While many business classes are hard at work becoming Microsoft Office Specialists or designing presentations, BMT 2 is quite different, and a lot of students don’t know what actually goes on in this class. Business Management and Technology 2 (BMT 2) is a class where students run their own business, living in a Sim-like world. The class is run around a website called Virtual Enterprises International, which is the hub of all information needed to start a business.

The class comes together as a firm and sells whatever they feel will make the most money. The Milford firm found that selling cars is most effective. Mav Co. is a car company that sells fictional vehicles that range from the MavCharger to the Mavio Kart. Once the product line was chosen, the students broke off into different departments to fulfill the fantasy they created and keep the company running. These departments consist of Layout and Design, Special Projects, Human Resources, Accounting, and many more. The supervisor for the class is Kaye Sommer, but the students turn to the CEOs when in need of assistance. The current Mav Co. CEOs are Ella Riihilouma, Matt Cawthrone, and Sophia Huszti. Through all the departments and their specific jobs, the company prepared for the first trade show of the year.

The Southern Regional Conference & Exhibition was the first trade show for the new employees of Mav Co. This trade show was held Nov.16th to Nov. 18th 2019 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. After a nine-hour drive on Saturday, with a bus full of Pinckney and Fenton students too; 17 of the 38 students in the VEI class arrived to participate and compete in the conference. Sunday was a big day for some of the competitors, Senior Alexis Camilleri, Junior Makenna Bastionell, and Junior Yatziry Linares-Lozano, who all competed in different sections to win Mav Co. awards. Camilleri presented the Mav Co. marketing plan to a panel of judges,  Bastionell had a five-minute elevator pitch on herself to present to judges, and Linares-Lozano showcased her impact-marketing poster. Once all the presentations were completed, it was time to set up the booth.

Each company had two hours to set up their booth in preparation for the trade show the next day. Since Mav Co. had 17 helping hands, the set up was fairly easy. They had to set up the backdrop board and then just velcro-on designs. The theme was Mario Kart, so the company displayed the product information and titles in Mario font. Along with the information, they hung up pictures of  signature Mario Kart players and the cars for sale. After the booth was set up, all that was left was to set up technology. Austin Maiberger provided a Nintendo Switch and a computer monitor, so that the customers of Mav Co. could “test” the cars they purchased by playing Mario Kart. The accounting team just had to set up their computers and set up process was done. After setting up, the students went to have fun at Wonderworks, an indoor amusement park/scientific explore zone in Downtown Pigeon Forge. Many of the students learned what it was like to be an astronaut, while doing an astronaut simulation or petaled bikes to make a roller coaster work.

This attraction also included an indoor rope course, rock climbing wall, and a bed of nails to lay on. To finish of the WonderWorks adventure, the Milford students played Pinckney in laser tag. Once Wonderworks was done, everyone went out to dinner and then was free to spend the night howevethey r pleased. This happened to be most the students favorite part. “My favorite part of Tennessee was probably the last night. I went Go Karting and Mini Golfing with my buds Coby, Max, and Brenden,” said Senior, Austin Maiberger. Although, other people’s choices for the night included walking to the Island,  a downtown area that was beautifully decorated with Christmas lights and filled with live music. “My favorite part was the Island. It felt like a Christmas town and all the stores were decorated pretty.” commented Junior Makenna Bastionell. To top off the night, Sommer treated the kids with ice cream, snow cones, and milkshakes from a local ice cream shop.  Monday morning soon rolled around and that means it was time for the real trade show.

All dressed up in professional business attire, the students headed over to the conference hall to start selling. The company was broken up into selling, purchasing, advertising, and accounting groups to efficiently market to everyone.

The students were also required to buy a house, a car, and homeowners insurance. The company gave each employee $5,000 of play money to spend at the trade show and then the VEI company gave the students $15,000 just for participating in the competition. Since the students had to buy certain items, they learned how to budget and save money for fun purchases, such as room decor and cell phones. “I learned how to budget in a real-life scenario without using any real money,” said Camilleri.  In total, the company sold about $330,000 from cars and car insurance in just under four hours. After the sales and trade show award ceremony was done, Mav Co. packed up the booth, loaded the bus, and took off back to Michigan.

The trip was filled with lots of laughs and new learning experiences. The students made a list after the trade show that was pros, cons, and what needed to be changed. “The biggest change for the next trade show is the booth set up,” said Junior, Riley Coesens.

Some of the major adjustments that were discussed were a new booth design and company shirts instead of business attire. Although the students have some changes to make for the future, the trip was still so much fun and they can’t wait to take on the competition at their upcoming trade show in Chicago in February.