Q-Camp participants in a “Speed Reading Session” working in self-identified personality groups. Here, the group is reporting to other students. Photo by Yichi Zhang. Click photo to enlarge.

Eldridge Joseph “Joe” Macewan the Third boarded the first bus to the Westin Hotel as an unassuming student at the University of Richmond.

Slumped against the window, watching his friends walk to dinner without him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was wasting his time. He was headed to Q-Camp, a two-day business trip simulation aimed at teaching students the soft skills they needed to thrive in the cutthroat offices of American capitalism.

Macewan — his friends called him Joe — had never thought much about ‘networking’ or ‘connections.’ He believed in hard work, and he had worked hard. Full course loads of 9am’s and four hours a day of basketball and volleyball practice left the tall, athletic sophomore exhausted by the end of every day.

He had never stopped to think that hard work might not be enough.

Q-Camp is for students like Joe. Dean of the Robins School of Business, Nancy Bagranoff, said of the participants “They receive all the knowledge in the classroom, but I’m not sure if that will make them professionals. They need to understand the importance of relationships.”

Dave Luca of Career Builder address Q-Camp participants. Photo by Yichi Zhang. Click photo to enlarge.

Started and funded by Paul Queally, an alum of the Robins school and co-president of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, which manages $20 billion in investment capital, Q-camp fills in the gaps and teaches students how to get a business card, how to have a quality conversation, and how to have perfect etiquette at a formal dinner.

Everyone could use pointers on how to turn a contact into a job, but Queally and the Robins School have developed a model they hope can set the standard for the art of self-salesmanship.

And the students were ecstatic.

Coming out of a shell you never knew existed

In the course of the first night, Joe quickly learned how to deliver an elevator pitch — a 25 second speil about what set him apart from the pack. He learned the value of networking and the power of ‘who you know.’ As the sessions went on, he listened quietly, nervously almost, while the beat of the hotel ballroom raced to the anxious tango of future-phobia.

By the afternoon of the second day, Macewan had started to come out of a shell he never knew was surrounding him.

Before a round of breakout sessions in entrepreneurship, consulting, marketing, and other areas, Joe was a force to be reckoned with, accumulating business cards and coffee dates with powerful alumni.

Patti Carey of Workforce Strategies LLC works with two Q-Camp participants. Photo by Yichi Zhang. Click photo to enlarge.

He attended the session in entrepreneurship, led by David Barrett, CEO of Barrett Capital.

When he walked up to Barrett and asked him to join him for coffee, he had no idea what he was doing. When Barrett accepted, he kept his cool.

Only a widening smile gave away the excitement of the six-foot-five child in the thick of discovery. He had never asked for business card before in his life, but before dinner he had twenty.

The final session before the closing dinner was a wrap-up of the day.

Susan Dawson, a training specialist from Genworth Financial gave a presentation that ran through the events each student had attended, goading them to spill what they had learned with tacky prizes of beer cozies and datebooks. She awarded points for connections made, cards received, coffee dates secured, and follow ups sent.

“Always send a thank you email within twenty four hours.” Sophomore Perry Lowder exclaimed.

“Everyone is an opportunity to make a connection.” Sophomore Claire Hollingsworth told the crowd.

“Sending professional emails is the best way to be seen as professional.” Sophomore Marina Wilson offered.

“Know yourself. What you are good at is not necessarily what you’ll enjoy doing every day.” Joe suggested, and was handed a cozy.

Participants did a group exercise on a student case to demonstrate their understanding of how to network and identify on- and off-campus resources. Topics included studying abroad, internships, hometown connections and the elevator speech. Photo by Yichi Zhang. Click photo to enlarge.

Before dinner, Macewan had called Q-Camp “life-changing.” When Shelley Burns, Program Director, announced. that Joe led all the top 120 business students at the university in points, Q-Camp really started to change his life. He had awoken, but was just beginning to emerge.

After the final session, students had the chance to test out their skills. They were released into the chaotic rising din of a networking reception. With a sort of confidence he’d never experienced, Joe went to up to the door where prosperous alumni streamed in. He was nervous, but he told himself not to think about it. Just go for it.

“Hey there. I’m Eldridge. How are you?” He said it again and again, and with each new handshake, each new business card, his pride and confidence grew. Dawson, the speaker from the final session, pulled him aside to tell him he would be sitting at the VIP table during dinner. He could invite one friend.

Looking around the converted ballroom, he saw his friends. A twenty-something who looked like a blonde Sarah Lancaster walked into the lobby. Taking a last look at his friends, he introduced himself.

Joe would go on to invite the pretty, young Altria manager to join him for a VIP dinner with the Dean. He would display a charm he never knew he had. He would make an impression he never knew he could. The next day, he would send out thirty thank you letters. He hoped one might result in an internship, but he knew Q-camp had already paid off.

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