Terry Entrepreneurship hosts "Communications Skills for Better Business" seminar on July 9 in Atl

Location: Terry College of Business Executive Education Center in Buckhead, Lobby Level
When: 6p-8p on July 9

RSVP to Chris Hanks at hanks@terry.uga.edu

Who Should Attend: Entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals in any field who are seeking to enhance their communications awareness and speaking skills as a competitive business advantage.

Whether you’re working with your boss, your customers, your employees, your peers, or another organization, the way you communicate will largely determine your success. To improve your personal and business results, dedicate yourself to becoming a better communicator. This seminar will help you do just that, with tips and techniques from three leading experts.

Presenters include:

Larry Warnick is the Founder and President of PassKey Strategies, a business coaching consultancy designed to help business owners and executives of emerging and mid-sized companies achieve improved and sustainable results through business lifecycle transitions. Passkey provides individual coaching and facilitated group workshops for strategic thinking and planning, leadership and communications skills, team building and performance, and time management. He has over 25 years of business leadership experience in strategic planning, marketing and product management, and sales and business development with technology and service firms ranging from start-ups to Fortune-level in numerous industries. His clients achieve sustainable results that include accelerated revenue, improved corporate culture and team performance, sustainable growth, smooth transitions through the business lifecycle, and profitable exit strategies and succession plans.

Bob Schwerzel is the Founder and President of Technology Guidance Services, LLC (TGS), a consulting and advisory business that focuses on helping companies of all sizes become more profitable by improving their product development and commercialization processes. TGS works with companies ranging from startups to multi-nationals to leverage their core capabilities for maximum impact in the marketplace. Dr. Schwerzel has a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry, and has over 30 years of experience in contract research and R&D management for corporate clients worldwide. His consulting clients consistently achieve markedly improved results in tailoring their product concepts to the marketplace and accelerating their path to enhanced revenue.



Sharon P. Foote is the Founder and Principal Instructor for Foote Communications, a corporate training company which provides individual and workshop training to business executives, companies, educational and government organizations. She has over twenty years experience in the communications field as an instructor, actress and lecturer in corporate, collegiate and performing arts environments with emphasis on public speaking and drama. The workshops she delivers employ the secrets professional actors use to improve presentation and public speaking, skills whether one-on-one or in front of a group. She is a professional actor and a member of SAG/AFTRA and AEA, the professional acting unions, and has extensive acting experience in New York, Los Angeles and the Southeast. Her experience includes professional theater, television and film as well as TV commercials, soap operas, narration and convention spokesperson.

RSVP to Chris Hanks at hanks@terry.uga.edu!

UGA's Next Top Entrepreneur: There can be only one?

Nope! UGA's Terry Entrepreneurship has no interest in picking winners, even though Krasidy.com won it all at recently at UGA's Next Top Entrepreneur. Terry Entrepreneurship is the only MBA entrepreneurship program solely devoted to launching businesses. Top Entrepreneur merely put these ventures on steroids (so to speak) and threw in some competitiveness, to boot. The results were astounding. (See the recent story about Top Entrepreneur in the Athens Banner Herald! click here)



As noted in UGA's official release, eight finalists with a combined revenue of $212,000 competed. Anofit by Adam Balkcom came in a close 2nd, a company that coordinates personal training and group fitness instructors for multi-family communities. Ultimately, it was team Krasidy LLC that took the prize, with members Hayden Kramer and Wesley Miller (shown at left, with check writer and Terry Entrepreneur-in-Residence Rob Bearden of Benchmark Capital). Krasidy plays on the team's belief that "everyone is a musician." Their product, StudioApp, lets users record their voices over instrumentals and mute, delete, or layer vocals in a single song. The app is ranked #6 on the iTunes' "Top Music Application' with over 3,000 downloads at $7.99 a pop, contributing to over 30k in revenue already.


Both a competition and seminar series, UGA's Next Top Entrepreneur is hosted by the Terry College of Business and is open to all UGA students. Modeled after the popular TV show American Idol, it began in October with 114 students participating in a series of interactive seminars and individual coaching sessions. The field was eventually narrowed to eight teams that presented their business plans before a panel of experts. (Balkcom, right, still a winner - recently closing 50k in angel funding)

"So many people have an idea or the desire to be an entrepreneur, but they just don't know how," said Bearden, who led the series. "We showed them how to research an idea, develop a business plan, and pitch it to potential investors. I'm impressed with the results, and more importantly, with the future potential of this competition."

