Kickstand Blog

UP NEXT
What: Present Like A Pro
When: Thursday, April 14  @ 5:30 - 7:30pm
Where:  The WaterCooler
Cost: FREE for members, $15 for nonmembers and guests
RSVP Today

Every business, big or small, needs to be good at making presentations--to the board, investors, colleagues, customers, bankers, you name it.

If you have an idea, you need to know how to deliver presentations that inspire, inform and motivate audiences to action (and keeps 'em awake!)

Join Kickstand at our April meeting for a presentation... on presentations with Better Business Bureau President/CEO Dale Dixon. Dale has 16-years of broadcast news and media communication experience working in radio and for CBS, ABC, & NBC-TV affiliates. He has traveled extensively covering a variety of stories ranging from humanitarian efforts in Romania to refueling B1 Bombers over Canada en-route to Bosnia. Dale is an Associated Press and Idaho Press Club award winner, was named an Idaho Business Review 2004 Accomplished Under 40 recipient and a 2007 Better Business Bureau Integrity Counts! honoree.

Walk away with tips to help you take your upcoming presentation before a crucial audience to the next level.

SEIZE OPPORTUNITY

Make it a day chock full of entrepreneurial energy by kickstarting your Thursday at Boise State for Entrepreneurship Day in Idaho - a full day event for current, serial and aspiring entrepreneurs in the community and on campus.
 
When: Thursday, April 14, 2011
Where: Simplot Ballrooms, Boise State Student Union Building
Cost: FREE and open to the campus and community.  Pre-registration is required for the lunch guest speaker, with lunch provided. 
Register: Contact Lyn Moore at lynmoore@boisestate.edu
Highlights from the day include:

• Spotlights on successful Idaho entrepreneurs
• Information and support for entrepreneurs
• Encourages action on entrepreneurial ideas
• Special lunch speaker - Ward Parkinson, co-founder of Micron, discusses the path of his entrepreneurial success.
• Four tracks of interest to entrepreneurs
  
  1. The Conversations track offers insights into the early days of successful Idaho firms.
  2. The How To track offers information and skills workshops on important issues facing all entrepreneurs. 
  3. The Opportunities track presents services and support available locally to entrepreneurs.
  4. The Idea Fair track showcases student ideas, offers advice on elevator pitch messages and culminates with student elevator pitch competition.

America's Next Top Energy Innovator 
As part of the Obama Administration's Startup America Initiative, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator" challenge, which will give start-up companies the opportunity to license groundbreaking technologies developed by the National Laboratories for $1,000 and build successful businesses. Entrepreneurs interested in participating can already view the available technologies on the Department's Energy Innovation Portal.

MAKE THE DATE

April 20: develop.idaho 2011 is a half-day, industry-led event created to promote and support the software community in Idaho. Speakers will include local entrepreneurs and visionaries that will provide their insights on the local software community, success stories about their companies and trends affecting the software industry. The day will conclude with Tech Cocktail Boise - sponsored by SolutionPro. This evening mixer will spotlight local startup companies in the Startup Showcase. The Tech Cocktail team looks to help entrepreneurs by educating as they showcase them and the local technology communities they live in. More Information

April 21: Ignite Boise 6 5 minutes, 20 slides, what would you say? Ignite Boise brings together an inspiring and unexpected blend of thinkers from business, art, technology, government and academia. All with ideas. And all willing to share them. Be part of it on Thursday, April 21 at the Egyptian Theater. Doors open for general admission (FREE) at 6:30pm. Among the talks on tap:

• Gravitational Modulation of Bone Cells
• Razor Burned: Is shaving a necessity or just a load of Schtick?
• StopShop: 1 year without shopping
• I'm good at poor, it's prosperity that got me
• Singularities: The good, the bad and the invisible

June 7: IdaVation is Idaho's premier annual education and networking summit for innovators and entrepreneurs. IdaVation gives innovators and entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn from an ensemble of business luminaries and experienced, successful entrepreneurs. Stay tuned for the full agenda.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
Special thanks to our loyal sponsors whose participation enables up to keep growing Kickstand and providing you with opportunities to network, learn and grow.

Silver Sponsor HP is a technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the world. We explore how technology and services can help people and companies address their problems and challenges, and realize their possibilities, aspirations and dreams. We apply new thinking and ideas to create more simple, valuable and trusted experiences with technology, continuously improving the way our customers live and work.

What: Present Like A Pro
When: Thursday, April 14  @ 5:30 - 7:30pm
Where:  The WaterCooler
Cost: FREE for members, $15 for nonmembers and guests
RSVP Today

Every business, big or small, needs to be good at making presentations--to the board, investors, colleagues, customers, bankers, you name it.

If you have an idea, you need to know how to deliver presentations that inspire, inform and motivate audiences to action (and keeps 'em awake!)

Join Kickstand at our April meeting for a presentation... on presentations with Better Business Bureau President/CEO Dale Dixon. Dale has 16-years of broadcast news and media communication experience working in radio and for CBS, ABC, & NBC-TV affiliates. He has traveled extensively covering a variety of stories ranging from humanitarian efforts in Romania to refueling B1 Bombers over Canada en-route to Bosnia. Dale is an Associated Press and Idaho Press Club award winner, was named an Idaho Business Review 2004 Accomplished Under 40 recipient and a 2007 Better Business Bureau Integrity Counts! honoree.

