The 9th annual Spring Business Expo organized by the Business Students Association (BSA) took place on Friday, April 25. The Expo was free-of-charge and packed with more professional speakers than last year’s Expo.

“Last year we only had six guest speakers but we managed to invite eight for this year’s Expo,” said Kyle Suffolk, President of the Business Students Association.

The Expo started off with a keynote address in the Campus Center. The keynote speaker in this year was Jim Clark, a Professor Emeritus of Management at the University of Washington. His speech was titled “Research on Reformed Losers: Three Reasons for Success.”

“There’re no winners or losers, it’s all about perceptions,” Clark said in his opening statement. His speech outlined the three key principles that lead to success which are to “understand that you have nothing to lose; to use the telephone more wisely in doing business; and to understand and employ the seven laws of money.” Clark ends his speech by stating that “school teaches us the right answers – reformed losers teach us to learn from others.”

After the keynote address, the students then moved to the Fountain Hall to choose up to three out of eight workshops to attend. The workshops started from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with 15 minutes breaks in between. Leaders from local businesses presented these workshops.

Suffolk explained that these guest speakers are experts in their fields and they were invited to share their tricks of the trade to students.

“[In this way,] students have the chance to learn from their superiors about different aspects of business,” said Suffolk. “The main goal of this Expo is to improve students’ life.”

According to John Israel, students could enhance their chances of getting employed by building their resume and contacts as early as possible. He advised students to take advantage of the college environment to build contacts either with classmates or instructors.

“The key to success is to become more valuable to the market place and develop valuable connection while still in college,” said Israel who is the District Manager of Tri-County Branding Tools. Israel’s workshop was titled “The Art of Selling Yourself.”

Israel admitted that he didn’t study business in college, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a good salesman. He has a degree in Kinesiology and took an internship at a local clinic as part of the program. Before doing the internship, he thought that all kinesiology practitioners would do is to “fix people.” In the end, he realized that a clinic could actually operate and run just like a business. Therefore, a small knowledge in business could still benefit those who aren’t aspired to become a salesperson or business owner.

Students who are interested in working for corporation in the future but don’t have any idea about it, came to Elisabeth Martinez’s workshop titled “Communication & Marketing in the Corporate World”.

According to Martinez, if you aren’t planning to work freelance once you graduated, chances are you would work for a corporation. Knowing how to navigate in the corporate world would benefit workers in any industry.

“Great communication is the key to become successful,” emphasized Martinez, the Marketing Strategy Director of WellPoint. With seventeen years of experience in the corporate environment, Martinez thinks that being a team player and knowledgeable about your workplace’s politics are also important.

Networking is an important skill in almost every profession. Students had the chance to learn this skill from the best by attending “Dolphin Networking – Marketing Your Integrity” which was presented by Shawn and Linda McCarthy, Ventura County’s Executive Directors of the International Business Networking and Referrals.

Why network? “Networking would help us to make friends, gain a support system and get all kind of information on personal and professional level.” said Mrs. McCarthy.

There’s also good news for students who describe themselves as introverts. “Introverts shouldn’t shy away from networking events because they’re already good listeners,” said Mr. McCarthy.

The other important tips when networking are to share what we know in order to gain what we want from others and always give a firm handshake.

“In the business world, it’s all about who you know [and] not what you know,” concluded Mr. McCarthy.

The Expo received many positive feedbacks from students who attended the Expo for the first time. These feedbacks prove that the BSA reached its goal.

“I learnt a lot from attending this event today, especially about accounting and how the corporate environment operates,” said Laura Levin, business major, 21. “It [the Expo] seems organized pretty well and seamless as there is enough breakout time for us to choose the next workshop to attend.”

However, the BSA encountered some minor issues earlier in the day.

“We’ve had some logistic issues, but the team stuck together as a unit to pull through and I’m really proud of that,” said Suffolk.

A student suggested that the BSA could improve this already well-prepared event.

“The organizers could perhaps do more advertising to attract more students since this is a really big event” said Guillermo Rivera, business major, 19. “Overall, I’ve had a really great experience and I think other [students] would agree.”

There were also other workshops, but Student Voice couldn’t attend all of them. The other guest speakers were Kenneth Grech, Director of Marketing for Troop Real Estate; Gonzalo Fernandez from SCORE of Ventura County Volunteer; Ken Norland is a Partner and Principal at Tech Strategies, LLC; and Pamela Kelty who is a CPA Partner at Tucker & Kelty, LLP.

In the future, students with business major and non-business majors should take advantage of this Expo to learn more about the business world as well as gain important skills. Good communication, networking and branding skills are all important and could be utilized in any future careers. The Expo was a great opportunity to learn from real people and real businesses. It was also a good wrap-up for the Major Awareness Week.