Student Sandbox.
For the remainder of the evening, students and entrepreneurs will be able to meet investors and seek advice from current business owners as browse the four main areas: emerging ventures, the video room, the pitch room, and emerging problems.
Participating emerging ventures will be displaying the ideas and services of their companies. These participants will have promotional materials available to interested students and investors. These ventures will be available to answer questions regarding their
company’s mission.
The video room will play 30-second video pitches submitted by emerging ventures and interested students. The video pitches will play in a looped sequence above a community suggestion board where attendees will be able to provide critiques and useful feedback. Every student or venture video displayed at the event will be competing to win $500 or an iPad.
Students who did not submit a 30-second video pitch by April 21 will be able to go to the Pitch Room and deliver a short “elevator pitch” for their innovative idea. Students will be able to receive feedback on their elevator pitches and will also be qualified to compete for the $500 or iPad prize.
Participants are further encouraged to bring not only innovative ideas, but to share the problems they have run into in business. A “problems suggestions” board will be displayed for attendees to post their business problems on post-it notes. Judges will be reviewing the board for interesting problems and proposed solutions.
Students will also be competing to win other prizes, including web site development, a public relations campaign, incubator space, and legal advice. Prizes have been provided by local businesses and organizations that are eager to support innovation and
entrepreneurship in Central New York.
Emerging Talk is made possible, in part, by Enitiative. Enitiative is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., focusing on entrepreneurship in the arts, technology and neighborhoods. To learn more about Enitiative, visit http://www.entrepreneurship.syr.edu.
Register now: http://emergingtalk.com/registration.