Get on the Shelf- This Wednesday!

Each meeting we try to bring you opportunities you might have missed and help you connect with people you would like to meet.  One such opportunity was to enter the “Get on the Shelf” contest that Wal-Mart hosted nationally.  Thousands of inventors sent in their ideas (four thousand three hundred) for a chance to win.  One of the top three winners is Nancy Tedeschi who invented a terrific new breakaway screw for eyeglass repair.  This Wednesday, Nancy joins us to share her story about how she has successfully designed, developed and marketed her innovation.  She is currently selling the “Snapit Screw” at a number of retail outlets.  Join us this Wednesday for an informal chat and get some ideas about how you can make your invention into a successful product and get it on the shelves at major retailers!  We can all get a little closer to our goals when we have a chance to see how others have done it before us.  I hope to see you Wednesday, May 23^rd!

No one’s given you billion$$ for your genius idea, now what?

You may have the greatest thing since sliced bread but sometimes it is hard to convince others of the value you have created.  It isn’t easy to bring something to the market but with a bit of help you can do it!  On Wednesday, May 9^th we will explore some ideas that just may help you get beyond your challenges.  TBIC is pleased to welcome Jay Koh, Vice President of Marketing and Product Development for Gizmospring.com .  Jay is focusing on developing new products for the consumer market.  He combines his knowledge of consumer product marketing with creative talents of industrial designers to help produce winning products for his clients.  He has an extensive background in television and direct response product marketing and has worked with some of the big names in the business.  He has been a writer, producer, and director for his infomercial clients such as Cesari Response Television and Envision TV.  He is traveling to Tampa Bay to share his knowledge and will engage all attending our next meeting with a workshop that will help you:

1) Raise start up funds thru new avenues

2) Find the right design, engineering, prototyping, and manufacturing partner.

3) Learn to use social media to promote your product idea.

4) How to compete with the “big boys.”

5) How to get noticed by buyers and distributors.

Jay will use real-world examples of products that he is currently developing for his client to demonstrate strategies and methods that are used in successful product development. 

Join us from 7-9 pm at 7887 Bryan Dairy Rd in largo next Wednesday, May 9^th to get your invention headed in the right direction.  Come early as I have a feeling that seating will be limited!

Help for inventors is coming to town!

Many of you already know about the huge Independent Inventors Conference coming to Tampa this week, April 27 & 28 but if it slipped past your radar, I urge you to register now! https://events.invent.org/iicon/  There will be two full days of USPTO sponsored education designed to fill in your knowledge about being successful with your invention!  There will be numerous breakout sessions so you can attend classes on topics you want to learn about.  They have a roster of talented speakers and information that you will learn from for two days, but if you are a TBIC inventor, you also get a free bonus!  One of the speakers, Dr. Pamela Riddle Bird will be joining us on Wednesday night to give you a preview of the event!  Dr. Bird is an internationally recognized commercialization expert.  She is the Founder and CEO of Innovative Product Technologies, Inc., a product and technology based market commercialization corporation located in Gainesville, Florida.  Dr. Bird is the author of Inventing for Dummies and is the founder of the Inventors Educational Foundation, a non-profit public charity to assist in the educational, as well as commercialization needs of innovators and entrepreneurs.  She has authored of over 70 publications and has been quoted and featured in numerous newspapers throughout the country. 

We have been lucky enough to have had Dr. Bird visit in the past so we know that this will be a treat for all of our members attending this Wednesday night, April 25^th from 7-9 pm.  Get off to  an early start this week and educate yourself at the next TBIC meeting!  www.tbic.us 

Brainstorming with Inventors this Wednesday

Q) What the easiest and most effective way to communicate a new or revised brand message about your invention?

A) An effective tagline.

A tagline compresses the meaning of a product benefit, organizational vision, competitive position, brand promise, or experience into a cogent story. It’s the distilled essence of your brand message – conceived strategically, expressed artfully, and delivered persuasively.
Great stuff if you can get it! How do you come up with a winning tagline for your invention?
You can:
1) Pay thousands of dollars to some marketing firm that will throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks.
2) Do a focus group with a few friend and some ideas of your own and see if anyone likes them.
or
3) You could spend an evening with a few inventors and an instructor and go through a brainstorming session to see if you might get some creative advice!

