Changemaker Central Innovation Festival empowers students to grow as entrepreneurs
Students strengthening their entrepreneurial spirit at Changemaker Central Innovation Festival. Photo by Anitah Diggs/ASU Student Life
How much can students learn about entrepreneurship in just one day? Innovation Festival, a recent one-day Changemaker Central workshop packed with hands-on learning and lecture experiences, sought to answer this question.
“My hope for the Innovation Festival was to help students become more well-rounded in their knowledge of the entrepreneurial world,” said marketing and psychology major Ariyal Jain, who serves as the entrepreneurship and innovation chair for Changemaker Central. Jain was the driving force and organizer behind the entrepreneurial event.
“By hosting different workshops, on a variety of topics, I wanted students to be able to deep dive into an industry or area they hadn’t heard of before,” Jain added.
Changemaker Central is an initiative that provides Sun Devils with the tools, resources and grant funding that they need to make a difference with their ideas, both at ASU and in local communities. Special event programming like Innovation Festival encourages students to think innovatively about how they can make a difference and empowers them to change the world.
At this year's Innovation Festival, held at the Memorial Union on ASU's Tempe campus, Sun Devil attendees engaged in hands-on workshops and lectures to help them grow their entrepreneurial ideas, focusing on:
AI: The new advancements in artificial intelligence will change the job economy as we know it. How will it affect us? Jobs? Ethics? Efficiency?
Consumer psychology: All about the psychology behind purchasing decisions. Why do customers choose one option over another? What is the importance?
Diversity, equity and inclusion: Why is it important for businesses to be diverse? How is having unique cultural ideas important in innovation?
Sustainability efforts (renewable energy): How do businesses need to adapt to the new generation of sustainable efforts? How is it important for profits and for the environment?
Pitch, the importance of authenticity: How to sell yourself to future employers while staying real.
PowerPoint: How to make an engaging PowerPoint, including best practices for public speaking and design.
Digital marketing: Why is online marketing important for brand image? How do I start? What are the steps? What are the end goals?
Leaving this Changemaker Central workshop, students came away with a better understanding of how to move forward with their venture ideas.
“This event helps support innovation in students,” said Aaryan Arora, a third-year W. P. Carey School of Business student studying business data analytics. “It provides an opportunity to bring like-minded thinkers together for the promotion of entrepreneurship.”
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