Date: December 8, 2025
Location: Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Rd, University Center, MI 48710
Competition Description:
The Midwest Region Conference & Exhibition is a one day in-person trade show with a number of live competitions. Volunteers will be judging competitions including Best Booth, Outstanding Salesmanship and Elevator Pitch using competition scoring guides.
As a judge, you will hear several presentations and complete the scoring guide. Review the details below to determine which “day-of” events you would like to be a part.
Sales Presentation Competition: Firms will have a minimum of two opportunities to sell to a judge. One opportunity will be planned and presented individually to the judge and one will be at the trade show booth. During the trade show, judges will have the opportunity to make purchases from the VE firms. As the judge is making the purchase, he/she will be rating the students on the following criteria: qualification of the customer, presentation of products and/or services, overcoming objections and closing the sale. Judges will complete the scoring guide.
Elevator Pitch Challenge: An elevator pitch is a brief speech used by an entrepreneur to describe their business, product or service in a compelling and concise way. It is called an “elevator pitch” because it addresses the question, "How would you explain your business if fate placed you in an elevator with an angel investor and you only had the time it takes to get from the first to the top floor – about 90 seconds in a tall building?"
Students will have 90-seconds to make their pitch.The judge will complete the scoring rubric based upon the criteria.
Best Booth Competition: Each Virtual Enterprise Company is asked to design and build a booth at a Virtual Enterprises International Trade Show. Each booth allows companies to highlight their products and/or services and to increase sales. Using the scoring rubric, judges will evaluate the booths based upon presentation, appearance, and effective use of marketing materials.