VPnet Project Spotlight:

Gonzaga University - Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program

2005-2006 Business Plan Competition Workshops

Gonzaga University, in collaboration with Eastern Washington University, Whitworth College, and Washington State University are helping students prepare for the upcoming 2005-2006 business plan competition. This is the largest business plan competition in the Inland Northwest, with $42,500 in prize money that will be awarded in Spring 2006.

Three workshops were conducted during November 2005 to assist students with writing a business plan, conducting market research using secondary data, and performing financial analysis.

The workshops were held at Gonzaga University, with live broadcasts across VPnet to students at WSU Pullman and Whitworth College. Leveraging video conference bridge services from INHS and the broadband network of VPnet, the live broadcasts are high quality, and provide a real-time, interactive experience for all of the students, regardless of their physical location. Rick Rasmussen, a member of the information technology team at Gonzaga said, "this is the best quality video conference I have ever experienced". His colleague, Dale DeViveiros, says "with a network like VPnet, it enables us to leverage video conferencing technologies in new ways for our institution".

In addition to the live video broadcasts, which saves travel time for students at WSU and Whitworth, the workshops were recorded and are accessible by students across the Internet in video streaming format. This capability is made possible by Spokane Public Schools, who has made their content archive facility available to VPnet members.