Debating thieves show audacity

Debating thieves show audacity

Stilt walkers, prowling lions and some hilarious misuse of the word “advice” helped to kick off another successful year for business incubator Audacious. Taking place in the Business School Atrium, the evening saw entrepreneurs Alex Dong and Logan Elliot, both from vastly different business arenas, offer guidance to the next wave of students looking to go through the program.

With cheeseboards rather than boardrooms on show, past Audacious contestant and now successful businessman Elliot spoke about his entertainment company, Highly Flammable. Elliot showed the crowd how passion, creativity, ambition, and sideburns to rival even Wolverine have allowed Highly Flammable to “add an extra layer to the atmosphere” to any kind of event. Now with over 80 performers around the country, Elliot wisely encouraged people to “give [Audacious] a go” and to prepare for an “awesome roller coaster, epic adventure.”

Following suit, but with vastly smaller sideburns, was guest speaker and “serial entrepreneur” Alex Dong. Dong’s successes include selling his bookmarking site, Trunk-ly, to internet company AVOS which is owned by YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen.

While Dong may have conquered the Internet, he proved his computing abilities vastly outstrip his linguistic abilities after spectacularly offering his three “advices” to would-be entrepreneurs. Most worthy of a mention was his second of three “advices” that “idea is like arsehole. Everyone has one. It’s the execution that matters.”

Audacious organiser Jessie McKay was “really pleased” with the event. “It was fantastic to see so many new faces. Hopefully this means lots of new exciting ideas will be flowing through this year,” she said.

The Debating team across the hallway particularly enjoyed the evening, their key debate being how much of the Audacious liquor supply they should steal. The affirmative team’s “drink as much as possible” platform was the comprehensive winner. One debater hailed the alcohol haul as “fantastic,” and “just another reason why you should come to debating.” After being found out, however, the team had to clean up their mess and apologise, an ordeal almost as humiliating as that time they had their clinically sterile and passionless “Debatable” column cut from Critic.
This article first appeared in Issue 6, 2013.
Posted 4:40pm Sunday 7th April 2013 by Claudia Herron.