TAMPA – Tampa Bay business leaders and University of South Florida faculty and alumni converged at the inaugural 2023 AMP conference to share their research to show how academia can bring real-world applications to today’s business world.
The one-day event, held on June 15 at the USF Muma College of Business, showcased research from many alumni of the USF Doctor of Business Administration program on topics such as sales and marketing, supply chain, health care, sport and entertainment, and generative AI.
Eric Eisenberg, the senior vice president of university-community partnerships at USF, shared welcoming remarks.
He said the conference is an example of how a major metropolitan research university can soften its borders to collaborate with businesses in the community. It shows how academic research can be applied to real-world issues for the benefit of both, he said.
The conference offered breakout sessions on the generative AI revolution, on strategies to develop the workforce of the future, the power of intrapreneurship, the emerging world of fintech, and cybersecurity.
In the Sales and Customer Experience session, presenters Rob Hammond, the director of the USF Center for Marketing and Sales Innovation; Jay Civitillo, assistant professor of instruction at USF; and Christy Vogel, the CEO and founder of Marketing Direction Outsourced, talked about the impact of ChatGPT in the business and sales industry.
Vogel said many businesses are using ChatGPT to write emails and to write content for their websites and social posts. While ChatGPT can offer content creators a great starting point, businesses need to be aware of the drawbacks and adjust to avoid the pitfalls.
“You’ve got to check your sources,” she said, adding that the information used by ChatGPT is current through 2021.
Vogel urged businesses to view the generative AI program as another third-party resource.
“It’s an extra tool for us to have in our pockets to use but you still need that human touch,” she said. “At the end of the day, in sales and marketing, it’s all about relationships.”
The conference continues with a virtual two-day portion on June 16 and 17. Details on the agenda and speaker lineup can be found here.