Chris Hanks (@ChrisHanks), Director of Entrepreneurship at Terry, sums it up: "This competition is one of the reasons why there is no better place to be than the University of Georgia for those interested in entrepreneurship."

To stay in the loop of all things Terry Entrepreneurship, join our Official Communications Channel and our "Campus Beat" channel for occasional updates from your friends at Terry. Use the "Campus Beat" channel to stay informed about what's happening when and where on campus. To know what's up now not later: follow @UGAentrepreneur on twitter.

Check out what Terry Entrepreneurship is up to by reading our post- Terry Entrepreneurship: Bigger Than You Think.

Top Entrepreneur post soon!

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for a post about Top Entrepreneur- what a huge success and a ton of fun!

Top Entrepreneur is around the corner!

Competition night is at 5pm on Thursday, April 16 in Sanford 313. Join the Campus Beat group (on right, below Terry TV) to get more info!

Two Upcoming Events with Terry Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs Lounge - March 21

Gwinnett-based & UGA-affiliated Entrepreneurs Lounge invites you to join in welcoming Ricky Steele on Saturday, March 21 from 10a-12n at the Terry Executive Center in Buckhead.

Steele has a long history of developing new business, expanding the brand, marketing, public relations, and community engagement for clients across many industries. Through his firm, Richard E.Steele, Jr., & Associates, Inc., Steele focuses on driving revenue, mentoring business development executives and opening doors into tier one prospects. Ricky is also a published author with the release of his first book, The Heart of Networking. He frequently conducts seminars and speaks on the subject of his book, “successful networking through servant leadership and living the Golden Rule.”

Find more information about and register for this FREE event here.


UGA Startups - March 31
Terry Entrepreneurship partners with the Inventor's Association of GA on: From Idea to the Retail Shelf - Getting Your Business off the Ground



Many aspiring entrepreneurs struggle to get their invention or business off the ground. To address this, Terry Entrepreneurship has assembled a panel of experts led by Chris Hanks, Director of the Terry College of Business Entrepreneurship Program and Dave Savage, President of the Inventors Association of Georgia. The event will take place from 5:30p - 8:30p on Tuesday, March 31 at the Terry Executive Center in Buckhead. Find more information and register here.
5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

The Terry College of Business Entrepreneurship Program designed the UGA STARTUPS series as an interactive, informal and safe program open to anyone with a serious interest in launching a business. No brokers, consultants or persons soliciting business are invited to attend if they wish to gain clientele. We wish for attendees to feel comfortable discussing fears and concerns about starting a business without pressure to become a client of the persons giving advice.


We hope to see you at both these great events!

Terry Entrepreneurship: Bigger Than You Think

#StartupRiot backnoise declared Athens "not a startup hub." We may not be Atlanta, but we're indisputably a startup town. Over 100 students working on around 70 companies in UGA's Next Top Entrepreneur tell a different story.





But what else is Terry Entrepreneurship doing?

The Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club gathered Thursday evening to chart its own future. After a spirited debate, the Club decided to create a think tank-like organization designed to help local businesses meet their goals in these difficult times. In our "beta" stage we'll focus on one company (chosen from multiple candidates), with more to come. The "think tank" will grow into cross-functional teams that possess finance, marketing, tech, etc. skills. These student entrepreneurs fully expect to receive compensation for their services. Lot's of people want these type of jobs, but Terry Entrepreneurship is making them!

"Wow. That's cool." You're right!


But what ELSE?

Aside from our monthly UGA Startups events in Atl (see coverage of last event in previous post), we've also got
VentureEAT, an every-other-Thursday lunch meetup with Mr. Chris Hanks, Director of Entrepreneurship at Terry. Occasional special guests like Melanie Brandt spice up discussions about entrepreneurship. Students come with questions about their own companies or just to soak up and contribute to the conversation. The next VentureEat will be held the Thursday after Spring Break, at noon on March 19.



