UT Hosts Second Annual Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference

On April 1st through 3rd, the University of Tampa will be hosting its second annual Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference (SEEC) on the ninth floor of Vaughn and in the Sykes building.

The SEEC was founded by UT students, and after its huge success last year, members of the Entrepreneurship Club are hoping that this year’s conference will cause the university to have even more notoriety among the Tampa business community and the southeast.

Jake Filloramo, a junior at UT and the president of the Entrepreneurship Club, says that the purpose of the club is to encourage entrepreneurial endeavors in UT students, to “provide guest speakers and workshops for students and introduce students to the global community [in an effort] to help get their ideas off the ground.”

Filloramo emphasized that the Entrepreneurship Club is more than just a club. He said, “It is a part of the whole entrepreneurship community in the Tampa Bay area.”

The conference, which is sanctioned by the National Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization (CEO), aims to bring the Tampa business community together in one place where students can create connections with entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the area.

In two days, over twenty guest speakers from three countries will present to attendees of the conference. They will share their insights on their personal as well as entrepreneurial success.

Along with the seminars and conferences, a kayaking trip and a trip to Clearwater beach, for the opportunity to network with speakers, have been planned. Sophomore member of the Club Jasmine Rustogi said, “These activities are more of the fun add-ons to the itinerary. They’re planned to make the conference a little bit more like a social event, especially for people coming from out-of-state.”

A highlight of the Southeastern Entrepreneurship Conference is the Spartan Pitch and Plan Competition. Attendees will present what Filloramo calls “a ninety second elevator speech,” in which they will pitch their “dream business or business idea” in front of a panel of judges. Those presenting their business pitches will receive feedback on their business plans. The winner of the competition will win $1,500 to help start his or her own business.

Last year’s winner of the Spartan Pitch and Plan Competition was a student from the University of Nebraska at Omaha who successfully pitched his business plan for custom built headboards. Filloramo said, “We’re really hoping a UT student will win the pitch competition this year.”

There is a special reward for 5-10 UT students who participate in the pitch competition: they will qualify for a year long business plan boot camp for the 2011-2012 school year. During the boot camp, students are taught how to solidify their business plans and given lessons on how to better present their business plans for the following Southeast Entrepreneurship Conferences as well as at other conferences across Florida and the Southeast.

Along with the pitch competition, there will also be a Self-Employment of the Arts Track, which is planned for students majoring in fine arts and designed to show students majoring in music, art and film how to successfully start a business based on the knowledge they have in their craft. As Rustogi put it, “We include the Self-Employment of the Arts Track to show that entrepreneurship is not just for business people. It can be geared in any direction.”

Though a significant majority of last year’s conference attendees were upperclassmen, Filloramo and Rustogi said that the Entrepreneurship Club is encouraging more freshmen and sophomores to attend and reiterated that the conference is open to all UT students.

The Club is proud of the SEEC’s success in, as Filloramo said, “putting UT on the map in the world of entrepreneurship.” The 200 seats available at this year’s conference are filling quickly, but Filloramo wants to encourage all UT students, no matter their majors, to consider registering.

UT students can receive a $100 discount off the registration price for the conference by contacting Jake Filloramo. To register for the conference or to receive more info, visit http://www.seetampa.org.

Channing Hailey can be reached at channing.hailey@spartans.ut.edu.