BusX

by Brooklyn Carroll

I had the amazing opportunity to attend the second annual Business Exchange Conference (BusX) this month. BusX is a conference unique to Christopher Newport and the Luter School of Business in which top business leaders come to campus to share their insight on a large variety of business-related topics. Not only did I gain a greater understanding of different functional areas in business, but I was excused from all my classes for the day! Bonus! The Luter School of Business classes were canceled the day of the conference so that all business students had ample opportunity to attend the all-day conference.

The event began a day early for select students who registered to be a student ambassador, like myself, with a networking hour and dinner. As an ambassador, I was to ensure that the business executive that I was assigned was comfortable and knew how to navigate campus. I am thrilled to have met Sara Huddleston, the director of human resources at Johnson Lambert LLC in North Carolina, through this ambassador opportunity. Sara was an extraordinarily kind lady and it was interesting hearing her insight on different business concerns. Sara and I ate BusX dinner together with a few of my friends who were also invited, and it was a great time! Not only was the food tasty (especially the cheesecake), but we were also greeted with an inspirational speech from the dinner’s keynote speaker, Brenda Snow, founder and CEO of Snow Companies in Williamsburg.

As for the conference itself, I learned a lot of information from attending the five sessions that I chose to attend. My three favorites were: Talking Your Way to Better Pay, Work / Life Balance and Sara’s session, Thriving in a Generational Diverse Workplace. It was beneficial that there were many business executives leading each session so that you can hear a wide array of stories from different perspectives. With the three free meals, the free (and extraordinarily nice) padfolio, and the free insights that I received from professional business leaders, I would say that the second annual BusX was a success and I cannot wait for future business students to attend!