JMU student's young entrepreneurs conference to be held at GMU

A conference for young entrepreneurs, one of the first of its kind, will be launched by a JMU student this month.

The Young Entrepreneurs Summit, a free event, will be held at George Mason University on Oct. 23, 2004.

Junior Lauren Carpenter and her fiancé, George Mason University junior Christopher Auer, will hold the conference for entrepreneurs.

In searching for ways to launch his own info tech business, Aver started investigating the Washington, D.C., area for conferences for young entrepreneurs.

When he could not find any, Auer set out to make his own: The Young Entrepreneurs Summit, a "guiding light" conference that would help student entrepreneurs learn the necessary steps toward starting and running a successful business. Auer shared his idea with Carpenter, a hospitality and tourism management major, who joined him in his venture.

The conference agenda reflects a combination of interactive speeches, panel discussions and networking opportunities designed "to give students the opportunity to ask questions, get feedback and talk to other students about their business dreams," Carpenter said.

Auer said, "I really wanted to hear from experienced pros. I also wanted to talk to other young entrepreneurs myself. And I wanted to attend dynamic information sessions on entrepreneurship. So I put all these things into the conference itself, into this conference agenda."

The Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC), a local professional organization for info tech companies in the northern Virginia area, also became involved. Auer and Carpenter began corresponding with Cameron Kilberg, Project Coordinator of NVTC’s Entrepreneur Center.

"Laura and Chris came to us with perfect timing — we had just obtained a grant for $1 million geared towards incubating entrepreneurship," Kilberg said.

According to Kilberg, the uniqueness of Carpenter and Auer’s idea was especially attractive.

"When he told me about the idea, we jumped on it, especially since our center’s goals are to focus on students and get them involved, educated and excited about entrepreneurship," Carpenter said. Kilberg recommended that Auer and Carpenter pair with the School of Management at GMU to further assist them with their project. GMU now will be the official 2004 conference site.