What's a good panel discussion topic for college business students?

April 28, 2006 7:28 AM

Help me come up with a topic for a panel discussion.

I've gathered 4 business industry professionals/analysts to participate in a panel discussion for my students studying business. I want to make the topic something that will be interesting to the upperclassmen who have been studying business for a while but also accessible to the freshmen.

Any suggestions for a topic? My brain is seriously fried lately and anything I come up with sounds trite and boring.

posted by archimago to education (9 comments total)

What's the one thing you wish you'd learned in business school?
posted by misanthropicsarah at 7:30 AM on April 28, 2006

Corporate Social Responsibility.
Corporate Ethics.
Business and the Environment.
posted by biffa at 8:24 AM on April 28, 2006

What fields are the 4 industry professionals in? And can you be a bit more specific about the classes these students may have participated in? It would be useful if the 4 professionals could discuss real world examples of topics that the students have learned.
posted by gfrobe at 8:26 AM on April 28, 2006

to elaborate on biffa's answer,

What Business Are We In? Making Money? Or. . . ?
posted by lisaj32 at 8:32 AM on April 28, 2006

What are common misperceptions about our industry (or our field) and how can we change them?

How will business change in the next 20 years, and how can we acquire the skills we need to adapt?

What goals are necessary to achieve our full potential?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 8:41 AM on April 28, 2006

What were you doing when you were freshmen?

What's the biggest lie they told you in college about business? (or some more politic way of saying that)

What are the biggest external challenges you are facing?

Internet, sucks or rules for business? Why?
posted by jessamyn at 9:29 AM on April 28, 2006

Corporate Social Responsibility is a great topic -- if your panelists have knowledge and experience in that area of business. Since you've already chosen your 4 panelists, I'd save CSR for a later discussion, when you can bring in panelists who are experts in that field, and choose something more general for this discussion.

Any topic involving globalization and international business would probably interest your upperclassmen. A discussion of the pros and cons of Sarbannes-Oxley and the possible repercussions of the SEC's new suggested regulations might also be useful.
posted by junkbox at 9:30 AM on April 28, 2006

How do you or your company innovate?
posted by karmaville at 11:37 AM on April 28, 2006

what would a carbon credit system do to each one of their businesses? How would it change their manufacturing system in the short term and long term?
posted by zia at 3:51 PM on April 28, 2006