COMING EVENTS

• AMA Conference in New Orleans

What are you doing this Spring Break? Join the AMA for a trip beginning Thursday, March 25, 2004, that can increase your networking potential and marketing power. The AMA Collegiate Conference brings together more than 1,000 of the best and brightest marketing students and their faculty advisors for three days of career and leadership training, networking, and fun.

For more information on AMA's Conference, visit the AMA web site.

• Corporate Networking Night

The Financial Management Association (FMA) and the American Marketing Association (AMA) are teaming up to present this event on March 31, 2004. Around 20 companies, such as Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, GE, and many more will be in attendance.

For more information on Corporate Networking Night, visit the FMA web site.

• Johnson and Johnson Case Competition

Left to right: Thomas Casares, Miguel Martinez, Ana Perez, Julius Nunez, Ana Garcia.

Many of you may have heard about the Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition, but you may not know what it is about.

The Johnson & Johnson Business Case Competition is an opportunity to use what you've learned in your business classes in a real-world setting.  When you join a team, you work together with other team members to answer a case question by developing an in-depth financial and marketing analysis.  Your team then competes against other teams on campus in a presentation format and in front of faculty and corporate judges from Johnson & Johnson.  The On-Campus Competition and Judging took place in the Graham Center, Room 243, on March 17^th at 7:00 p.m.

The FIU Accounting Association's team were the winners. They will travel to Johnson & Johnson's headquarters in Brunswick, New Jersey, on an all-expenses paid trip to compete against the winning teams from business schools around the country on April 14 and 15.

As participants in this competition, they will enjoy fantastic exposure to Johnson & Johnson's finance directors, controllers, and managers, and potentially be selected for employment in the firm's elite Financial Leadership Development Program.

For more information about the Johnson & Johnson Case Competition, contact William Levin.

• New Venture Challenge Oral Competitions

The Colleges of Business Administration and Engineering have partnered once again to present the Howard J. Leonhardt New Venture Challenge:  A Business Plan Competition.  This joint venture highlights the importance of combining technological innovation with the business acumen required to bring that innovation to market-to transform new ideas into vital business enterprises.

Howard J. Leonhardt, a businessman and entrepreneur in the field of bio-medical engineering, is the primary sponsor of our business plan competition.  His vision, entrepreneurial drive, and business expertise are what enabled him to create a successful and ongoing firm called BioHeart, Inc.

This year, the Howard J. Leonhardt New Venture Challenge celebrates its second anniversary, and with the recent addition of Florida International University's (FIU's) Center for Global Entrepreneurship, directed by Dr. Alan Carsrud, students will have access to more resources to support their efforts to develop their business ideas.

More than 60 FIU student teams have applied to enter the competition this year. Their business plans are due April 16^th. Of those who submit written business plans, the top sixteen will be selected to compete in Oral Competition Rounds, beginning with the Practice Oral Presentation Rounds on May 1^st.  Those sixteen teams will compete for eight finalist spots.  The eight FIU finalist teams will then move on to the Final Oral Presentation Round on May 8^th, at which they will be competing against eight invited international student teams selected from among the entries from business schools overseas with whom we have joint degree programs.

At the Oral Competition Rounds, the selected teams will give a fifteen-minute oral presentation about their plans to a panel of judges consisting of venture capitalists, lawyers, consultants, bankers, and other community business people who regularly evaluate such plans in their lines of work.  Following the presentation, the judging panel will ask a series of questions to further assess the degree to which the teams have thought through their new business concept.

The two top prizes this year are worth more than $25,000 in cash in prizes. 

Be sure to attend the Oral Competitions in May to cheer on your favorite team!

For more information about the New Venture Challenge, visit the Challenge's web site.