Alumni Conferences

Overview |Student Conferences | Alumni Conferences | Other Entrepreneurial Conferences

As part of our mission to serve alumni in their ongoing entrepreneurial efforts, the Polsky Center sponsors several conferences aimed at their special needs.

Small Business and Alumni Entrepreneurship Conference

This half-day conference targets alumni entrepreneurs and small business owners who are looking to grow their businesses. Made possible through the Hamer Small Business Initiative and other valued sponsors, each conference focuses on different aspects of growing small enterprises. For more information, please email Linda Darragh.

Read event coverage from the February 2006 conference "Building a Workplace for Growth." Watch Patrick Ryan, founder of Aon Corporation, deliver his keynote speech at the November 2006 conference "Sustaining Success: Overcoming Growth Plateaus."

Sales Conference

In 2007, the Polsky Center launched "Sales for Success" to educate students and alumni about the overall sales process. This annual conference brings together seasoned sales professionals and entrepreneurs to share their insights, and provides workshops on sales techniques such as cold calling, building a business pipeline, targeting profitable customers, getting the proverbial "foot in the door," and closing the deal.

Listen to 2008 keynote speaker Craig Wortmann, author, entrepreneur, and CEO of Wisdom Tools discuss the elements of a sale. For the 2007 conference, the Polsky Center partnered with Business POV who recorded portions of the conference. Watch "Kings of Cold Calling" where sales professionals discussed effective cold call techniques, and watch "Rookie Cold Callers" where conference participants performed mock-cold calls.