Walk away with tips to help you take your upcoming presentation before a crucial audience to the next level.

RSVP Now

UP NEXT
Design Thinking
When: Thursday, March 10  @ 5:30 - 7:30pm
Where: The WaterCooler
Cost: FREE for members, $15 for nonmembers and guests
RSVP
Our March speaker is Dr. Kirk Smith, Associate Dean for Business Graduate Studies and Executive Education and Professor of Marketing at Boise State University’s College of Business and Economics (COBE).
 
Dr. Smith will talk in depth about “Design Thinking,” a proven and repeatable problem-solving protocol that any business or profession can employ to achieve extraordinary results.  As Dr. Smith will discuss, Design Thinking takes the simple, but rarely used approach of actually defining what the real problem is before working on a solution.
 
Dr. Smith, along with a group of group of Boise State professors and business students, recently created a Design Thinking project modeled after a program at Stanford University.  The BSU program matched teams of leaders from participating companies — Biomark, Intermountain Gas Company, Preco Electronics and St. Luke’s Health System — with business faculty members and a student. The teams met several times during the semester to learn the Design Thinking process and tackle a looming but ill-defined problem within each company.
 
Dr. Smith knows of what he teaches.  Prior to joining academia, he spent nearly a decade in industry where he introduced new products and led the successful turnaround to profitability for two companies.
RSVP TODAY!
 
FOLLOW UP
For those who did not get enough from last month’s speaker, Coach Greg Patton, or missed his energetic and inspiring talk altogether, the Coach invites you to join his mailing list for up-to-the-bounce updates from the courts by e-mailing him at gpatton@boisestate.edu


SEIZE OPPORTUNITY
Think you have one of the most innovative technologies introduced in 2010? Receive recognition for your achievement by applying for the 2011 R&D100 Awards, dubbed the “Oscars of Innovation.” Products or processes first available for sale or licensing in 2010 are eligible for the 2011 awards. Entries are welcome from industry, academia, and government laboratories.

The call for nominations is now underway for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Anyone can nominate an inspiring entrepreneur who is growing his or her company into a market leader.  The award is recognized as the premier award for these dynamic business leaders and the only global program that annually identifies and assesses the best entrepreneurial talent in the world. 

What Would Get You To Startup, America? "Two weeks before he officially joins the White House's Startup America Partnership initiative as CEO, Priceline co-founder Scott Case is asking entrepreneurs how the newly minted business-assistance organization can best help them create jobs." Read More

IDAHO INNOVATION IN THE NEWS

Inc. A Local SBDC Sharing Resources Nationally
"The allure of most SBDCs is that they focus intensely on the needs of the businesses in their communities. The Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State University is very active in its hometown. But the center also looks for opportunities to serve entrepreneurs far and wide and, in so doing, the center has become a thought leader in the world of small-business advocacy." Full story

SAVE THE DATE

April 20: develop.idaho 2011 is a half-day, industry-led event created to promote and support the software community in Idaho. Speakers will include local entrepreneurs and visionaries that will provide their insights on the local software community, success stories about their companies and trends affecting the software industry. The day will conclude with Tech Cocktail Boise - sponsored by SolutionPro. This evening mixer will spotlight local startup companies in the Startup Showcase. The Tech Cocktail team looks to help entrepreneurs by educating as they showcase them and the local technology communities they live in. More Information

April 28 @ the Boise Centre: IdaVation is Idaho's premier annual education and networking summit for innovators and entrepreneurs. IdaVation gives innovators and entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn from an ensemble of business luminaries and experienced, successful entrepreneurs. Stay tuned for the full agenda.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
Silver Sponsor TechConnect accelerates Idaho's innovation-based economy by connecting people, ideas and resources through activities in 4 areas: Building an entrepreneurial culture Promoting industry-university collaboration Facilitating commercialization Encouraging investment in infrastructure to support an innovation-based economy.

What: Design Thinking
When: Thursday, March 10  @ 5:30 - 7:30pm
Where: The WaterCooler
Cost: FREE for members, $15 for nonmembers and guests
RSVP

Our March speaker is Dr. Kirk Smith, Associate Dean for Business Graduate Studies and Executive Education and Professor of Marketing at Boise State University’s College of Business and Economics (COBE).
 
Dr. Smith will talk in depth about “Design Thinking,” a proven and repeatable problem-solving protocol that any business or profession can employ to achieve extraordinary results.  As Dr. Smith will discuss, Design Thinking takes the simple, but rarely used approach of actually defining what the real problem is before working on a solution.
 
Dr. Smith, along with a group of group of Boise State professors and business students, recently created a Design Thinking project modeled after a program at Stanford University.  The BSU program matched teams of leaders from participating companies — Biomark, Intermountain Gas Company, Preco Electronics and St. Luke’s Health System — with business faculty members and a student. The teams met several times during the semester to learn the Design Thinking process and tackle a looming but ill-defined problem within each company.
 
Dr. Smith knows of what he teaches.  Prior to joining academia, he spent nearly a decade in industry where he introduced new products and led the successful turnaround to profitability for two companies.

RSVP TODAY!
 
Finally, for those who did not get enough from last month’s speaker, Coach Greg Patton, or missed his energetic and inspiring talk altogether, the Coach invites you to join his mailing list for up-to-the-bounce updates from the courts by e-mailing him at gpatton@boisestate.edu.