Emerge Inc. Blog

Four sessions, a quick run through the trade show and walk through Austin today.

Presenting Straight to the Brain

• Classic PowerPoint isn’t good enough, the bar keeps getting raised
• Presentations are moving from what could be displayed on paper to a film strip style
• Tell a story, give it emotion
• Brain is hardwired through evolution to ignore lots of things that don’t result in immediate danger
• Think of the audience when building your slides
• Question every slide, does it have a pulse, make it bet for its life.
• You would never see bullets in a movie; they shouldn’t be in your presentation

Outsourcing 2.0: Is the World Flat or Not?

• Outsourcing overseas or domestically can be challenging
• Look for contractors who will tell you what they do not specialize in; otherwise they are average at everything
• Communication is critical to successful outsourcing
• Chat and email can work best because conversations are documented

Whitehouse.gov 2.0: Upgrading to Open Source Government

• This session was recorded and send by request to the White House
• Attendees (about 50) included Internet Director for President Bush’s last 2 years
• Also attending was Scott Thomas design director for President Obama’s Change.gov and BarackObama.com
• Put government data out there and allow people, non profits and the private sector to innovate with, around and on top of it
• In Canada, any information created by the government is jointly owned by the creator and the Queen
• Lots of innovation around open government is happening in local communities around the Country

How Start-Ups Can Take Advantage of the Recession

• Large corporations are making cuts and focusing on their core business; time to take market share
• Talent that wouldn’t be accessible to small businesses is now available
• Don’t sign long term deals for office space; maybe co-locate with a larger company that has made cuts
• Ask lawyers and accountants to defer billing until start-up has achieved 1st round of funding; they either believe in you or they don’t; no reason to work with those who don’t
• Keep overhead expenses low and use creative marketing techniques

I ended the day with a walk through downtown Austin and visited the state capital.