The Big Idea Competition is an entrepreneurial business pitch competition open to any Benedictine College student. Participants try to sell their business idea to a panel of judges for a short period of time (around 3 minutes).
During the pitch, students give a quick speech about their business idea, identifying the need for the product or business, the business model they would use, and explain how it could be successful financially.
Each participating student group is directed to several resources for developing an effective pitch.
They are given a list of good qualities of an effective pitch, video resources (via Youtube), and written resources on the Internet.
The resources are geared towards helping students to build a strong pitch.
Then they hop aboard the Atchison Trolley when their time has come. The trolley ride around campus helps to give students an idea of how long they may really have to present their idea in a real-life setting.
The student then presents his or her pitch to a panel of various judges, which ranges from successful entrepreneurs to venture capitalists to business incubator directors and professors.
The Big Idea competition has not just been a theoretical contest however. In particular, the Raven School of Dance was pitched the first year of the competition and is now one of the most successful student-run businesses at Benedictine.
This was the third year of the Big Idea competition and over 80 students participated, with several moving toward starting their business ideas.
Senior Laura Wadle won this year’s competition with her freelance photography studio, wadle.photography. Wadle’s idea was to integrate digital photography better for the campus which she has been attempting to do so through her website at www.wadlephotography.com.
“Photography is something I’m very passionate about and I’m always looking for different ways to implement it in every aspect of my life,” Wadle said.
Phil Baniewicz, vice president of college relations, encourages interested students to research their ideas in preparation for next year's competition.
“Start searching on the web and asking people if they have ever heard of anyone doing this idea. Even if you do find something, figure out a way that you can do it better and make a profit doing it,” Baniewicz said.
Baniewicz, who will be leaving BC at the end of the month, said he's always open for students to discuss their business ideas.
