Editors: Please note the March 20 (revised) registration deadline.

Northern Michigan University's College of Business will host the 2015 Celebration of Entrepreneurship Conference from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in the University Center. The event welcomes students, community members, business professionals and established entrepreneurs seeking to expand their enterprises, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs looking to turn their business dreams into reality.

Registration is free for students and $25 for community members and must be completed before Friday, March 20. It includes lunch with a keynote speech by retired NFL player and entrepreneur Tim Shaw, conference materials, a complimentary back sack filled with items and admission to the New Business Venture Competition.

Conference topic sessions and presenters are: The Power of Our Words, Dr. Jim Surrell; Using Design Thinking to Prototype, Chris Standerford; Challenges and Opportunities in Cyber Security Information, Jim Marquardson; Home-Based Business to Downtown Destination: Small Business Startup, Beth Millner and Mary Luttinen; Thinking About Design with Design Thinking, Peter Pless; How Long Would You Like to be in Business?, Dan Torres; So You Want to Be a Business Owner? What Every Business Owner Wished They Knew Now, Jesse Schramm; Business DNA, Rick G. Holmes; Entrepreneurship Beyond the Obvious, Jim Jenkins; TEAM Business Presentation, NMU business students; Invent@NMU: What’s Your Idea? What’s Your Experience?, Bob Eslinger; and Accessing and Working with the Resources in Your Community, Alexander Kofsky.

The eighth annual New Business Venture Competition rewards NMU students who present detailed plans for designing and creating new business enterprises. Finalists will participate in a trade fair display at 8 a.m., an elevator pitch competition at 9 a.m. and business plan presentations afterward in the University Center Explorer Rooms.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.nmu.edu/business/entrepreneurship. The event contact is Jody Lindberg at 906-227-1894.