General Events FAQ
We are a non-profit civil society association of interconnected Practice Enterprises from around the world.
Trainee-run company that runs like a real business silhouetting a real enterprise’s business procedures, products and services. A Practice Enterprise resembles a real company in its form, organization and function. Also known as a Practice Firm, Training Firm or Virtual Enterprise in some countries.
Practice Enterprise money is the currency of the Practice Enterprise Network. No real money is involved and the Practice Enterprise currency allows trainees to make purchases within the network.
This PEN Events website is intended to support all events organized for trainers and trainees of the Worldwide Practice Enterprise Network.
Main office of a national Practice Enterprise network. Administers a national Practice Enterprise network in one country and provides support to national Practice Enterprises, provides trainers training, and manages all national Central Services offered to Practice Enterprises. If you want to know more about the locations of your national Central Office please visit our World Map.
PEN Code for Practice Enterprise (PE) or Central Office (CO). PE Codes must be less than or equal to 13 characters. First two characters must be from country ISO code and the third as zero (0). The last 9 characters can be Letters, Digits a minus(-) or an underscore (_). If you are unsure where to find your Practice Enterprise Code please contact your national Central Office.
If you don’t know your international Practice Enterprise code (international database code in the format e.g. DE01TTT for Germany), please contact your national Central Office and they will provide you with your international code.
You can find the time zone of the event in the description of the event at the top of the page. If you are in a different time zone, please verify the correct times using the time zone converter.
You should always make sure your data is entered correctly. Double check your spelling, spaces, capitalization and also the language. However, if you do need to adjust your entered data, this is currently not possible on the website. Please do NOT re-enter and do a new registration – send an email to events[at]penworldwide.org and include your correct First Name / Last Name, email address, Practice Enterprise Code and explain what needs to be adjusted. Our team will take a look and get back to you.
Different Practice Enterprise events use different platforms. Commercial trade events use videoconferencing platforms that are chosen by each Practice Enterprise. In our events we try to mirror the real business world and the reality is that many different event platforms are available. Our choice of platforms and tools are chosen to best reflect the real business world.
Enterprise Competitions FAQ
A competition between different Practice Enterprises for putting the practical Practice Enterprise knowledge to use. Examples include social media, elevator, viral video, sales pitch, business plan competition. A Practice Enterprise competition can be held in-person or online.
Practice Enterprise Competitions give unique opportunities to test skills, experience and competencies that are needed in real business processes in the labor market. You can receive valuable feedback on pitching skills and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your communications and/ or marketing plans.
A sales pitch is a short presentation that attempts to creatively persuade the customer to purchase a certain product or service.
An elevator pitch competition is a short sales pitch competition which usually lasts around 60 to 90 seconds. It gives you the time equivalent to an elevator ride during which you should be able to give your clear and brief pitch.
A Business Plan Competition tests the entrepreneurship innovative ideas of trainees. A business plan is a written document that describes the characteristics of the business and sets business goals and how it aims to achieve them.
Team Challenges FAQ
Trainees representing different countries work in multinational teams on an international case study. During the preparation time, teams have to identify the challenges, opportunities, and risks involved in a global business by examining a real-world business case study. Teams present their findings to a panel of judges, where they compete against other teams in two different rounds of presentations. These challenges can take place either in-person or online.
A case study refers to the analysis and description of a particular case involving real-world company’s practice or product. The key parts of a case study are analysis of the situation, identification of the key issues and making of recommendations. Case assignments require trainees to develop a solution to an open-ended problem with multiple potential solutions.
The competition is a great opportunity for trainees to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired in the Practice Enterprise program. Trainees rely on their abilities and put their rhetorical, analytical, and communication skills to the test.
The GEC has proven to have participants end the day building capacities around real-world business scenarios and improving their communication and presentation skills, while making new acquaintances and contacts from around the world.
Basic information on the challenge event, the structure of the presentation and general information on the real-world company is sent in advance to Practice Enterprises that participate in the challenge.
Trainees have the option of researching the enterprise in advance of the competition. There is nothing formal to plan or prepare in advance, only to study the company. Trainees may choose to organize ideas in advance to offer to their group as time and curriculum allows.
Teams are chosen at random. Trainees are informed of what team they have been assigned to prior to the event and are given the opportunity to introduce themselves and start preparing for the case study. Trainees who are not a part of a Practice Enterprise may not participate in the challenge.
