PNEC2011 Are Universities Doing Enough?

by George Moen

PNEC2011 Are Universities Doing Enough?

This past weekend I was invited onto the Venture Capital &

Entrepreneurship Panel to talk and answer questions. The

audience consisted mostly of students and a few folks from the

rest of the community. My fellow panellist were awesome

group and I find I tend to learn as well as chat in these sessions.

I have developed a bit of a profile for each one of them here.

Learn More About PNEC 2011 Here:

The Venture Capital & Entrepreneurship Panel Here:

One of the questions we got from the floor was from a VC in

the room ( he asked a bunch of great questions ) was the
Sauder School of Business doing enough to connect the students

with the Business Community. I got the feeling he did not

think so. If you asked me that 10 years ago I would said "no way".

I have done a 180 and I would say they are doing a great job.

Over the past couple of weeks I spoke at this event ( PNEC 2011 )

and at a Sauder sponsored Networking event downtown. I am

also speaking at two more over the next few months. This did

not happen in my time at Sauder.

Also, what I was impressed with is that these events are run

by the students themselves. I am not sure if they have any folks

standing in the background or mentoring but I have yet to see

that at the two events I have attended.

Further, these events are as well run as any I have seen in the

city. In fact they really have their stuff together and lots of

of the students are involved when I was on site. ( Great training ).

I have to applaud the Sauder School of Business for their efforts. I

have been in the past a critic of most educational institutions

disconnect but I have to say this no longer the case. Is there still

more to do sure. I think there is room to improve particularly in

teaching students the "art of biz to biz networking" that is a huge

gap and a skill that is very important in business today.

I am speaking at a couple of more Sauder School events and am

looking forward to connecting again. Check Out:

The Me Inc Conference: http://bit.ly/hRj2i1

Style In The City 2011: http://bit.ly/idMVDo

The student today is not the student of my time. We were not

bad.. but these young people today are focused , smart and talented.

We are in good hands .

Thanks to Kim Nguyen , Jason Heng , Adam Millard , Chloe Gow-Jarrett

and the rest of the team @ PNEC 2011 for having me. I had a blast.

And thanks for giving me the opportunity to hang out with you all.

As I said above I always learn as well as share knowledge at these

events. Thanks Again.

George Moen - Sauder School Grad.. ( even more proud of it ).