Graduate Entrepreneurs Association (GEA) - Annual Fall Retreat
I thought I'd take a break from a series of things that I've written about -- the myths and realities of entrepreneurship and education -- to report on another fantastic event, our annual GEA Retreat, which I attended last Friday. The purpose of this annual fall event is to welcome new MBA students to the program and to our business community; to give them a taste of the entrepreneurial Kool-Aid that defines Boulder.
This event, organized by the GEA, and sponsored by the Deming Center, has been a tradition for several years. This year it was held at Chautauqua. In most past years it has been held at a venue far up in the mountains - great introduction to Colorado for our out-of-state and international students - but logistically challenging.
(The distance and high altitude nature of past locations also contributed to it being called a "retreat"- despite my constant observation that to use the words "retreat" and "entrepreneurship" in the same sentence is an oxymoron.)
We had close to 100 attendees this year - mostly 1st year MBA students, a number of 2nd year MBA students, as a number of faculty members, and about 20 participating speakers and panelists as well. Click here to see the list:
GEA Retreat 2009 - Speaker List.pdf
Special thanks to the participants who served on panels entitled "Young Entrepreneurs," "Finance," and "Awesome Entrepreneurs." (I thought they were all awesome.) Great stories, lots of lessons learned, and truly inspiring. I walked away with several new insights and several more stories for the telling.
But no take-away was more compelling, once again, then the willingness of Boulder's entrepreneurs to give their time to provide help and perspective for our students that are interested in taking advantage. Tim Falls noted well the unique openness and approachability of the Boulder entrepreneurial community.
Thanks to Tim and to Jay Wilson who organized this year's event and to all of the panelists and participants who made it such a successful day.
Ashoka
As enjoyable as the GEA Retreat proved to be, I was sorry to miss another milestone event on campus.
The University of Colorado (CU) has been named a "Changemaker Campus" by Ashoka, the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world. The partnership brings together students, faculty, and staff from across campus to transform the university into a hub for social change.
The Initiative kicked off with a weekend retreat, featuring visits by Lynn Price, Ashoka Fellow and Founder, Camp to Belong, Chris Pelley and the Ashoka U team. Thanks to Lennon Flowers and Erin Krampetz for organizing the three-day event.
Stay tuned - more to come on the topic of social entrepreneurship.
I thought I'd take a break from a series of things that I've written about -- the myths and realities of entrepreneurship and education -- to report on another fantastic event, our annual GEA Retreat, which I attended last Friday. The purpose of this annual fall event is to welcome new MBA students to the program and to our business community; to give them a taste of the entrepreneurial Kool-Aid that defines Boulder.
This event, organized by the GEA, and sponsored by the Deming Center, has been a tradition for several years. This year it was held at Chautauqua. In most past years it has been held at a venue far up in the mountains - great introduction to Colorado for our out-of-state and international students - but logistically challenging.
(The distance and high altitude nature of past locations also contributed to it being called a "retreat"- despite my constant observation that to use the words "retreat" and "entrepreneurship" in the same sentence is an oxymoron.)
We had close to 100 attendees this year - mostly 1st year MBA students, a number of 2nd year MBA students, as a number of faculty members, and about 20 participating speakers and panelists as well. Click here to see the list:
GEA Retreat 2009 - Speaker List.pdf
Special thanks to the participants who served on panels entitled "Young Entrepreneurs," "Finance," and "Awesome Entrepreneurs." (I thought they were all awesome.) Great stories, lots of lessons learned, and truly inspiring. I walked away with several new insights and several more stories for the telling.
But no take-away was more compelling, once again, then the willingness of Boulder's entrepreneurs to give their time to provide help and perspective for our students that are interested in taking advantage. Tim Falls noted well the unique openness and approachability of the Boulder entrepreneurial community.
Thanks to Tim and to Jay Wilson who organized this year's event and to all of the panelists and participants who made it such a successful day.
Ashoka
As enjoyable as the GEA Retreat proved to be, I was sorry to miss another milestone event on campus.
The University of Colorado (CU) has been named a "Changemaker Campus" by Ashoka, the largest association of leading social entrepreneurs in the world. The partnership brings together students, faculty, and staff from across campus to transform the university into a hub for social change.
The Initiative kicked off with a weekend retreat, featuring visits by Lynn Price, Ashoka Fellow and Founder, Camp to Belong, Chris Pelley and the Ashoka U team. Thanks to Lennon Flowers and Erin Krampetz for organizing the three-day event.
Stay tuned - more to come on the topic of social entrepreneurship.
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