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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-69d3aac4-7034-8d31-6370-2e51192829b5"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Connections and Partnerships come from all directions. While other fellows will certainly be a great resource, your search for strategic partnership should not just be limited there. You’ll want to involve other students, organizations, and/or businesses with similar goals willing to help out. There will be plenty to do and there’s no way you’ll be able to do it alone. Some partnerships to consider are the administration and faculty at your institution, especially those who have demonstrated a passion and dedication for innovation. The connections you make with faculty and administration will not always lead to what you’re looking for, but many times they know things or people who can help you reach your goal of a successful meetup.</span></span></span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-69d3aac4-7034-8d31-6370-2e51192829b5"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Student Organizations provide a great example of a mutually advantageous partnership. By helping UIF fellows host a regional meetup, they are also getting the word out about their own clubs and initiatives. Not only is it a beneficial spotlight on them to other students, but also to administration at their own school. It shows that both student organizations and University Innovation Fellows are able to collaborate together and ultimately work towards one common goal; enlightening and enhancing their own campus when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship. In a story from a previous regional meetup held at James Madison University, a fellow entrepreneurship-based student organization footed the bill for near everything but lodging, a couple meals, and a few entertainment events.</span></span></span></span>

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-69d3aac4-7034-8d31-6370-2e51192829b5"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">Another important part of leveraging your partnerships is marketing. If no one knows what you’re trying to do, no one will be willing to help you. Get the word out. If you don’t know how to do it, form a partnership with someone who does. This partnership can be as small as someone on the school newspaper willing to write an article about what you are wanting to do, or as large as the Provost of your institution, who might willing to raise funds in order to make your meetup plans a reality.</span></span></span></span>

= <span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Taking a Business Point of View</span></span></span> =

<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-69d3aac4-7034-8d31-6370-2e51192829b5"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;">The meetup should be planned down to the last detail, and it should be noted that the planning stage will take a considerable amount of time. There are ever changing variables that play into this event, ranging from number of &nbsp;attendees, cost of lodging, meals, maps and entertainment, to unpredictable issues like bad weather and technical problems. The key to managing these risks is time, flexibility and of course, a positive attitude. In a noted blurb form an interview with a past regional meet-up organizer, Chris Ashley, he mentioned that it’s the little things that can add a big wow factor. He personally attended a meetup where upon arrival he was handed a hand-cut wooden name tag. He described not only how welcome he felt, but how that little piece of wood would forever transport him back to that weekend, and all the knowledge and good memories he took away from it.</span></span></span></span>