EDUCATION-RELATED EVENTS _________National Entrepreneurship Week
Ideas for Education-Focused Events and Celebrations
A 01 "STATE" Entrepreneurship Week - Creating Homegrown "STATE" Wealth" - During the national week a State Leadership Team will identify and promote activities of all their state organizations that teach and train future entrepreneurs through the lifelong learning and higher education processes. The state will hold a state-wide event on one of the days, providing press coverage for outstanding entrepreneurship education programs, a competition for the best "New Business Idea for 2008", interviews with students of all ages about their business ideas, and awards for outstanding "Home-Grown" Entrepreneurs.
A 02 E-Link Central - "STATE" Entrepreneurship Website - State Leadership teams would build a website that directs youth, teachers, parents, and potential entrepreneurs to all of the entrepreneurship education/assistance programs available in the state. It could provide links to all of the relevant websites for follow-up activities.
A 03 Governors' Council on Entrepreneurship - Governors in each state will be encouraged to host celebrations that emphasize developing the entrepreneurial culture of each state and to recognize outstanding entrepreneurs who make significant contributions to the state's economy; Business, education, and community leaders who are key entrepreneurial support partners for the state's education programs for students; State level legislative and governmental Entrepreneurship support partners; and all of the diverse educational programs in the state that encourage youth and adults to create their own businesses.
A 04 "Our School USA" Hall of Fame - Hold an assembly to recognize 3-5 local entrepreneurs, particularly graduates of that school or major sponsors that have contributed to the strength of the local economy. Ask them to speak to the students about the opportunities in the local community to build their own business. Begin to build a wall in the school entry area that recognizes these entrepreneurs. Add to this over the years.
A 05 SNAP…Super Networking Accelerates Potential - Networking is the best answer to finding whatever an entrepreneur may need….financing, contacts, technical assistance, process ideas, and marketing strategies. Students should learn how to organize a presentation in three sentences that identifies who they are, what they are doing, and what they need next. Students should practice sharing their SNAP in the classroom, practice getting feedback from parents, neighbors, and business contacts for adult feedback, and then use this skill whenever they have an opportunity to seek real assistance for their business idea. "SNAP is an exercise for the most important muscle the body possesses, the muscle of the mind." (Super Achiever Mindsets by B J Dohrmann)
A 06 Hot Young Entrepreneurs - Students who are currently operating businesses are invited to present the story of their business to other students and parents. Media releases of these students businesses may be shared in order to allow community stakeholders to see the economic contributions of young students. Sharing the student's story helps others understand the contributions that education made to their successful operations. Media visibility will also bring other opportunities for this young entrepreneur.
A 07 E-Power Lunch - Invite an entrepreneur to come into the school or community college to share their entrepreneurial story and have lunch with a group of students who have interest in becoming Entrepreneurs. Focus it on specific careers and/or career pathways if desired so that a different focus is offered on different days.
A 08 "Take a Teacher to Lunch" Mentoring Program - Rotary, chambers of commerce, BPW, etc and/or other local business clubs organize a project for entrepreneurs to mentor teachers. The sponsor agrees to match an entrepreneur with a local teacher who needs help in infusing entrepreneurial experiences in the classroom. Use email and website connections to provide real business examples for student learning activities, and phone conversations to help plan the classroom activities. This would not require actual participation of the entrepreneur in the classroom, sometimes a difficult thing to schedule for a busy entrepreneur. Teachers could come from any discipline where entrepreneurship "Discovery" could be introduced….science, math, language arts, music, art, and career and technical education.
A 09 From Dream to Reality - Career and Technical Education teachers can meet jointly to develop student learning strategies and lesson plans that capitalize on National Entrepreneurship Week 2008. As they plan to teach organization, management, promotion, and leadership principles they will draw from the National Performance Indicators identified by entrepreneurs. (See National Content Standards at
A 10 Parents as Partners - Entrepreneurship teacher(s) encourage the PTA to hold a special event featuring students involved in entrepreneurship classes. The purpose of the program is to encourage expansion of entrepreneurship activities throughout the school and feature the students that are involved in existing programs. A parent who is a local entrepreneur could be the featured speaker….talking about the skills students could be developing in education and the opportunities for creating future businesses in the community.
