Overview

Bryant University’s CEO Regional Conference is scheduled to take place Friday February 3rd –

Saturday February 4th on campus in the George E. Bello Center in Smithfield, RI. Invitations

will be sent to all Bryant University students interested in entrepreneurship, CEO chapters in the

Northeast, and other surrounding campus entrepreneurial-based organizations.

Keynote Speakers

Mark Hellendrung, Narragansett Brewery CEO 

Susan Rittscher, President & CEO of Center for Women and Enterprise

Duane Spires, President of Extreme Youth Sports and motivational speaker

Purpose

Our organization wants to take a different approach of creating a type of conference that we have

never had the opportunity to attend for ourselves. Listening to the success stories of dozens of

developed entrepreneurs is extremely inspirational. However, we feel many details of exactly

how they got there are left out. With our passionate desire to spread entrepreneurship hope, we

want to provide the attendees a conference with “How-to” workshops, teaching specific skill sets

necessary to launch a business idea.

Workshops

With our goal of a learning conference, we will have a series of workshops. Workshops will

include interactive sessions taught by entrepreneurs in their field of expertise or a skill they

found necessary in their start up. Bringing laptops and physically creating a website, for

example, is the type of thing we would like to see. These workshops will be consulting based

with experts such as lawyers, web developers, accountants, and marketing gurus to help teach student specific skills in a small group setting.

Competitions & Awards

The Build-A-Brand Competition

Teams will be provided with materials to create a unique new product for the beverage industry! The teams will then brand the product making decisions about the name, packaging, distribution, costs, and promotion. Be Unique! At the end of the competition, teams will pitch their brand to a panel of judges and CEO’s from the beverage industry. Cash prizes to be announced as well as the potential for your flavor to go into production. Judges include: H. Shahidi, CEO of Liquid Lavie; Jon Mason, CEO of SwingJuice, Miguel Dominguez, CEO of Avant Tea. Participation is open to all registered conference attendees. Total Prizes: $500

BU NEEC’s Student Entrepreneur of the Year Award

Submit a written entry describing you entrepreneurial accomplishments of 2011. Entries should be emailed to bunique@bryantceo.org and should be no more than two pages doubled spaced. Provide your name, address, phone, and email at the top of the document. Include links to your business or organization's website and any media coverage that you have received. Participation is open to all student registered conference attendees. Deadline 9/3/11 Prize: $100

BU NEEC’s Most Unique Award

Post a video pitch of your unique business idea to the Bryant CEO (Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization) Facebook page or to twitter @CEO_Bryant with the hashtag #bu_neec. Video time limit is 90 seconds. Prizes include free business consulting from Bryant CEO and its advisers; your video will be sent to a venture capitalist! Judging criteria is based on the uniqueness and feasibility of the idea as well as the amount of social media impressions generated. Participation is open to all registered conference attendees. Deadline: 9/3/11 Prize: $100

Schedule of Events

Friday, February 3     

Bryant University New England Entrepreneurship Conference 

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.      Registration    

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

3:00 – 3:20 p.m.      Keynote Speaker

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

Duane Spires, President of Extreme Youth Sports

Session 1

3:20 – 4:00 p.m.      New Venture Creation: Feasibility

                                Bello Room 101

                                Brittany Rose, More Than Cheer

                       New Venture Creation: Taking the Leap

Bello Room 102

Matt Wilson, Under30CEO

Session 2

4:10 – 4:50 p.m.      Marketing Your Venture: Business Development

                                Bello Room 101

Christine Hauer, Thunder 11

                                Lily Himmelsbach, Lets Gift it

 Marketing Your Venture: Bring Your Brand to the shelves

Bello Room 102

Jon Mason, Swing Juice

Session 3

5:00 – 5:40 p.m.      Managing Your Finances: Bootstrapping

                                Bello Room 101

                                Lily Himmelsbach, Lets Gift it

                                Matt Wilson, Under30CEO

 Managing Your Finances: The Voice of a Venture Capitalist

                                Bello Room 102

                                Eric Bertrand, Loud Advisory

                           Power of the Internet: Get Old Schooled – The 5 Timeless Marketing Rules Start Ups Need to Know

                                Bello Room 214

                                Jay Weinberg, The JAY Group

5:40 – 6:00 p.m.      Networking Break: Speed Dating

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

6:00 – 6:30 p.m.      Dinner

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

6:30 – 7:15 p.m.      Keynote Speaker

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

Mark Hellendrung, CEO of Narragansett Beer Company

7:15 – 8:30 p.m.      Build a Brand Competition

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

Miguel Dominguez, Avant Tea

Jon Mason, Swing Juice

H. Shahidi, Liquid Lavie

Saturday, February 4

10:00 – 10:30 a.m.  Registration

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

                               Building Club Membership

                                Bello Room 101

                                Ken Roberts, President of CEO

Session 1

10:30 – 11:10 a.m.  Marketing Your Venture: Social Commerce and Advertising

                                Bello Room 101

                                Lily Himmelsbach, Lets Gift It

                                Tyler Fishback, Tremor Video

                                Matt Wilson, Under30CEO

                       New Venture Creation: New Product/ Service Development

                                Bello Room 102

                     Sandra Potter, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Bryant University

Session 2

11:20 – 12:00 p.m.  Managing Your Finances: The Other CFO in Finance        

                                Bello Room 101

                        M. Cary Collins, Trustee Professor of Entrepreneurship, Bryant University

 Power of the Internet: How to Use a Blog for Business

                                Bello Room 102

Michael A. Roberto, Trustee Professor of Management, Bryant University

Session 3

12:10 – 12:50 p.m.  New Venture Creation: Legally Legitimizing your Business 

                                Bello Room 101

                        Terrance Turner, Professor of Legal Studies, Bryant University

                                Marketing Your Venture: Personal Selling

                                Bello Room 102

                   Jane McKay-Nesbitt, Professor of Marketing, Bryant University

1:00 – 1:30 p.m.      Lunch

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

1:30 – 2:00 p.m.      Keynote Speaker

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

Susan Rittscher, CEO of Center for Women and Enterprise

2:00 – 3:00 p.m.      Competition Results & Awards

George E. Bello Center for Information and Technology

Hotel & Transportation

Hotel: We have reserved hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn, Smithfield RI, (http://www.hiexpress.com/hotels/us/en/smithfield/pvddp/hoteldetail) for students who are traveling at a discounted rate. This discounted price applies as long as you confirm by January 15th. Please mention that you are attending the Bryant University New England Entrepreneur Conference/BU_NEEC. 

Transportation from Providence: Click for RIPTA Bus Schedule and select Branch/Bryant University Outbound. Students attending a college or university in Rhode Island can ride the bus for FREE with a student ID!

Click for Driving Directions

Download a Campus Map: Event will be held in the George E. Bello Grand Hall (#12).

If you have any comments or questions please e-mail ceo@bryant.edu

Looking forward to seeing you at the conference! 

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