|
Business plan competitions are a bedrock component of any experiential learning program focused on entrepreneurship. Your business plan competition can (and will) be seen as the culmination of your entire program, and will be one of the things students remember most about their KEEN experience. It also provides you with the opportunity to celebrate the success of your program, both by announcing the winners and following the successful companies spawned from competition activities.
A number of factors are involved in the creation and execution of a successful business plan competition. The process can be broken down into six components:
- Defining the Competition – What is the overall goal of the competition? What type of competition do you want to hold? What are all the factors you need to consider when designing the competition?
- Events –What are the goals of including events in a Business Plan Competition? What are the typical types of competition events (Kick-off, Workshops, Networking, Presentation/Judging)? Tips on managing the schedule of events.
- Communications – This includes recruiting organizers, participants and judges, marketing, community-building, and dealing with the press.
- Sponsorship – Covers the how, what and why of raising money.
- Judging – Information on selecting judges, and the purpose, structure, and process of judging
- Prize money – Help in determining how much to award, and why
Content for these pages was culled from The Cambridge-MIT Institute's guide to the MIT $50k Entrepreneurship Competition and UC Berkeley's Creating and Operating a Business Plan Competition.
|