Commercial Trading Events FAQ
An exhibition of Practice Enterprises where trainees have the opportunity to put their skills to practice, such as trade fair preparation, sales pitches and commercial order processing, as well as to interact with other national and international trainees. There are regional, national, international trade fairs held each year around the world. Trade fairs can be held in-person or online.
A Practice Enterprise trading event is an event that has the primary goal of increasing transactions and connections between Practice Enterprises. It differs from a trade fair in that there is no physical stand. A trading event can be in-person or online including videoconferencing, order taking and marketing.
A Commercial Trading Event can help to boost the volume of transactions and can also introduce you to new international commercial partners.
You can share the visitor code with external visitors who are not connected to a Practice Enterprise and who want to visit the Intensive Trading Event. If you are a trainer or a trainee from a Practice Enterprise you can use your international Practice Enterprise code.
There is no limit to how many visitors can register for an event. Keep in mind the number of exhibitors in proportion to the number of visitors – so that the exhibitors do not get overwhelmed by a large number of visitors.
For a Trading Event, we encourage and promote trading between Practice Enterprises to boost international trading volume. In the future we will offer a Trade Fair card for external visitors to make purchases.
Social Media Events FAQ
A Social Media Event is a social media activity or a competition that takes place across different social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The main aim of these events is to create engagement, generate likes and highlight specific content among followers.
A word or phrase preceded by a # symbol is used to categorize and identify content and posts on a certain topic. For example #penworldwide refers to content that is related to our Practice Enterprise Network and the activities our network carries out. Hashtags allow you to make your content more discoverable and thus ensures that it reaches more people.
Your social media handle is your public username used on social media accounts. On Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, it is the @ symbol followed by the user name. For example: @penworldwide on Facebook. Your handle is used to tag you and thereby, connect to you in posts done by others.
Your handle might be autogenerated but it can usually be adjusted in the settings of the respective media. It is recommended to choose a representative, short handle and at best, the same one for all social media accounts (if possible). This makes it easier for your followers to tag you.
In the Worldwide Practice Enterprise Network we work in a community that is respectful and appreciative of diversity. Therefore, everyone in the PEN Worldwide community commits to operate by these values. The most important ones for Social Media Events are combined in the Social Media Events Etiquette.
A Social Media Event can test your ability with different social media channels. It can also help promote your enterprise and brand, market a specific service or product and increase the number of followers of your page or account.
Social Media platforms already provide tools and options to edit and publish posts. These are generally sufficient for modern and professional content creation. In addition, we suggest Canva for editing photos, creating visuals and short clips. Canva is an external tool so please check the user requirements and conditions, also depending on your location.
Commercial Trading Events FAQ (Exhibitors)
The choice of videoconferencing platforms is up to each Practice Enterprise. You should create a videoconference meeting link for the event. We encourage you to try different platforms. In trading events we try to mirror the real business world and the reality is that many different videoconference platforms are available for business communications. Your trainer should provide you with information on available choices in your Practice Enterprise.
Yes you can add additional time slots or adjust existing ones even on the day of the event. The system allows you to add up to three different time slots per day.
Each day’s events are all-day events – register based on your time zone availabilities and choose the correct time slots.
This is the responsibility of each exhibiting Practice Enterprise. It is their responsibility to follow the time schedule and be present during the time slot they registered for.
The choice of videoconferencing platforms is up to each Practice Enterprise. We encourage you to try different platforms. In the trading event we try to mirror the real business world and the reality is that many different videoconference platforms are available for business communications.
The system only recognizes CAPITAL letters so please make sure your Practice Enterprise code is in the correct format. (CAPITAL letters and numbers) If it contains small letters or other symbols, please change it or contact your national Central Office for assistance.
After creating an exhibitor account, the next step of the process is the placement registration. Placement registrations are done for each day and up to three different time slots may be added for each day.
Someone from your Practice Enterprise has already created a login for your Practice Enterprise email. Please go to the login page in and login under your Practice Enterprise code and request the password to be resent to the Practice Enterprise email address.
Yes, your Practice Enterprise (registered as an exhibitor) needs to also sign up as a visitor to be able to access the event. This can be easily done also on the day of the event.
A Trading Event Etiquette manual will help guide you through the trading event process. You’ll find tips both for exhibitors and sellers in the guide.