If you have the next great venture-capital concept - or want to team up with someone who does - then workshops of the Georgia Tech Business Plan Competition (BPC) are the place to go.

Designed to prepare participants for the February 16 (Preliminary Round) and February 23 (Final Round) contests, the Workshop Series can help you refine your venture ideas, establish a team, and develop your business plan.

The Workshop Series kicks off October 11 with "Creating High Potential Ventures for Fun and Profit-from 6 to 7:30 PM in Room 223 of the Management building. This workshop will feature insights from members of the Intrinsic Security team that won first place in the last Business Plan Competition. With support from VentureLab, which helps commercialize technologies developed at Georgia Tech, they are focused on bringing their network security services to market.

Intended both to educate and facilitate startups, the BPC often leads to the creation of real technology-based businesses. Both the Workshop Series and BPC are open to all Tech students and alumni who have graduated within the past five years. Those who attend the preparatory workshops don't necessarily have to enter the competition. They can come simply to "Experience Entrepreneurship," the competition's new tagline.

For a complete list of upcoming workshops as well as important deadlines for participation in the competition, please view the BPC online calendar at http://mgt.gatech.edu/fac_research/centers_initiatives/files_bpc/gatech_bpc2007_calendar.pdf.

BPC organizers are attempting to involve more undergraduates in the BPC this year through the creation of a new award for the best undergraduate team. Other prizes include first, second, and third places in the Final Round Competition; the Most Fundable category for the team considered most ready to enter the marketplace; the Social and Environmental Sustainability Award, which recognizes the plan that best addresses environmental concerns and/or demonstrates social responsibility; and the Showstopper Award, honoring the team that does the best job selling itself to judges in the BPC trade show. In an Elevator Pitch Competition, BPC participants get one minute to verbally sell their business concepts - the amount of time they might have in an elevator with a potential investor.

Since the inception of the university-wide Business Plan Competition in 2001, participants have collectively won $103,000 in cash prizes and $165,000 in services (legal, financial, etc.) Winning teams in the 2007 competition are expected to receive more than $20,000 in cash prizes and $40,000 in service awards. Prize amounts will be finalized and announced by January 9.

For more information, please visit the main BPC Web site or e-mail bizplan@mgt.gatech.edu. It's not necessary to RSVP to attend a workshop.

Writer: Brad Dixon, College of Management