Belleville CEO Trade Show Quickly Approaching

The Belleville CEO students would like to invite you to their Trade Show on April 19 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Southwestern Illinois College PSOP Center (210 North Church Street, Belleville).  There will be 20 businesses showcased that evening such as:

• Acts of Assistance
• Awali Tee's
• Belleville Sport Support
• Belleville's Mini Boot Camp
• Design by Pallet
• DSK Designs
• Emilie's On-the-Go Studio
• EmployATeen.com
• Fat Food
• Graphogo
• HoneyTees
• J&E Detailing
• JR's Lawncare and Landscaping
• Mechanic on the Move
• Noteify      
  
• Purple Diamond
• Rettro
• Senior Craft Masters
• Stickers for Sustainability
• The Second Hand

Practice Makes Perfect

Patrick McKeehan, O'Fallon, MO Economic Development Director

On Tuesday, Mr. Patrick McKeehan returned to class to help the students practice their elevator pitches.  Mr. McKeehan reminded the students to cover the following aspects in their pitch:  what problem are you solving, who is your customer, what is your competitive advantage, talk briefly about your financials and pricing, and share any milestones. After each student finished, Mr. McKeehan gave them suggestions on how to improve their pitches.   Thank you again Mr. McKeehan for coming back and helping with our elevator pitches.

Mr. McKeehan giving some suggestions to Antwan Stith.

Cam Wicks listening to Mr. McKeehan suggestions.

Daniel Stovey working with Mr. McKeehan on his DSK Designs pitch.

Mr. McKeehan helping James Wiegers with his pitch.

Jimmy Monken trying to improve his EmployATeen.com pitch.

Kaleb Leatherman getting some great tips from Mr. McKeehan.

Pitching our Businesses

JoAnn DiMaggio-May, Kurt Artinger, Ed Hoering & Renae Eichholz

Belleville CEO students gave their elevator pitches on Thursday, sponsored by SIUE's Small Business Development Center.  We wanted to thank the following judges for coming in to hear and evaluate the students' pitches offering feedback: Mr. Kurt Artinger, Mrs. JoAnn DiMaggio May, Mr. Ed Hoering, and Mrs. Renae Eichholz. The students went in front of the judges and were given two minutes to present their trade show business ideas, and were judged off of certain criteria including economic impact, solving a customer problem/opportunity, and how to successfully scale the startup.

Written by Jacob Gall