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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Union Board event to provide networking opportunities

Though it serves a college campus, Union Board will make time for RECESS on Tuesday. RECESS, a one-day collegiate convention, serves as an entrepreneurial trading ground to promote ideas and network in an alternative environment.

Union Board Director of Fun and Adventure Kevin Kenes said they are bringing the event back to campus because it is an enriching experience for students to improve themselves and their connections.

“It can really benefit people personally and educationally,” he said. “There’s just so many ways that this event can relate to organizations and people, so in that regard it’s pretty all-encompassing.”

Co-founder Deuce Thevenow said RECESS began touring colleges in 2010 as an electronic dance music concert series called GLOWfest. As an IU alumnus, Thevenow said he saw an opportunity to enhance the experience.

“When we were students at Indiana, there wasn’t enough of these types of events,” he said. “We saw an opportunity and a need to bring more elements to our event.”

Elements of RECESS at IU include the Playground, Study Hall and Pitch Competition.

Kenes said the Playground is a networking fair in which students can network and potentially find mentors in successful entrepreneurs. Uber, Eleven Fifty and Sproutbox will be among the organizations present, according to the press release.

The Playground will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Solarium at Indiana Memorial Union, Kenes said.

Study Hall, a speaker series highlighting both local and nationally successful entrepreneurs, will include former NFL player Dhani Jones as the keynote speaker in the lineup, Kenes said. According to the press release, Jones owns a creative agency and acts as an angel investor.

Founder of Verge Matt Hunckler, Founder of Sproutbox Mike Trotzke and Senior Analyst at Innovative Indiana Maggie Musgrave will represent local entrepreneurship in Study Hall lectures as well, according to the press release.

Study Hall will begin at 6 p.m., Kenes said.

The final component, the Pitch Competition, allows aspiring students to offer their ideas in a competitive environment. Thevenow said entrepreneurial ideas will first be submitted online, and the best five ideas will be chosen to pitch in front of the judges during the conference.

The team with the winning pitch will receive an all-expense paid trip to Los Angeles to pitch its idea to Venture Capital firms and interact with other entrepreneurs, according to the press release.

The pitch competition will begin at 7 p.m., Kenes said.

He said he hopes any student with an idea will feel encouraged to join the Pitch Competition.

“It’s unlimited in who it’s targeted toward,” he said.

Although there is a focus on career networking and success, Kenes said, RECESS acts as a way to connect students as well.

“It’s just a way for students to meet with each other and also with other businesses,” Kenes said. “To get students together to develop connections that you never know they’ll pay off — you never know if they will or when they will.”

Thevenow said they organize the event with a “work hard, play hard” mentality and hope students approach it with the same mindset.

The mission of RECESS is to gain opportunities and resources, Thevenow said, so students interested in entrepreneurship can find ways to do what they love and get paid for it.

“I would say go there and be as open-minded as you can,” he said. “Go there with a goal in mind. Be able to utilize all of the events to the best of your ability and have fun doing it.”

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