DSEF works with participating universities and Fellows to bring senior executives from a variety of direct selling businesses including Fortune 500 companies and high-growth start-ups, both privately held and publicly traded—to campuses and classrooms. Direct selling company executives interact with undergraduate and graduate students about their companies. They also explain about their industry and the important issues and challenges relevant to most businesses. Campus events are designed to be interactive and customized to ensure that they are pertinent to participating students, faculty and institutions.
Key objectives of DSEF campus events include:
- Helping students better understand direct selling, a global channel of distribution with annual revenues of more than $180 billion world-wide
- Bringing “real world” examples of marketing, entrepreneurship, research, sales management, ethics, consumer behavior and other aspects of direct selling.
- Making students aware of a variety of corporate and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Executives involved in this program often focus on an aspect of the class curriculum from a direct selling practitioner’s perspective, while sharing “real world’ experience with students.
Campus events began in 1989 as part of the DSEF Academic Program. DSEF’s Campus Programs have been held at dozens of universities including: The University of Texas at Arlington, The University of Texas at Austin, Baylor University, University of Georgia, San Diego State University, California State University at Los Angeles, California State University at Fullerton, the University of Missouri at Columbia, the University of Alabama, University of Oregon, the University of Florida, the University of Louisville, Texas Christian University, Grand Valley State University, Northeastern University, Brigham Young University, Rollins College, Missouri State University, the University of Tampa, University of South Florida and the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Read more about DSEF’s most recent Campus Events:
Belmont University: http://dsef.org/2016/04/07/dsef-campus-programs-helps-direct-selling-go-mainstream/
Florida State University: http://dsef.org/2015/11/18/living-freshs-commitment-to-sustainability-inspires-florida-state-students/
University of Georgia: http://dsef.org/direct-selling-business-opportunity-new-economy/
University of San Francisco: http://dsef.org/2017/05/24/socialentrepreneurshiprealworld/
University of Texas at Arlington: http://dsef.org/2016/12/14/dsef-and-uta-host-successful-business-ethics-forum/
I’m an executive at a direct selling company, how can i help?
There are many ways you can help as direct selling executive (see our Get Involved section). Many executives have relationships and access to professors at different institutions. If you think any of your connections in the educational domain would be interested in the work of DSEF, we strongly encourage you to read through the Executive Guide to Academic Engagement. This resource guides you through how to connect and partner with leading academics and institutions of higher learning. The Guide provides valuable insights, resources and opportunities in three areas of engagement:
- How to engage with academics through your foundation ?
- How your company can engage with academics successfully ?
- What benefits and opportunities DSEF and your companies bring to academics and students
Interested in getting involved? Contact us and we’ll guide you toward the best next step.
Campus Program Executive Resources
The following additional resources are provided to support direct selling executives in building their campus program presentations.
Other Resources
DSEF Research Priorities: Research is a primary vehicle through which the foundation builds relevance and credibility for the industry. The Foundation’s ambition is to focus on educating the public and key stakeholders (policymakers, thought leaders, media, consumer protection officials and organizations and academics) by providing meaningful, informative and usable research that highlights the Foundation’s focus areas:
- Direct selling business model.
- Leadership in industry self-regulation and consumer protection.
- Economic and personal development benefits of direct selling entrepreneurship opportunities.
Employee Academic Engagement Sample Survey: Employees at your corporate headquarters may already have existing relationships at local universities or their alma maters. To help you and your company identify existing and potential academic partners, we are providing a sample survey.