The largest business organization at NC State, the American Marketing Association (AMA), held its fifth-annual regional conference at Talley Student Union. Students, faculty and alumni gathered to learn more about personal branding Saturday, Jan. 28.
Greyson Cahill, a fourth-year studying business administration and president of AMA at NC State, said the theme of personal branding can resonate with students of any major.
“We wanted to market the event to more people than just business and marketing students,” Cahill said. “No matter what you are studying, having a personal brand and creating a personal brand is very important when looking at finding opportunities for internships or jobs.”
Along with learning about personal branding, attendees met and networked with speakers including Lauren Beane, digital marketing manager at Cisco and owner of Ready Enough Co., and Jeanie Chang, corporate coach at McKinsey & Company and founder of Your Change Provider.
Federica Lenti, a fourth-year studying business and the vice president of event operations for AMA at NC State, said it was important to have a speaker like Chang because of her knowledge of mental health in the workplace.
“I feel like it is a really important topic, and I am really glad we are touching this subject,” Lenti said. “[Chang] talks about mental health in the workplace and how we can leave our mark and take care of our mental health.”
After hearing from the keynote speakers, attendees took part in two different competitions with cash prizes. A business case competition required teams to come up with the best solution for a case. The second competition was called “The Perfect Pitch” and required participants to give 90-second pitches based on the prompt. Candidates were judged on speech delivery and creativity.
Lenti said these competitions provided people in attendance with valuable experience and knowledge from a different point of view.
“For our competitions, if we want to make our marks, we should be able to challenge ourselves and stand out from the others,” Lenti said. “We are trying to give the personal branding from different perspectives.”
Cahill said this is a great opportunity for students and attendees to network with people who have the same interests and career plans as them.
“A big part of this event is just the networking aspect and being able to meet people and talk to people,” Cahill said. “We really think they can find value out of just the networking aspect of the event as well as really take home some great lessons from our keynote speakers.”
Cahill said he hopes the conference helped students in starting their own personal brand and continue to build them throughout their college careers.
“We really just hope our members take home at least one or two things they can really apply as they kind of build their personal brand throughout college,” Cahill said. “If you have a great personal brand that you can present to other people, that’s a great step into making an impact on companies and recruiters.”
More information about AMA can be found on its website.
