Two successful business leader will speak at the annual Business Expo on May 1.
The Business Students Association club aims to help students learn from experienced business leaders and be more competitive in business and academia, according to club president Alec Aivazian.
“We want to make it easier for you to be competitive and learn more outside of the classroom without having to put on a huge work load,” said Aivazian. “The main point is to learn about business and other people’s experience which you don’t learn in the classroom.”
The Business Expo will feature Stanford University graduate and Trebel Music cofounder Corey Jones as the keynote speaker. It will also include Greg Monterrosa, founder of Hub101, a consulting firm that helps small businesses and start ups grow. Hundreds of students are expected to attend the exposition that will include free food and drinks. Jones was chosen as the keynote speaker because of his success and broad experience in the business world.
“Usually, the Business Expo struggles to find a speaker that acts as an umbrella for all business majors, which includes accounting, economics, business ad entrepreneurship,” said Aivazian. “Corey Jones has experience in all of those fields.”
The BSA negotiated to include Jones for just over $5,000. This funding was granted by Moorpark College Associated Students. The other guest speaker, Monterrosa agreed to speak for free. According to Aivazian, the price to schedule Jones is significantly less than a speaker of his caliber would normally ask for.
“Usually, people of his standard cost anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000,” said Aivazian. “We got him to do it for $5,000 but we didn’t have $5,000 so we had to apply for funding from Associated Students.”
The club was able to negotiate a reduced price because the event is meant to benefit community college students, according to Aivazian.
The Expo will open with an introduction by the BSA board and then lead into the presentation by Monterrosa. Jones will follow with his presentation after an intermission. There will be a question and answer session after each speaker. The event will end at 7 p.m. however, the BSA encourages students to stay after to mingle with fellow students.
According to club vice president Adil Khan, the event expands on the theory and principles business students learn in the classroom.
“Business courses are a lot of theory,” said Khan. “With the expo we are bringing in a lot of actual real world experience from people that have been professionally successful.”
While this is beneficial to business students, Khan encourages all students at Moorpark College to attend.
“Not everyone is a business major at Moorpark College but they can still get something out of it,” said Khan. “For example, if you are computer scientist or engineer and you want to move up to management, having a background in business or knowledge of business principles is really helpful.”
The Business Expo will be held in the EATM building room 208. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. but students are encouraged to arrive early so they can find a seat.
