I'm in this entrepreneurship class called venture club, part of which involves attending the Venture Club of Indianapolis. We were
advised by our professor to wear formal attire. I thought he was trying to be safe as I have found that such “formal” meetings end up
being very casual. Well, he was right… ties and jackets galore! In my
experience of business casual, I haven’t seen this amount of formal wear since
my career fair in undergrad.
We stood outside for 20 minutes, talking to anyone who happened
to stare at us. We were advised us to try to mention our companies not that
we were students, probably so we can work on getting professional contacts. We are to do the one thing my
introverted self hates… network. Really?? I hate networking. I usually just
stare at my thumbs, talk to someone I already know (which we were asked NOT to
do) or painfully pull out my teeth.
I get fortunate, I spot a Kelly student who I’ve never seen
before (and I belong to 2 cohorts at the same time…long story). We talk a bit
about the Indiana University Technology Transfer which I have never heard of (that’s for yet
another article). I was excited to hear of something that mixes academic
biological research with business.
So after a surprisingly sumptuous lunch (I will definitely
come back to these meetings, if just for the lunches…oh wait… I have to come.
This is a class), we sit for a few spotlight presenters who give pitches that
are like a tame version of Shark tank. And that’s what my other articles are
about.
