LLCEO hosts Small Business Tradeshow 4.0

 

[May 03, 2019] 

On Wednesday evening the 13 students of this year’s Land of Lincoln Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (LLCEO) were front and center. At the Lincoln American Legion Post 263 students talked with guests about their individual small businesses.

The students were wrapping up a year’s worth of work utilizing the knowledge they have gained in the program by creating and managing a small business of their own.

Each year students are selected from schools throughout the county to participate in the program. Each one is then required to attend CEO classes in addition to their normal classroom schedule. Classes are typically held in the morning before the regular school day begins. Students are responsible for getting themselves to class and participating in all the activities associated with the program, without interruption to their normal high school education.

Classes are held in a variety of locations throughout the year and students have the opportunity to learn from local business leaders. With first hand testimonials of how each experienced entrepreneur has achieved success, students end up with a best practices portfolio that they can examine and utilize in creating their own businesses.

In addition to the tradeshow, students also participate in fundraisers for the CEO throughout the school year. The money earned at the fundraisers goes into the program to assist in paying the overall costs of the students businesses and the tradeshow.

This year the businesses that the students visited included State Bank of Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Central Illinois Ag, Flossie & Delzena’s, ME Realty, Integrity Data, Lincoln College, By Design Landscape, Guzzardo’s Italian Villa, Heritage Packaging, Shew Construction, Graue Inc., Eaton Corporation, Lincoln Heritage Museum at Lincoln College, the Academic Development Institute, Meador Investigations, Lularoe with Jennifer Keith, Roni B Photography, Blades Hair and Nail Salon, Mama’s Arcade, Small Town Creations, Small Town Social, and Midland Institute/Firefly Grill.

The classroom speakers who shared their knowledge and experience with the students this year included Deron Powell – State Farm Insurance, Clyde Reynolds – Keystone Financial, Christine Short – Edward Jones, Todd Mourning – Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital, Angie Whiteman – Community Health Collaborative CATCH program, Tracy Bergin – New Herald News, Michelle Bauer – Country Financial, Amy Tarr – Midland Institute, Arianna Spencer, Hunter Langley and Emma Schoth – Alumni Chat, Michael Turner – State Bank of Lincoln, James Adams – Certified Financial Planner, Aric Hopp – Millikin University, Andy Fitzpatrick – Abbott & Associates, Jason O’Brien – ABC Wealth Management, Kristi Powell – Heartland Community College, Sami Paulus & Sarah Faith - CEO Trade committee, Karis Horton – CEO Alumni and Lincoln Christian University student and Lynn Paulus – Hotel Ventures Management of Illinois.

This year the large fundraiser for the CEO students was their Murder Mystery Gala. The fundraiser was organized as a business for the entire class. Austin Garriott was the student leader or Class Business CEO. In the booklet published for the tradeshow Garriott noted about the Murder Mystery, “It was a successful event. With business, there are always bumps along the road, but with teamwork, we were able to overcome those obstacles and put on a great event for the community.”

In an interview with LDN reporter Angela Reiners after the fundraiser, the students talked about their experience.

When asked about all the work that went into preparing for the Murder Mystery Dinner and what they enjoyed about it, students had various responses.

Molly Schempp said the best part was all the students’ planning was ahead of time so they could enjoy the dinner along with the audience.

A theater group performed the murder mystery that evening, and students said even they did not know who the murderer was until the end.

Austin Garriott says the evening went well, though there were a few bumps leading up to it. He was glad to see many people dressed in the 1920s theme for the evening and he said it was a lot of fun.

Other students enjoyed seeing all the participation and said they got good reviews on the food and how well the mystery dinner actors did.

From this experience of working together on a big business, the students say they have learned not to procrastinate on last minute details they had to squeeze out. Until the week before, the students thought everything was ready. All agreed that they got everything done, but it was stressful.

On Wednesday evening each of the thirteen students had a booth where they were set up and prepared to talk about their business. Businesses varied with students offering products, services, or a combination of both. Some were selling merchandise on site. Booths included signage and business cards for each student. At each booth there was also an opportunity to win a drawing at the individual table, plus guests were given a larger card to carry from site to site. Students initialed those cards which were then turned in at the end of the tour for another drawing.

[Nila Smith]