Ford County Entrepreneurship Competition Heats Up in Virtual Format

Lauren Seachris is pictured during her recorded video presentation about her business concept, Callitfavor, which won first place and a prize of $500 in the 2020 Ford County Youth Entrepreneur Competition on December 8, 2020. 

For their fifth annual youth entrepreneurship competition, constraints imposed by COVID-19 meant that if Ford County, Kansas were to host a Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC) Series competition during the 2020-2021 school year, the best way to include students from multiple schools across the entire was to use a virtual format. Organizer Mollea Wainscott of Dodge City/Ford County Economic Development drew on her experience having already run a virtual event earlier in the spring to make this one a success and even increased participation to 20 students, each representing a single business concept. Mollea shares how Dodge City/Ford County Economic Development implemented a successful virtual entrepreneurship competition:

Why did you decide to host a virtual event? 1.) Our local high school isn’t allowing students to leave the building for any reason during school hours meaning field trips are off. 2.) I wanted all students to have a chance to compete, even if they were quarantined or attending class virtually.

Please describe what components your event had and how you translated those to a virtual format: We required an executive summary and a 4-minute presentation. The 4-minute presentation consisted of the students uploading a pre-recorded video. I spent a great deal of time deciding how to handle the presentation. My preference would have been to have the students present live via Zoom to a panel of judges and allow for Q&A. However, I wanted to be inclusive and ultimately decided that logistically it would not be possible for me to coordinate multiple classrooms at different high schools and multiple judges.

How did VentureDash make your event successful? I love VentureDash. The platform is very easy to use. The students were able to navigate the platform very easily.

What VentureDash features did you like? The setup is easy and quick. I also like being able to quickly assign judges and students to groups.

What was the hardest part about your event being virtual? There was no Q&A on the 4-minute presentation. I wasn’t allowed in schools to promote the event ahead of time. Luckily, the YE (Youth Entrepreneurs) teacher at Dodge City High School is amazing and does a great job assisting her students and helping me with the competition.

What was the best part about hosting a virtual event? I thought I would have more students compete since they didn’t have to present live.

What advice do you have for others wanting to host a virtual event? Do it! I am happy to share what we have learned with anyone who may have questions. (Contact hello@goventuredash.com to be put in touch with Mollea.)