“Is my education preparing me for my future?” This is the question Jim Ritchie, director of the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship, says is the basis for the Great Ideas Exchange held on campus on November 3-4, an event where students can share ideas and receive instruction on how to refine them to better prepare for their careers no matter their area of study.
Ideas submitted by students can be for nearly anything: art, business, government, how they will contribute to society, or what they want to do to improve the world we live in. Ideas will be mentored and judged by members of the President’s Leadership Council (PLC), a group of donors dedicated to the success of BYU–Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center. With this expert help, students are able to refine their ideas from concepts into workable plans. Prizes will be awarded for participation, and the top ideas will receive further critique and instruction, and greater prizes.
Students wanting to participate must submit their ideas online by Tuesday, November 2. On Wednesday, November 3, participants will have the opportunity to present their ideas to the PLC mentors. Thursday, November 4, will be the finals at 11:00 a.m. in the Cannon Activities Center.
Also on Thursday, from 9:30-10:50 AM in the Ballroom and Aloha Center 155-165, everyone is invited to attend a special forum with seven members of the PLC, each of them giving an 18-minute presentation (similar to the format seen on TED.com) on their ideas of the past, things they are working on, and thought-provoking ideas of the future.
The Great Ideas Exchange is the ‘Think’ phase of the ‘Think-Plan-Do’ concept taught by Ritchie and the Center for International Entrepreneurship. A business plan competition in the spring is the “Plan” phase, and when students return home and put their plans into practice is the ‘Do’ phase.
“We see those two events (Great Ideas Exchange and Business Plan Competition) as moments to pause, moments to think, moments to write, moments to formulate a plan,” says Ritchie.
To submit your idea and to find out more information on the Great Ideas Exchange at BYU–Hawaii, visit here.