It’s almost here! The SIFE Simon Fraser team is ready to land in Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening for the SIFE World Cup. With our Fall Kickoff recruitment event having taken place on Tuesday, with over 200 attendees, our team has been busy on multiple fronts in the lead-up to our trip. In our past blogs, you have heard about our programs and why the World Cup is important, as well as having seen how the competitions and presentations are structured. This blog will detail what will actually be taking place each day at the World Cup and how you can join in on the excitement from home.
SIFE World Cup kicks off on Sunday, September 30th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. This first day will mostly feature meetings and a cultural fair, building up to the Opening Ceremony at 6:30pm local time. This opening ceremony will feature a parade of nations, numerous speakers, announcements of the leagues for the opening round of competition, and the much-hyped announcement by SIFE Worldwide of the organization’s new name. Day two begins with a SIFE World Cup sponsor fair and country showcase at 9am, with the opening round of competition lasting from 9:45am to 3:10pm. A special session will follow, which will be an executive panel discussion with respected executives from global organizations. The panel will be moderated by John Beihmeyer, CEO and U.S. Chairman of KPMG LLP, with panelists including Mike Duke, President and CEO of Walmart; Louisa Wong, Executive Chairman of Bó Lè Associates; and J.P. Bilbrey, President and CEO of Hershey. This will be followed by the opening round awards ceremony, which will also include the league drawing for the semi-finals. The final day of competition, October 2nd, starts early, with the semi-final round of competition beginning at 8:35am and running until noon. The semi-final round awards ceremony will follow at 1:15pm, which will then lead directly into the final round of competition, where the top four teams will compete to win the SIFE World Cup. The final round awards ceremony and World Cup wrap-up will then take place at 5pm, leading to an after-party running from 10pm through most of the night.
Many events will be live streamed through the SIFE World Cup website. The opening ceremony on day one will be streamed and will definitely receive a lot of interest from people around the globe. Day two will feature the special session panel and opening round awards ceremony on the live stream. Finally, day three will see the semi-finals award ceremony, final round of competition and final round awards ceremony streamed. Aside from the final round of competition, a lot of these events will be a great opportunity to learn more about SIFE and what the organization stands for, as well as receive inspiration from the amazing programs that students around the world are carrying out. Unique this year is a SIFE World Cup smartphone application, where attendees can interact with one another, check into event, create a personalized schedule, watch live ceremonies and presentations, and view results, among other features. This new feature has already seen a lot of attendees download the application, making it a sure-fire way to stay engaged with the World Cup.
With flights leaving Saturday morning from Sea-Tac Airport, the journey is almost ready to start. Make sure you tune into the live stream and follow SIFE Simon Fraser on Twitter (@SIFESimonFraser) to keep up-to-date with what goes down in Washington. Three blogs will be produced during World Cup as well, featuring a more detailed recap of each day’s events. Ready? Here we go!
Spencer Toth is a fifth year student in the Beedie School of Business, studying Marketing, Human Resource Management, and Entrepreneurship & Innovation. He has extensive experience with student organizations, having been involved with Enactus SFU as both a member and executive, recently finishing his term as Director of Community Engagement, and he also spent a year as President of SFU Social Media Network. This whirlwind year ended with him receiving the Surrey Board of Trade’s Top 25 Under 25 award. He is currently completing a co-op term in Beedie’s Student Engagement Office, competing on SFU’s Human Resources team for JDC West, and acting as a FROSH Leader and Captain for BASS FROSH.