A one-day innovation extravaganza for students and recent grads to connect with fellow movers and shakers and experience entrepreneurship and leadership hands-on.
The only cross-college conference of its kind.
Designed for collegiate students and recent alums in Boston and beyond, you’ll meet movers and shakers from schools all across the Northeast, be inspired by fabulous speakers, and attend workshops that will help you build the skills you need to succeed – no matter your career goals.
When worlds collide, inspiration sparks.
Whether you’re interested in technology, business, social impact, or arts and culture, IDEA Con is the perfect place to get inspired. And even better: you’ll learn strategies to harness that inspiration and turn it into something real.
You’ll get actionable insights from the industry’s top innovators, venture capitalists, and educators – all while making vital connections with fellow young movers and shakers.
Why should you attend?
💡 Find Inspiration
Enjoy stories told by young innovators, entrepreneurs, and community changemakers.
🏆 Prepare For Success In Any Career
Learn innovation skills and develop an entrepreneurial mindset where “problems” become opportunities
⭐ Learn To Make A Difference
Uncover what you’re most passionate about and learn how to use that passion to create an impact in your career and communities.
🚀 Launch With Confidence
Learn how to understand problems deeply in order to launch new solutions your target audience will love.
IDEA Con Workshops are produced in partnership with UMass Lowell, University of New Hampshire, and Tufts University.
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⭐ Adopting the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Instructor: Justin Kang, Co-Founder of Visible Hands and EIR, BUild Lab
Description: Learn from BUild Lab EIR Justin Kang’s experience as a co- founder of Visible Hands, a venture capital firm investing in over 100 founders – and develop your own framework for assessing your own success potential. In a startup environment, where teams are small and resources are limited, the ability to work well with others, adapt to changing situations, and problem-solve creatively is essential to your success. Even if you don’t want to start your own company, soft skills such as leadership, time management, and emotional intelligence are highly valued by employers and can help set you apart in the job market. This workshop is perfect for anyone who is interested in entrepreneurship, whether you’re a founder, aspiring founder, or simply want to learn more about what it takes to succeed.
💸 Creating Narratives That Elevate Your Venture
Instructor: Joshua Cyr, Interim Director of the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center at University of New Hampshire
Description: In this workshop/discussion we review why storytelling is so powerful, how it can
move us and connect us with brands, and why it is important for startups at any stage
to leverage it to make compelling pitches, marketing, and general communication. We
will also examine our own ideas and how we can apply narrative to create a compelling story. This workshop is being offered in partnership with University of New Hampshire.
Instructor: William E. Yelle, Co-Director of the Jack M. Wilson Center for Entrepreneurship, UMass Lowell
Description: Want to start a business, but not sure if people will actually buy what you’re selling? This workshop helps you figure that out. Whether you’re looking to make a profit, help a cause, or solve a problem, we’ll guide you through the role of customer discovery in the ongoing validation of a business venture, including business model testing, product design, pivoting, venture planning, capital raising, and ultimately commercial performance. This workshop is being offered in partnership with University of Massachusetts Lowell.
💰 Fresh Business Ideas Looking for (Pre-) Seed Money
Instructor: Saira Latif, Associate Professor in the Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
Description: You have a great business idea – but who will invest in just an idea? You have no profits, no market share, not even a fully functional prototype. Who will take a chance on you? In this workshop we will discuss how you can go from having a business idea to a business start-up through pre-seed funding. This workshop is being offered in partnership with University of Massachusetts Lowell.
💼 How Investors Think
Instructor: Sheila Narayan, Managing Director, Golden Seeds and EIR, BUild Lab
Description: Are you looking to raise funding for your start-up? Is angel and venture funding appropriate for your type of business? Or are you interested in working for a VC firm yourself? Ever wonder how investors evaluate potential investments? In this workshop you will learn what investors want to know, how to determine if a venture is ready for funding, and what you will need to have ready to seek funding.
❓ I Have an Idea – Now What?
Instructor: Tom Samph, Program Director – Business Ventures, BUild Lab
Description: This hands-on, interactive workshop will guide participants through a design sprint process to go from idea to prototype in less than 45 minutes. The tools and frameworks covered in this workshop can help you answer many important questions about a new idea or a business you’ve already been working on: Do people want what I have? Who is my target customer? Will people pay for my product or service? How are we going to reach our target customers? And more!
🌎 Mobilizing your Mission: Climate Edition
Instructor: Katie Quigley Mellor, Program Director – Social Impact, Innovate@BU
Description: Want to learn how to mobilize people around a social mission? Join us for a fun, interactive workshop where you will explore strategies used by nonprofits in Boston to activate the community and apply them to a climate social mission. This is a great opportunity to connect with other social impact minded peers and learn about grassroots movements. No previous experience in the nonprofit or social impact sector needed.
💪 Networking Like a Boss
Instructors: Idicula Mathew, Co-Founder and CEO of Hera Health Solutions and EIR, Tufts
University’s Derby Entrepreneurship Center and Marcus Johnson-Smith, Co-Founder & CMO of Kush Groove and EIR, Tuft’s University’s Derby Entrepreneurship Center
Description: Ever wonder how people who know everyone get to know everyone? It’s simple: They are great networkers. A great network helps you get mentors, get a job, hire people, raise money and generally get things done. But first, you have to build it up. In this hands-on workshop, you will learn skills and tactics that will help even the most introverted person build a world-class network that open doors for you wherever you go. This workshop is being offered in partnership with Tufts University’s Derby Entrepreneurship Center.
🗣️ Pitching: Yourself, Your Story, and Your Idea
Instructor: Michael Ciuchta, Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, UMass Lowell
Description: When raising external funding, entrepreneurs will almost always have to give some form of a pitch to potential investors. In this workshop, we will go over both the performance aspects of the pitch as well as the key elements of the pitch deck. We will emphasize what to include as well as what to avoid. We will use a series of exercises and examples to make the concepts more concrete and relatable. Everyone has a story to tell. Come prepared to tell yours! This workshop is being offered in partnership with University of Massachusetts Lowell.
🎨 Unleash Your Creativity Through Ideation
Instructors: Kevin Oye, Director of Tufts Gordon Institute and Jaime Paris Meseguer, Founder and CEO of PRONOVA
Description: How do you come up with a good idea? Discover creative thinking strategies for brainstorming, ideation, and converging on the next big thing. This energetic workshop will draw on product design strategies that alternate between divergent and convergent thinking to bring out the best ideas and pick the most promising ones to further explore. This workshop is being offered in partnership with Tufts University’s Tufts Gordon Institute and Derby Entrepreneurship Center.
About
Since 2018, IDEA Con has hosted thousands of young innovators from 20+ colleges and universities including the University of New Hampshire, Emerson College, Tufts University, and many more. We look forward to bringing back the fully in-person experience this year in accordance with any and all current Boston University COVID policies.
IDEA Con is powered by Boston University’s Innovate@BU, a University-wide initiative to enable all BU Terriers to become drivers of innovation in their own lives, careers, and communities. Through its physical home on the Charles River campus, the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, it provides a variety of signature programs that foster an entrepreneurial mindset and help students turn their ideas into something real.
