COB’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization earns 1st place in national competition

The Florida State University College of Business chapter of CEO – Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization – took first place for best chapter marketing plan at the 2011 National Elevator Pitch Competition held October 27-29 in Fort Worth, Texas.  The award marks the third consecutive year the FSU chapter has won one or more first-place awards at the national event.

With more than 100 schools and 1,000 students attended the conference, members of Florida State’s CEO chapter were recognized for their submission detailing marketing efforts between November 2010 and October 2011 including:

• Attending student fairs and recruiting more than 40 people from non-business-related schools;
• Helping to coordinate and volunteering during the university’s Entrepreneurship Week and reaching more than 15,000 students;
• Using close-circuit television advertising space, digital, print and social media; and
• Reaching out to incoming freshmen at university events

Sharing in the recognition are Florida State CEO officers:  Kenyetta Hill, president; Kelli Lampkin, vice president; Nicholas Stoeckle, treasurer; Matthew David and Daniel Herrera, marketing; David Russell, membership; Daniel Hoge, fundraising; and TiShonda Lewis, historian.

“I have had the wonderful opportunity to go to the national conference for two years,” said Hill, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and hospitality, who also took part in a panel discussion and moderated one of the sessions.  “Every year I learn more about creating and operating a business along with the importance of networking. This is great for any student thinking about creating or growing a business.”

Hill was one of 33 participants out of 170 applicants invited to present her business idea, Fast Candidates, a voter information application. Both she and David Russell, a junior whose major is entrepreneurship, also competed in the National Elevator Pitch Competition, with Russell pitching his company MoolaGuides.com. Russell won the FSU CEO elevator speech competition in the spring.

The students had the opportunity to mingle with more than 80 entrepreneurs, including Dr. Gene Landrum, founder of Chuck E. Cheese, who was inducted into the National CEO Hall of Fame, and Michael DeLazzer, founder of RedBox, Inc.

Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization SM is the premier entrepreneurship network with chapters on university campuses across North America. CEO’s mission is to inform, support and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and seek opportunity through enterprise creation.

CEO Florida State chapter members will compete in the Regional Elevator Pitch Competition, which will be held at the regional conference March 22-24 at the University of Tampa and at next year’s national conference, scheduled for November 1-3 in Chicago.