ATLANTA/MACON – Mercer Innovation Center is seeking students with innovative business ideas to participate in its virtual Elevator Pitch Competition to be held Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. via Zoom.
Currently enrolled Mercer undergraduate and graduate students from all campuses, majors and class years are eligible to enter. Winners will earn up to $500 in prizes for their ideas.
“The goal for the Elevator Pitch Competition is for our students to have a forum to practice clearly describing their ideas and to get feedback,” said Dr. Briana Stenard, assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship in the Stetson-Hatcher School of Business. “The concept behind an elevator pitch is that you could get in the elevator with someone and have explained your idea so effectively and concisely that, by the time you got up to their floor, they would be interested enough to want to learn more.”
Students may enter the competition until Feb. 12 by submitting a brief registration form at mic.mercer.edu under the “Elevator Pitch Competition” tab at the top of the page.
Upon registering, a video pitch submission of two minutes or less is due Feb. 19.
“If students have an idea they have been thinking about, we want them to take the first step and submit their idea to the competition,” said Dr. Stenard. “This year, one of our primary goals is interdisciplinary ideas, and we would like students from all over the University to enter. This is one of the reasons we will be awarding multiple winners, to try to encourage a diverse set of new ideas. We are excited to see what our students come up with!”
The Elevator Pitch Competition precedes Mercer Innovation Center’s annual Next Big Idea Competition, which will take place April 16. Students are eligible to enter ideas into both contests. Next Big Idea entries require a more in-depth pitch, including an online application, one-page business canvas and executive summary.
For more information on the Elevator Pitch and Next Big Idea competitions, email nextbigidea@mercer.edu, or contact Dr. Stenard on the Atlanta campus at stenard_bs@mercer.edu or Stephanie Howard, director of the Mercer Innovation Center, on the Macon campus at howard_sd@mercer.edu.
About the Mercer Innovation Center
The Mercer Innovation Center is an effort by Mercer University, along with community partners such as the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, Birch Communications, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Dr. Hugh F. Smisson III, to advance a culture of innovation and develop a thriving community of entrepreneurs, with a focus on utilizing technology to foster economic growth, create 21st century jobs and attract and retain talent. The Center is an institutional effort – led by the Stetson School of Business and Economics – that crosses academic disciplines and geographic boundaries to draw from all of the University’s colleges, schools, departments and operating units. Community memberships are available, as the Center’s activities and resources are intended to be available to Mercer students and non-students alike. For more information, visit mic.mercer.edu.
