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BU students face Dorset ‘Dragons’

20 May 2009

BU Event and Leisure students with 'Dragons'

BU students have gone up against ‘Dragons’ from Dorset’s leading tourism industries in an exercise similar to the hit TV show.

Undergraduate students from BU’s School of Services Management have experienced the adrenaline rush of pitching their ideas to Dorset’s top businesses.

In an experience akin to TV show Dragons’ Den, over 200 first-year students on BA (Hons) Event Management and BA (Hons) Leisure Marketing worked in project groups to develop and pitch an idea for an event/leisure product, aimed at attracting more customers and maximising profits.

Based on a real-world scenario, they worked to project briefs on behalf of seven of Dorset’s most high-profile tourism and leisure industries, including The Langtry Manor Hotel, Aruba restaurant, Littledown Centre, Priest’s House Museum (Wimborne), Haskins Garden Centre (Ferndown), Farmer Palmer’s Farm Park, Organford and Broadstone Leisure Centre.

This involved preparing a consultancy research report which identified a gap in the market for a new event/leisure product and outlined a fully costed business case.

Their assignment culminated in a boardroom pitching exercise to a panel of ‘Dragons’ from each of the businesses, and the BU academic team, who interrogated the students about the suitability of their idea for the market.

Tara Howard, owner and managing director of the Langtry Manor Hotel, Bournemouth, said: “I was very impressed at the amount of work that went into each presentation and the professionalism the students displayed. A couple of the ideas put forward are very enterprising and I would like to pursue them further.”

Event Management student Tara Auty, 19, said: “It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for us and a real learning curve. We can take these skills into the real world. Having to research the market, pitch your knowledge to businesses and answer their direct questions is as close to a real-life experience as you can get.”

The project is another example of the value BU places in business-simulation activities in preparing students for work, increasingly important in the current economic climate.

BU’s Dr Miguel Moital, Senior Lecturer in Events Management, said: “The Dragons’ Den-style presentation is a great learning opportunity as students have the chance to develop and then defend their work in face of both tutors and the manager of the allocated organisation. The involvement of an external organisation has provided students with a ‘real life’ opportunity to enhance their creativity, marketing and management skills.

“The comments made by managers about each of the presentations greatly helped students realise the strengths, as well as weaknesses, of their proposed event. Overall, it is satisfying to know that students found the experience very positive and that all managers commented that they will be looking at the event ideas in more detail with a view to implementing them.”