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Audience to decide business idea competition via real-time text messaging
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TENN. — Milligan College senior Cara Beth Brackins, of Johnson City, Tenn., is one of six finalists selected to pitch an idea at Will This Float?—a business idea competition—to be held at Milligan’s Gregory Center for the Liberal Arts on Thursday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m.
Student tickets for the event are just $5. General admission is $15. The event opens at 6 p.m. The ticket cost covers light hors d’oeuvres and entry to the competition. The competition starts at 7 p.m.
During the competition, Brackins will present her idea for Brackinberry Crafts. Each finalist will pitch his or her idea with a time limit of five minutes each. Three judges (including Milligan President Bill Greer; Kacie Flinn, with Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions for Baker Donelson Law Firm; and Rayford Johnson, serial entrepreneur and former director of the East Tennessee State University Innovation Lab) will give feedback after each business pitch, questioning if it meets FLOAT criteria:
- Few or no direct competitors (novel idea)
- Low adoption/switching costs for users
- On-time (timely entry to market)
- Addresses unfilled need or want/solves a real problem (useful)
- Target market is identified and large.
After contestants have pitched their ideas, voting will begin in real time using text messaging. Contestants and audience members will watch as votes are tallied in real time on big screen. The winner will receive $1,000 for his or her business needs, as well as business coaching.
The fourth annual Will This Float? event is being held during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The 2010 event recently received the Excellence in Economic Development for Entrepreneurship award by the International Economic Development Council.
Touted as one of Tennessee’s most successful entrepreneurial outreach events of 2010 by the Kauffman Foundation, the non-profit organization is dedicated to participating in GEW and promoting entrepreneurship in the Tri-Cities TN/VA.
For more information about Will This Float?, please visit willthisfloat.com or follow us on Twitter @willthisfloat.
To find out more about Global Entrepreneurship Week, please visit unleashingideas.org.
Will This Float? is sponsored by CenturyLink, the East Tennessee, State University Bureau of Business, Milligan College, Spark Plaza and the Washington County Economic Development Council.