The Ohio Northern University James F. Dicke College of Business Administration Entrepreneur Center is holding a Global Entrepreneurship Week from Nov. 13-16. The week will include pitch competitions for high school and ONU students and a four-day visit from the champion ballroom dancing duo of Tim and Barbara Haller.
The week begins with a High School Elevator Pitch Scholarship Competition on Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 3-5 p.m. Students must prepare a brief elevator pitch (oral presentation) accompanied by a poster to discuss their ideas. An elevator pitch is a concise and well-thought-out presentation of a business idea or new product idea that a student delivers to a panel of ONU faculty and alumni. The poster allows the judges to visualize the students’ ideas. Students should be prepared to answer questions from the panel of judges. Each student will have five minutes to present their idea and five minutes to answer questions from the judges.
Categories for the competition include ideas that improve society and/or ideas that create businesses or jobs. The overall winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship per year for four years at Ohio Northern University. Each category winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship per year for four years at Ohio Northern University.
Following the high school competition, the ONU Polar Innovation Exchange competition will commence at 5:30 p.m. ONU students are asked to prepare a brief oral presentation of no more than two minutes. This should be a concise and well-thought-out presentation of a new business or product idea. Props are allowed and encouraged. There will be two levels of competition. Level one involves all teams or individuals competing in front of a panel of judges. For level two, each team of judges will select a team or individual to move on to the second level of competition to determine the final winners.
The categories for the competition are ideas that improve society, high-tech commercialized products, as seen-on-TV products and new businesses that create jobs. First-level competition winners will receive $50, and second-level competitions will receive $750 for first place, $550 for second place and $350 for third place.
In addition to the competitions, the dancing duo of Tim and Barbara Haller will speak to classes throughout the week and hold a lecture on “Working With Your Spouse” on Thursday, Nov. 15. The week will conclude with a campus ballroom dance party on Friday, Nov. 16, at 6 p.m.
The Hallers are four-time United States Professional Theatrical Arts Ballroom Champions. By winning the National Championship Ballroom Dancing Title for the fourth time in 1999, the Hallers made ballroom competition history by becoming only the second theatrical arts dance team to win the title four times since the inception of the United States Ballroom Championships in 1971.