If you picked 3 you are in luck because that is what we will be doing at the next Tampa Bay Inventors Council meeting on April 11th from 7 – 9 pm! Dan Jenkins returns to share a course that he teaches on brainstorming and on Wednesday we will pick two inventions to focus on. After some coaching, we will break into two different groups to see what kinds of taglines we can come up with. If you would like to have your invention analyzed and be the focus of the brainstorming, you must bring it with you and you must be a member. Join us this Wednesday night and be ready to have an interactive meeting that will open your eyes and open your mind for an evening of conceptualizing with inventors!
See you Wednesday!

Socialize at TBIC on 3/28/2012

Marketing your invention is essential to becoming successful and every job is easier if you have the right tools. One of the most important tools is the Internet and social media. Knowing how to use these effectively can make a big difference in getting people to support you or purchase your product so at our next meeting, TBIC will give you a primer on Social media! Fresh off his presentation at Tec Talk, Antony Francis and his partner Amber Osborne, will share some of the inside secrets to using Social Media to build your business effectively, find your audience, and engage them to become customers.
Amber & Antony will share the steps necessary to find your target market and if you are looking for angel investors and VC's, how to connect with them on twitter. Learn how to turn them on and more importantly how not to turn them off! They will share the basics on up and teach you the key to success in social media. You will also learn some simple tips to take care of your social media even if you have a busy schedule.
Antony launched “Head of Lettuce Media” after a long career in Real Estate to help businesses of all sizes learn how to integrate social media and new technologies into their business mix. He worked as a National Sales Manager teaching marketing and learned early on how to spot opportunities and make the most of them. He has shared his message with countless audiences all over the country and now makes Tampa Bay his home. His partner, Amber, was voted Creative Loafing’s Best of The Bay 2010 Best Tampa Twitter Personality. She is a lead influencer in all things social media, specializing in brand development and creating engaging, unforgettable online personalities. Amber has been featured on Mashable.com, St. Pete Times, MSNBC, ABC News, CNN Headline News, LA Weekly and Fast Company Online. She was also recently a panelist at SXSW 2011 and a keynote panelist at I-Strategy Amsterdam 2011.
Join us on Wednesday March 28th at TBIC and learn from this dynamic duo how you can grab the social media bull by the horns! Learn to use these tools effectively and you will find it much easier to market your innovations!

Inside the USPTO this week at TBIC

So what happens to your precious patent application after it enters that black hole called the USPTO in Alexandria, Virginia. The wait for a response can be unnerving and the response itself may be disappointing. What was the examiner thinking … ?

On Wednesday, Almis Jankus, a retired patent examiner with nearly twenty years experience, will shed some light on what happens inside the USPTO, and, more importantly, what happens inside the examiner’s mind. Almis will help you understand the examiners perspective so that you may argue the points of your patents more effectively.

Almis proved expertise in patent law and web technology by issuing one of the most important, and potentially precedent-setting patents, affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, lower courts and USPTO reexamination in the recent I4I v. Microsoft infringement case. He was awarded the USPTO Bronze Medal as a Primary Examiner, trained new examiners and was selected as an expert witness in computer graphics based on recommendations from USPTO directors. He graduated at top of his class (Suma Cum Laude) with a BS in electrical engineering and a 4.0 GPA. He has examined and reviewed over four thousand patent applications and issued over one thousand patents. He is currently a patent agent and member of the Tampa Bay Inventors Council. Join us this Wednesday and learn what a valuable resource we have in him, right here in our group!

See you Wednesday 3/14/2012

Marketing Principles for Inventors, this Wednesday

The Inventors Fair at the Florida State Fair has been off the hook for generating consumer reaction to our innovations! A special thanks to all who have come out to show fair goers the kinds of innovations we have developed at TBIC! And now that we have publicly launched our products, how do we capitalize on it and market our solutions? That will be the topic for our next meeting this Wednesday, Feb 22nd.
Joining us will be Dan Jenkins, the principal of the Grapple Hook Group, A B2B Industrial Marketing and Research firm based in Tampa. Dan holds an MBA in marketing from the University of South Florida and has taught over 25 marketing courses at several local universities including University of Tampa, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and Mac Dill AFB. He will teach you: "Creating and Capturing Customer Value. Understanding The Market Place and Customer Needs, Different Marketing Strategies, Indentifying Target Markets, Market Segmentation, Product Positioning, SWOT Analysis, Four P’s of Marketing, and Why Marketing Plans Make Sense." He will wrap it up with ““What Made Steve Jobs So Damn Good” Please make sure that you get in early as this will be an excellent opportunity to learn how you can market your inventions and we don’t want you to miss a minute of it! See you this Wednesday.

