I spent the last few days conversing with Richard Lucas, an avid volunteer in the Polish Global Entrepreneurship Week community. He hosted an activity, at PMR Corporate, with 3-5 year old children, from different countries, encouraging them to think about businesses. Eventually, I’ll post Richard’s own take on the event but I wanted to detail how you, as a partner, could also create this type of event– included are some pictures that Richard has kindly sent.

One of the easiest ways to spark children’s interest in the world of business and entrepreneurship is to invite them into your workplace. Here are some hints and tips to make a visit with any age group go smoothly:

- Make parents welcome, or, if this visit is a school excursion, provide informational materials to teachers ahead of time.

- Let your staff know that young people will be visiting their work space. They may want to put up drawings, presentations, or pictures representing the work they do each day.

- Give the children a tour of your facility and leave ample time for questions and answers.

- Try to find physical representations that children can touch, move, and connect with to help engage them. If you are an architect, provide blueprint paper or show them your latest scale model. A restaurateur might set out prepared pasta, spices, sauce, and cheese so that young people can design their own lunches – then give a short talk on food costs and starting out in the restaurant business.

- Let children interview you as if they were writing for a newspaper, comparing your answers to their questions and ideas about your industry.

- If possible, have a task related to your business – selecting merchandise, ‘buying’ or ‘trading’, or conducting ‘research’ with the aid of colorful magazines or age-appropriate websites – ready for young people to perform.

- Ask young visitors about their own aspirations. Would they like to join a field similar to yours? Why or why not? Challenge them to think beyond traditional roles for men and women in your area of expertise.

- Depending on the age group you are hosting, schedule a time for one-on-one meetings, or bring the discussion into the boardroom over a light meal for staff and youth.

A workplace visit is a cost-effective way to reach out and engage young people in your community. We encourage you to host a group or groups of children during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Organizing The Week, Partners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.