With a social media star as its keynote speaker, Florida International University’s (FIU) American Marketing Association collegiate chapter brought home its theme, “The Power of Handheld Marketing,” at its annual regional collegiate conference, held November 15, 2013 at the College of Business.
Jessi Smiles, who turned her Vine following of over 2 million into a marketing phenomenon, and other top speakers shared success stories and insights at the event, which the award-winning chapter has hosted several times. In addition to marketing insights from leading experts, the FIU AMA conference offered competition and recruitment opportunities to students who came from the University of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of South Florida, University of Wisconsin-White Water, and Saint Leo University.
Smiles, a South Florida native, shared how a makeup artist with a knack for making catchy seven-second videos captured the attention of key players in social media, grew a base of young followers and parlayed it into a product endorsement career.
In addition to education, the two-day conference offered multiple opportunities to put sales and marketing talents to the test through sales and marketing strategy competitions. In addition to Smiles, Alex Carvalho, Martin Roos, Jose Miguel Vera, and Carlos Acevedo addressed the conference, which also featured a career expo with 16 employers discussing marketing and sales opportunities with attendees.
Sales, marketing competitions enrich conference.
For the first time, the AMA conference hosted a sales competition, sponsored by FIU’s Sales Program, with a team of sales professionals judging each of the student role plays. The grand prize for the sales competition went to Tikha Jenkins from FIU, who received a $1,000 cash prize. The conference also featured a marketing strategy competition. First place winners were Alexandra Bogovic and Janine Fils from the University of South Florida, who received Android tablets.
“With the help of an incredibly passionate and dedicated team, this conference was another great success for the AMA at FIU,” said Pierina Pineda, chapter president.
For six consecutive years, the AMA Collegiate Chapter at FIU has been ranked in the top 10 chapters out of 300 collegiate chapters of the AMA throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The group recently launched a full-service advertising firm, “Roaring Concepts.” The chapter was named Business Organization of the Year by the College of Business for 2013.