Imagine that you had a great idea for an invention and you wanted to share it with the world. How would you go about it? Perhaps you need to speak with an investor or manufacturer and convince them that your idea warrants support and their commitment. Are you comfortable telling your story? Do you think that maybe you could use a bit of advice on how to speak with authority?

That will be the focus of our next Tampa Bay Inventors council meeting, how to be an effective public speaker! This will be an excellent opportunity or anyone who will be sharing their invention at the Florida State Fair to get a crash course on presenting at your best. Our next speaker will be Mr. Bob Turel, with more than 30 years experience as a professional trainer and 16 years as a Toastmaster, Bob is perfectly positioned to assist you with your presentations and public speaking goals. He has assisted hundreds of corporate professionals and business owners to polish their communications skills as they relate to making important presentations, both in-person and on-camera. Bob works with people in a one-on-one format or in small workshops, and always provides the personal touch in his coaching practice.

Join us on Wednesday February 8th and get ready to actively hone your skills as an effective communicator! You may have the greatest invention in the world but if you can’t get the word out effectively, success will likely remain out of reach. Join us this Wednesday and improve your odds!

December Meeting 12/14/11

Greetings Inventors,
Just a friendly reminder that our only December Meeting is Wednesday the 14th. I know that it has been a while but due to a trick of the calendar, our December meeting is as late as it could get! On tap we will have a visitor from TBIC past... former president Randy Landerneau to share some thoughts with our inventors. TBIC present, Mark Stadnyk to discuss some important issues, and TBIC... Well you are just going to have to attend to find out! Could be Santa... or maybe Gus from WWTVP.
As a Christmas gift to any new members who join TBIC on Wednesday and pay $75... they get membership all next year free! In fact that applies to all members who enjoy the company of inventors, pay $75 this December and get all of next year free! A great way to move your tax deductions a year earlier and insure that survival of TBIC Future!
See you all next Wednesday!
Wayne

Many of you have heard a bit about the United Inventors Association and the efforts they make to unify the inventor community here in the United States. For our next meeting we will learn a great deal more about this organization as we are joined by the current president of the UIA, Mark Reyland! Mark has some exciting news for inventors in Florida and will travel from Cincinnati to deliver it in person next Wednesday, November 9th at our only meeting this month. I will only tell you that what he has to say will get you excited and glad that you are a member of the group!
Mark will also share his vision of inventing in America and the role the UIA plays. He says “At the UIA we don’t have anything to sell your members, no books, CD's or coaching. This is about education and access to professionals.”
Mr. Reyland’s list of accomplishments include: Director of Classified Technology Development for a fortune 500 company, National Security Agency liaison to the Korean government, and a successful technology and product inventor with many products in the marketplace for industry and consumer product retail.
He is currently the Founder and CEO of Obvious Ideas LLC, a Cincinnati based product development company specializing in providing fully developed products to traditional retail and the direct response industry.
He also serves the inventor community as Executive Director and Board Member of The United Inventors Association of America, one of the country’s oldest and largest non-profit inventor organizations.
Please join me in welcoming Mark Reyland to our TBIC meeting on Wednesday, November 9th from 7 -9 pm!

Inventors Meeting October 26th

So you think you have a great idea for an invention but what are chances that anyone else thinks it is any good? What if you had a tool to figure out what companies might think about your product before you showed it to them? You only have one chance to make a first impression so shouldn’t you be prepared before you make the call?

On Wednesday, October 26tfh, TBIC will be joined, via Skype, by Patrick Raymond to talk about a diagnostic system he created called the InventionScore®, a method to measure the value of your IP and help inventors make better deals when presenting to companies for investment or licensing.

Patrick served from 2008 to 2010 as Executive Director of the United Inventors Association and founded a Manhattan inventors group in 2007. He spent a decade as an adman on Madison Avenue and became an accidental inventor, entrepreneur, new product judge, and public speaker for the independent inventor community. His unique 5-pillar InventionScore® program is recognized as a powerful, predictive and practical methodology for inventors who want to find a quick and affordable path to landing a deal. A high InventionScore® means you have bargaining power because you are “deal-ready”. A low InventionScore® shows how and where to improve before presenting to any company.