"So you've got some ambitious students and a neat little lunch meetup, but what is Terry Entrepreneurship doing to actually put students in the path of cool opportunities?"

Good question!

The Terry College of Business Entrepreneurship Program participates in the most significant venture capital and angel investment forums in the southeast. Due to our relationship, the Southeast Venture Capital Conference (SEVC) has offered a special opportunity for our students to participate, including a private reception with influential attendees.

The third annual Southeast Venture Conference will feature market relevant investor and executive panels, exclusive networking opportunities, featured speakers and approximately 40 of the region's top private technology firms presenting to a national audience of venture capitalists, investment bankers and private equity investors. This event will be March 11-12th, 2009 at the Intercontinental Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia. Students will apply for a limited number of spots; details on that soon.


Chances are you now realize why Terry Entrepreneurship is Bigger Than You Think.


Don't miss out!

Join Terry Entrepreneurship's Official Communications Channel to receive occasional announcements (UGA Startups, special events in Atl, etc.).

Join our "Campus Beat" channel to receive occasional updates about Terry Entrepreneurship events (Entrepreneurship Club, VentureEAT, etc.) around Athens.

UGA’s “Entrepreneurs and Innovation” Summit Provides Insights into Economic Growth

“Ultimately, we can't bail our way out of this crisis. We can only grow our way out - with more innovation and entrepreneurship.” - Thomas Friedman



Organizer Keith Herndon, President of Internet Decisions, LLC and author of Entrepreneurs and Innovation: Creating Value With Emerging Technology, kicked off Thursday’s event with an apt quote. The half-day summit, held at UGA’s Alumni Society’s Buckhead location, focused on the role that innovation plays in restoring economic growth, one entrepreneur at a time. UGA alums Karen Lennon, CEO, Beyond Z Interactive media and Alan Koenning, Fund Manager, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund joined Chris Hanks, Director of the Entrepreneurship program at UGA’s Terry College of Business on a panel of experts. Attendees of the standing-room only event had an opportunity to listen to the panel’s insight into the innovation process, as well as hear general information about raising capital and leveraging existing resources. Ms. Lennon spoke of the need to keep employees motivated and offered tips on how to listen to your market. Mr. Koenning noted promising new trends in co-working, like the Advanced Technology Development Center’s (ATDC) “seed space” initiative, to provide entrepreneurs an affordable location to work that is in close proximity to available resources. Mr. Koenning also shared information about exciting opportunities like Shotput Ventures, a technology startup accelerator fund. Mr. Hanks focused on the importance of resonating with a target market so a firm is so closely aligned with that market’s needs it becomes “like a fingerprint.” After a Q&A session, John R. Harris, Partner at the Technology/Intellectual Property Group of Morris, Manning and Martin, LLC, gave a presentation on realizing value through legal services like patents. After a delicious lunch, Steven Stice, Ph.D., Director of the UGA Regenerative Bioscience Center and Chief Scientific Officer of Aruna Biomedical, literally wowed the crowd (“wows” quite audibly emanated from the peanut gallery) with his presentation of his work commercializing breakthroughs in ethically-sound stem cell research. A highlight of Dr. Stice’s presentation was footage of spontaneously uniting cells beating like a heart. Innovation was on display in more ways than one at UGA’s “Entrepreneurs and Innovation” Summit.



Stephen Rosenberg
@smrosenberg

If Terry Entrepreneurship had a cousin, it would be Techdrawl.com. Check out Techdrawl's coverage of the Innovations Summit here.

UGA Startups Event #2 - this Thursday!

Check out the event registration here.

Fostering innovation among entrepreneurs is one of the keys to restoring economic growth. This summit is aimed at providing attendees with insight into the innovation process as well as practical advice about raising capital, protecting intellectual property and creating a culture that promotes innovative thinking.

This is a half day event, Thursday February 12th from 8:30 to 1:30 featuring an all-star panel of experts including Dr. Steven Stice, Karen Lennon, Alan Koenning, Chris Hanks, John R. Harris, and Keith Herndon. All attendees will receive a copy of Herndon’s,“Entrepreneurs and Innovation: Creating Value with Emerging Technologies.”

Check out the event registration here.