More broadly, though, students prepare through broader lessons about becoming a manager, agent, or lawyer in the entertainment industry—an integral part of Kogod’s undergraduate Business and Entertainment major, an unparalleled program housed inside a business school.

One recent afternoon, Simson encouraged the 30-plus students in the room to ponder the best promotional campaigns they recall seeing from artists.

“What do you think are effective campaigns?” Simson posed, spawning a litany of responses from students.

In that same class, Simson could be heard offering tangible advice to the room about searching for agency-side jobs in the industry, himself speaking with the authority of a former manager—and onetime founder of DC-based SoundExchange.

“Find a company that represents artists that you like so that you’re likely to get to work with someone you respect,” he told the room—a perspective surely echoed by the industry guest speakers who regularly drop in. “This is an experiential class,” Simson continued, pointing to the opportunity to put on this real-life, on-campus show as a prime example of the course’s hands-on benefits.

“The learning that they’ll have, things that they probably didn’t know before, are things like, ‘you’re going to have to hire security, and what does that look like,’” Simson said. “We go over the deals and what those look like. They learn about hard tickets versus soft tickets. They learn about dynamic ticket pricing.”

The students have also learned firsthand about all that goes into publicity and trying to sell as many tickets as possible. Organizers, for instance, have offered a raffle drawing for floor tickets as a potential prize for students who donate to The Market, AU’s food pantry.

“It’s interesting seeing how we’ve had a lot of back and forth in figuring things out and seeing what does get implemented out of our ideas,” said Dasu.

Come showtime, students will complete their hands-on work on the concert by providing on-site support at Bender Arena as some 3,000 fans file in to see Flo Milli live—from working the help desk and floor to assisting with entrance logistics.

“This is one of those things that will just be part of AU memories. It was like that for the Flo Rida concert last year, and it will be for whichever Flo comes next year!” echoed Benware and Fauta.