Speaking Kit > Speaking Topics
Wendy tailors speaking topics or breakout sessions to suit the audience size, style, format and needs. The topics below are provided as examples and you can drop Wendy a line to personalize a topic or discuss creating a new one.
Sample Commercialization Topics
So what? who cares? why you?®: Turn Your Good Idea Into a Great Opportunity
Scientists, researchers, engineers and technology entrepreneurs need not be frustrated by fruitless attempts at getting non-technical supporters to get excited about their ideas. The So what? who cares? why you?® methodology is designed to provide them with the processes, language, and "spadework" required to translate scientific and technical ideas into great business opportunities.
This presentation provides an overview of the key tenets of So what? who cares? why you?® and gives the audience a launch pad to convince others that their good ideas are worth consideration and investment.
Commercialization Assessment: A Toolkit for the Technology Transfer Office
Assessing the commercial potential of hundreds or thousands of scientific and technical ideas every year is no small task. The challenge is two-pronged. Technology transfer officers (TTO) must efficiently yet effectively assess the commercial value of ideas. They must also communicate their evaluations to researchers and scientists who may be emotionally attached to ideas that don't pass the test.
This presentation is designed for TTOs, commercialization staff and those tasked with evaluating research proposals for science and technology ideas. It introduces So what? who cares? why you?® as a proven, consistent and repeatable methodology for assessing the commercial value of ideas. Just as important, it outlines how So what? who cares? why you?® serves as a useful tool to provide a common language between faculty, staff, and the TTO, and a means to engage researchers and scientists in a dispassionate process of evaluating a good idea in terms of its business opportunity.
Your Idea: From Lab to Life
With only one in every 3,000 good scientific or technical ideas ever finding commercial success, potential investors know that the odds are against yours - how can you convince them otherwise? Taking a brilliant technical idea from lab to life requires more than a novel champion - in fact, a whole team of people is involved and many of them aren't technical experts. Your "investors" may include grant reviewers, the director of a research foundation, potential financial investors including friends and family or venture capitalists, potential licensees, etc. So, your biggest hurdle will not be a technical one - it will be getting non-technical people to see the value in your idea.
This presentation introduces scientists, researchers, engineers, technology entrepreneurs and the organizations that represent them to the initial "spadework" required to define a good idea in terms of a business opportunity. Wendy will discuss how to describe an idea in compelling language and how to articulate, the opportunity the idea represents.
So what? who cares? why you?®: A Methodology to Fuse Science with Business -
As a researcher or scientist you're also an entrepreneur! You're in a constant state of trying to gain support and funding to pursue your research. Even the most basic research requires a supporter who can to commit resources for the time and energy required to explore what might be possible.
So what? who cares? why you?® is a methodology for all researchers and scientists to use to explain the commercial value in what they are doing. It is a simple and repeatable framework to use to translate research and science into business terms. You'll learn how to shift your conversations away from "what it is" towards "why it matters" and why it's valuable enough to invest in.
Think Like a Banker: See Your Idea Through the Eyes of Investors
If you're a scientist, researcher, or inventor you have investors - whether you want them or not! Your "investors" may include grant reviewers, the director of a research foundation, potential financial investors including friends and family or venture capitalists, potential licensees, etc. To get an investor's attention, you have to think like one. Investor's aren't just evaluating the quality of the science or technology you are developing. In fact, they have their own set of business criteria - criteria you'll need to understand and address to convince them to invest in your idea.
In this presentation, Wendy will show how the So what? who cares? why you?® methodology provides a simple, repeatable framework for articulating the value of your idea in terms that will make investors pay attention. Learn what investors care about, why they ask the questions they do, and how to give them the answers they need to make their decisions.
Sample Entrepreneurship Topics
So what? who cares? why you?®: A Methodology to Fuse Science with Business -
Every researcher or scientist is also an entrepreneur! You're in a constant state of trying to gain support and funding to pursue your research. Even the most basic research requires a supporter who can to commit resources for the time and energy required to explore what might be possible.
So what? who cares? why you?® is a methodology for all researchers and scientists to use to explain the commercial value in what they are doing. It is a simple and repeatable framework to use to translate research and science into business value. You'll learn how to shift your conversations away from "what it is" towards "why it matters" and why it's valuable enough to invest in.
So what? who cares? why you?® - How to Avoid the "Polite Nod"
Almost every scientist, researcher, and technical professional has experienced the "Polite Nod" - that nod people give when they don't understand what you are talking about, but aren't going to make it easier for you to explain it to them. Rather than getting into a conversation that's over their heads or appearing to be ill-informed, they'll just nod politely. The Polite Nod is the kiss of death for many great science and technology ideas.
This presentation will help technical audiences to recognize the language gap between what they say and what business people hear. Wendy will then provide a common language to close the gap, help to avoid the Polite Nod and move the conversation to the next stage of investigation.
You Say 'Tomayto' and I Say 'Tomahto': Learning A New Language for Business
Entrepreneurs and organizations that have experienced the language barrier between brilliant subject matter experts and business people will find this presentation helps them advance their strategy meetings and decision-making by leaps and bounds. Wendy demonstrates the language gap between what entrepreneurs say and what business people hear, and then provides a common language for entrepreneurs to close the gap.
To personalize a topic or discuss creating a new one, contact Wendy.
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