Today I went to the Action Conference, an entrepreneurship conference for students and graduates. The admission price was $25 but luckily some of the clubs I am involved in sponsored me to go free of charge. The conference provided a shuttle bus since it was being held in another city 40 minutes away.
The building was for MBA graduate students. It was recently built so the architecture was very modern, open and spacious. It was quite an elaborate place for a conference.
We kicked off the conference with a continental breakfast and a keynote address. The speaker was very passionate and talked about his struggles and successes. Some takeaways from his speech was “You got to love what you see in the mirror”, “Fall in love with what you have, not what you don’t have”’ and “Vision without action is hallucination”
The entire day was split into 4 sections: 2 workshops in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Then, a closing keynote speaker concluded the conference.
The first workshop I attended was very well done – a Stanford MBA speaker and author taught us how to deliver an effective elevator pitch. A regular speaker at silicon valley events, I was very surprised to see him grace us in this undergrad conference.
He started by showing a video of a Ted Talk and we had a group discussion why it was good. Only after did he reveal it was rated one of the worst ted talks! This speaker (link) was poor because she kept talking “I, me, myself” whereas an effective speech uses the “you” pronoun.
A mid morning “nutrient break” split the workshops. Starbucks coffee and tasty treats were offered – a nice break indeed!
The second workshop wasn’t as engaging as the first. It was something about marketing, and how to spread the word on your project. It didn’t make a great impression on me.
We broke for lunch, where sandwiches, desserts and fruits were served. It was standard conference food, nothing extravagant.
The first afternoon workshop was managing finances for a small business. Another interesting session, lead by a partner of an accounting firm. We went over the basics of accounting for businesses and how it gets more complex as the company grows.
The last workshop of the day was actually an info session for applications to government grants. It must have been very informative for people that already have startups, but I got nothing out of it. We covered how to apply for grants, what is offered, and bureaucracy surrounding it.
The final keynote speaker closed off the conference, reiterating what the first keynote addressed. I enjoyed the conference very much – attending these events always gets me very inspired and motivated. I went home and started working on this website – no matter how transient this motivation lasts, its beneficial nevertheless. I also get to meet interesting people, learn content and gain new experiences.