A 11 Science Outside the Box - Encourage students to think about science principles as a means to create new products that solve consumer problems. Consider having the students think outside the box as they imagine their ideas on the market in the years to come. Their creative ideas could then be shared on the school's science website or in the Science Olympiad.
A 12 Marketing Yourself as an Entrepreneur - Gaining a competitive edge in today's markets can make or break an aspiring entrepreneur. Bring together a panel of local entrepreneurs, business consultants, and marketing professionals to provide helpful hints about establishing your personal image in the world of business. Have the panel focus on personal development strategies including dress, speech, manners, and business protocol. This is the perfect event for young entrepreneurs who wish to introduce products and services to the market.
A 13 Young Advisors at Work - Not every business is always booming. Using the expertise gained in an entrepreneurship class, students as individuals or teams visit existing community businesses to observe how the business operates. Teachers will assign a project to evaluate the business that would lead to recommendations for enhancing business performance.
A 14 Franchisor or Franchisee? - Franchises offer ready-made packages for the aspiring entrepreneur. These companies all have one thing in common: successful branding techniques. You too can be a successful franchisor if you create a successful local business that has potential for an expanding national market. But first, create that successful brand and learn how to develop a legal contract to attract others to your franchise. Students will invite experts from local franchises to discuss the issue of branding and techniques that can lead to a successful franchise operation.
A 15 Young Inventors on Stage - Students in programs focusing on entrepreneurship, science, and technology education are being encouraged to create new and better ways to solve today's problems. The resulting products often never get to market. This event is designed to take these ideas to the next level. Before sharing their ideas students need to seek assistance in protecting their ideas with patents, trademarks and copyrights. Then they could participate with a panel of business investors to convince them to invest in their business idea. Likewise, you can mimic an inventor/entrepreneurship game show where innovative entrepreneurs can present their business plan or product to a group of local angels or venture capital firms who are prepared to invest in an original business idea.
A 16 Put Talent in the Bank - So many young people have musical talent and musical aspirations. But often they don't have the opportunity to combine their talents with business expertise such as marketing skills, cash flow management, prospecting for bookings, and event management. Entrepreneurship classes combined with related classes such as Sports and Entertainment Marketing, school-based music classes, etc. would organize a Community Music Festival that will showcase local talent in all genres of music. The project will assemble a panel of business advisors to evaluate each musical entry's plan Each artist would submit a plan identifying how they would use the Music Festival to create their own future business opportunities. Their plans would show key business strategies, planning steps and profit-making opportunities for the future. Artists would be accepted to showcase their talent on stage after their business plan is reviewed and accepted by a panel of business advisors
A 17 The Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow are in our Schools Today! Organizations are encouraged to have events that bring entrepreneurs into the schools and community colleges during National EntrepreneurshipWeek 2008. Publicity will be encouraged to tell the story of the entrepreneur, of entrepreneurship as a career, why we have this special week, and about potential awardees. Establish targeted "Thank You and Recognition Events" that fit with particular target audiences that support entrepreneurs and youth entrepreneurship. The message will focus on "Celebrating the contributions of Entrepreneurs and focusing on how the schools of America can prepare students for an entrepreneurial future". Events might focus on local chambers of commerce, local entrepreneurs, local community leaders, educators at all levels, local government, state and federal legislators.
A 18 "National Entrepreneurship Week SALE!" Entrepreneurship programs or others that manage school stores can plan a special sales event for The Week, featuring special prices on standard products. Stores might bring in special products just available during Entrepreneurship Week. Students that have their own businesses and products to sell might arrange to be featured in the school store during Entrepreneurship Week. Local entrepreneurs might be invited to feature their products in the school store. Display windows and promotional flyers should feature Entrepreneurship Week sales. The school store managers should let the press know about this special school-based SALES Event run by local students.
