On Thursday, May 7, Western Washington University’s Collegiate Distributive Education Clubs of America team is hosting its first-ever Shark Tank workshop on Western’s campus at 5 p.m. in Academic Instructional Center West room 305. They will bring in DECA alumni to act as the “sharks” for students collaborating on their business ideas.
Sharks are investors interested in new business ideas that they can invest in and receive money from the business’s profit. They will determine whether or not the participants’ business plans are good ideas.
The workshop will give attendees 30 minutes to create a business idea to pitch to the sharks, and they will receive feedback on their plan.
Gabbi Smith, the co-lead officer of the Collegiate DECA team, said it was her idea to put this event on, as she plans all of DECA’s events.
“Right now we’ve reached out to some of our DECA alumni who have done DECA in the past or other people that we know that aren't in DECA but have business experience,” she said.
Smith said the other officers would fill in if they weren’t able to fill the open volunteer positions for the sharks.
Sammy Reid, a second-year Western student, manages the Collegiate DECA’s social media and advertising. She said she has been posting flyers around campus to engage with students.
Kayleigh Bader, the president of the Collegiate DECA team, said she announces meetings and events to the club before it’s taken to the student body via social media. According to Bader, the workshop will be in the same format as the original “Shark Tank” show.
“(Participants) will have to think of a business idea on the spot and work to make a presentation in whatever way they feel will make their idea look good,” she said.
The Collegiate DECA team said they plan to provide food at the event, as it’s the biggest driver of event attendance.
“We really heavily market ourselves to try to get new people involved in the club and that’s generally very successful,” Smith said. “Last year, we had some new people join our team.”
Smith said the event’s target demographic is business majors, but the team would like to expand it to nonbusiness majors as well. They encourage those who plan on attending to bring their friends.
“It’s by no means a requirement to be a business major,” Smith said. “We would love to see some more people outside of the college of business also be a part of our club, but I feel like realistically, entrepreneurship students might be the most drawn to the event.”
The Collegiate DECA team will host their first-ever Shark Tank workshop on Thursday, May 7, in Academic West room 305 at 5 p.m.
Jamie Reed is a campus life reporter. She is a third-year public relations major with a minor in anthropology. She likes to draw and listen to music while enjoying the sun when it’s out. You can reach her at jamiereed.thefront@gmail.com.