Join us at the next TBIC meeting, Wednesday 10/26/2011 from 7-9 pm, Hosted by the Tampa Bay Innovation Center at 7887 Bryan Dairy Road in Largo, FL . Suite 220, at the top of the green staircase. Learn if the InventionScore® can help you!

TBIC meeting 10/12/2011

Considering that we haven’t had an open meeting for a while, this Wednesday we will not have a speaker but will instead concentrate on working on inventor projects. Joe Navarro will help evaluate inventor’s projects to help determine best approaches for manufacture and materials. Michel Mansfield will share his advice with other inventors to help them determine their next steps and marketing approach. We will also have time for general questions on inventing so if you have a project that you are stuck on, this meeting will be a great opportunity to work with other inventors and make some headway. If you missed seeing Jim Debetta or Stephen Key at our previous meetings, we will have those videos available too. This will be a great opportunity to catch up and discuss your project so make plans to join us on Wednesday, October 12^th from 7-9 pm.

New Media experience at TBIC on 9/28/11

On September 28^th, we will attempt to do something different and by utilizing high tech, we will have our first Skype conference with a product design company from out of state! Chris Hawker and Abraham Alexander of Trident Design Company in Ohio will share their experience of designing and selling innovative products.

Trident Design, LLC is an invention incubator with expertise in product design, branding, licensing and consulting. They work with independent inventors and innovative manufacturers to help create products, from cooking gadgets to medical equipment. Their products reflect striking design, functional excellence, and breakthrough technology to make a difference in the marketplace. An example of their approach is the award-winning PowerSquid, an update to the power strip and featured in countless media stories (New York Times, Popular Mechanics, the Today Show and more) and sold virtually everywhere.

Trident not only develops products for others, but they are also inventors too. They have licensed numerous products for others to manufacture as well as manufactured some products themselves (including setting up manufacturing in China). They sit on both sides of the table, and can relate to both the independent inventor as well as corporate clients.

This Wednesday, September 28^th, utilizing Skype video, we will walk through three invention case studies. Each of the inventions took a very unique path to success and profitability and they illustrate the various methods with which an inventor can attempt to monetize their inventions. They will also explain a systematic process that they use when working on their own inventions, products for corporate clients and for independent inventors. Throughout the presentation will be general advice, tips and potential pitfalls to avoid. We will follow up with some Q & A for our inventors to get some feedback regarding their own situations.

This is sure to be an interesting and memorable meeting with the potential to help set the course for your own successful invention! Be sure to get there early so that you can take part in this new media experience! See you there!

Wayne

Double Shot next Wednesday, September 14th TBIC Meeting

For our next inventors council meeting we have lined up a double shot!

First, we will have a presentation from Chapman Mold (http://www.chapman-mold.com) discussing the injection molding process. Once you have concluded your ideal prototype, the next step is to prepare your “market-ready” product and Chapman Mold is accommodating to inventors and limited runs of production. Jason Robinson is the VP Tooling & Engineering at Chapman Mold and will join us to talk about Proper CAD design, Tooling and part costs, Cavitations (low volume, prototype vs. high volume steel multi-cavity) and the importance of doing your homework. Also, Plastic types & what is really required, & Prototype (cast parts) vs. tooling costs.

Next, we will talk about what you need to get your product sold…

Melinda Dixon of Merlin AI Soft (http://www.merlinaisoft.com) will educate us on using the internet to launch and sell your products and/or services. She will discuss Mobile Application Development and its potential to compliment your innovation. She will also discuss Website Development & how the way it looks & behaves can affect your sales. How to make your site user friendly and load quickly, what should not appear on your site along with key elements that your site should include. She will touch on Search Engine Optimization and why you need it to get your website to the top of a Google search. Merlin AL Soft also provides Software Development and she We’ll explain how software can help your business grow & function smoothly. Merlin A.I. Soft also works with inventors on a per project/as needed basis to help you get started with your marketing and selling.

This will be a fun, fact-filled evening and I’m sure most inventors will find it rewarding. Learn what options are open to you to build and sell your invention this Wednesday, September 14th from 7 to 9pm. For our location information, visit www.tbic.us.
See you Wednesday!