Priorities:Wofford College Student Priorities

Wofford College Student Priorities

Overview

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Strategy 1: Increase student access to innovation and entrepreneurship resources

Tactic 3: Makerspace

Strategy 2: Enhance the atmosphere of entrepreneurship on campus

Tactic 1: TEDx Event

• Description- A TEDx event for Wofford College (TEDxWoffordCollege, TEDxWofford, etc.) that will be centered around innovation and entrepreneurship topics. Among these topics should be recognising a need, product design, design thinking, risk taking, startup management, and other topics that are central to entrepreneurship and innovation. The event will be held in the fall of 2015, as the event will require at least five months to plan and get off the ground, as estimated by TED.
• Team Leader: Richard Fields
• Milestones:
  • Meet with the necessary faculty/students to be able to put on the event (activities coordinators, marketing faculty, among others) 2/13/15
  • Set a tentative date for the TEDx event, and start gathering names of and contacting potential speakers 3/6/15
  • Apply to TED for a license to coordinate a TEDx event (their response requires at least eight weeks) 3/6/15
  • Begin preliminary advertising (very basic) for the event 4/1/15
  • Hear back from TED with positive approval to host a TEDx event 5/15/15
  • Have a set date for the TEDx conference 6/12/15
  • Have a complete list of speakers for the conference 6/12/15
  • Begin the main advertising campaign for the event 8/1/15
  • Start discussing a follow up TEDx event with Wofford faculty (start discussions in September or October)
  • Hold the TEDx conference at Wofford College (sometime in September, October or November)
  • Start planning the next TEDx event (to be held in Spring 2016)

The last milestone will be brought backwards given necessary circumstances. I intend to hold the second conference in the spring of 2016 if possible. I plan for TEDx events to become a regular (each semester, or each year) event at Wofford. Also, we are hoping that the first of our TEDx events (fall 2015) will act as a springboard to help us raise interest in and conduct a startup weekend at Wofford College.

Tactic 2: Startup Weekend

• Description- There is a group in Spartanburg (where Wofford is located) that conducts a startup weekend each year. However, this never reaches Wofford students. We want to conduct a startup weekend on Wofford’s campus in order to achieve maximum student involvement.
• Team Leader: Undecided
• Milestones:
  • Begin coordinating the startup weekend with faculty and local professionals (spring 2015)
  • Hold the startup event (sometime after the aforementioned TEDx event)

The description of our intentions and the milestones set forth are very vague because we have yet to select a leader for the project--our Leadership Circle members all currently have other projects. Even so, someone will likely pick up this project, as we find it important. The startup weekend will follow from the TEDx event, and we plan to use them both to effectively cultivate the entrepreneurship environment.