A 19 Reaching Down Under - High school entrepreneurship students prepare a presentation on the opportunities of entrepreneurship to be given to different levels of classes such as 4th, 6th and 8th graders. On a following day they go back to hold an entrepreneurship game show or other competitions with these students to demonstrate the excitement of entrepreneurship and to be sure they understand the message from the first day. The 8th graders' programs would especially focus on recruiting students for high school programs that teach entrepreneurship. A suggestion is to take the 8th graders on a tour of the school store run by the high school students. As a result the high school students will sharpen their skills and impact on younger students.
A 20 Casing the Neighborhood - Students are assigned the job of finding a neighborhood entrepreneur and writing a case study that explores the successes and failures of their business operation. After hearing the entrepreneur's story they write it up in a case study format. Then they create questions that center on the difficulties and failures of the entrepreneur's experience. Students in the classroom read the case study, and in groups discuss and propose solutions to the entrepreneur's problems. This activity not only provides experiences from entrepreneurs but focuses students on listening, writing, and problem solving skills.
A 21 Global Entrepreneurship - Students in language classes need to learn the language of business and practice it with real native speakers from other countries. In the process they speak in the language, learn how business is conducted in the other country, and obtain help in planning a business-based presentation for their class. Students should include use of the country's money and foreign exchange, traditional business practices that are different from the US, and ideas for products and services that could be created using this country's culture.
A 22 Entrepreneurial Discovery Teams ** - The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education will design a Entrepreneurship Discovery Policy Plan to be shared with all Consortium members and their networks, to expand into all levels of the local school systems. We encourage all Entrepreneurship Ambassadors to initiate this project. "Discovery" relates to the first stage of entrepreneurial thinking that should be integrated in science, math, history, language arts, music, art, foreign languages, and Career and Technical Education. Educators would enlist entrepreneurs to serve on their local school team. The team would seek school board support for the team to implement the policy and provide resources to teachers.
A 23 Letters to a Young Entrepreneur ** - Individual entrepreneurs write a letter to students enrolled in classes for entrepreneurship preparation. The letters will tell about their personal experiences and provide advice that the teacher can share with the students. A number of individual outcomes of this connection might be (1) invitation to the entrepreneur(s) to a luncheon meeting at school, (2) sponsorship of the class by the entrepreneur, (3) contribution to the Consortium's Innovative Teacher Grant Fund, and (4) continuing Pen Pal letters and communications by email.
A 24 Emily's Story ** - The Consortium is providing a special project to reach elementary and middle school students. A special event will be announced through state education networks that encourage individual students to write a story about how Emily became a successful entrepreneur. Winning students in each participating state will receive their own doll and be listed on the Emily Educational Website that will be linked to the Consortium website. Teachers will be encouraged to include age-appropriate entrepreneurship activities in the classroom from ideas provided on the Emily educational website. In addition to encouraging excitement about entrepreneurship as a career, this project will encourage creative thinking, writing skills, and focus on women entrepreneurs.
A 25 Do You Have the Right Skills? ** Students in entrepreneurship education programs will be encouraged to demonstrate their marketing skills by competing in developing an Advertising Campaign in support of "Building Entrepreneurship Education in American Schools". Criteria will be developed for required components of the campaign and distributed to members of the Consortium and their networks. Judges from each state will be selected from ad agencies and/or corporate advertising departments to evaluate applications, and to pick the state and national winners. In the process of promoting the competition we will seek sponsors that would also like to actually use the winning ad campaigns in local, state, and/or national media.
** These events will have special coordination by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education and are open for all to adopt, adapt or join us.Add your events here if you are looking for other educators to adopt or adapt them. Send a brief abstract of your idea to Becky at the Consortium Answer Desk.
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