Though this was the 10th year for the Sebo Series in Entrepreneurship event, the topic was one the series has never focused on before.

The 10th annual series’ theme this year was “Social Economics: Adding Value to Business with Social Media.” The event is always about entrepreneurship, but it has a different speaker and topic each year.

Robert Sebo, alumnus and retired senior vice president for Paychex Inc., said this is the first time the series was about social media. In the past, the series has hosted the founder of Kinkos and Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes, Sebo said.

“Every year it’s something of great interest to an entrepreneur,” Sebo said. “This event is showing people that you need to motivate people and to have an attitude to work and to lead them as an entrepreneur.”

High school students from around the area, faculty, staff and students attended the event, which was hosted Friday in the Union ballroom, and food was provided. Erik Qualman, author and entrepreneur, spoke and gave a presentation about social media with tips such as promoting social networks and showcasing videos.

Qualman is from Detroit, and his book “Socialnomics” was book of the year in 2010. He spoke about things such as social economics, trends, wearable technology, artificial intelligence, online voting and online education. When he found out about the series he immediately wanted to speak at the University.

“It was a no-brainer to speak here because of it being so close to where I grew up,” Qualman said. “I like giving back and it’s been an honor to be here.”

Ryan Sowers, junior, attended the series and said he went because he was interested in learning about social media and wanted to find out what the speaker had to say about what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how to succeed with it in one’s career.

“It was really exciting and all the people here are with other people that actually want to be here,” Sowers said. “I was really interested in what the speaker had to say.”

During breaks of the series, Qualman signed his book “Socialnomics” for people and had a short conversation with them whether it be about entrepreneurship or anything in general.

“It’s been great to see everything Robert Sebo is able to do,” Qualman said. “There are a lot of core values in entrepreneurship and speaking here is good for the people.”