June 12, 2015
On June 8, 2015 the AlligatorZone session in Tampa Bay featured entrepreneurs Robyn Spoto of MamaBearApp and Bryan Andersen of 3G1V. For the first time in it’s year-long history, we heard at AlligatorZone, a kid ask a startup founder if he can break a sample of the product. It was a picture frame made out of recycled Styrofoam. Kids aren’t beyond stress-testing your products if you bring it to AlligatorZone, so you’d better be on alert.
The session started in time on a weekday evening even as more kids and parents kept trickling in. Enjoy the picture essay of AlligatorZone held at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library on Monday, June 8, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
Bryan Andersen of 3G1V and Robyn Spoto of MamaBearApp have a conversation with the library manager Melissa Falvey during setup.
Robyn Spoto, cofounder of MamaBearApp.com gets introduced by a young member of the audience.
At AlligatorZone we try to remove all barriers between the kids and the startup founders, and their products. Robyn chose to sit close to the kids and start showing the app.
The mediascape device worked this time to be able to project Robyn’s phone on the big screen.
More kids and families trickled in. We interrupted Robyn and requested her to help some of the late-comers get caught up with what she was talking about, without putting the kids on the spot.
As we plan to expand AlligatorZone through a network of teen ambassadors and their parents, we want to ensure that these soft skills and nuances (of getting the kids comfortable to have a conversation with the startup founders) are baked into the training that we will offer the teenagers.
We want to retain the magic of AlligatorZone, where it is a fun and joyous occasion, and an informal gathering. We want to retain the element of surprise when a kid asks a question that really makes a startup founder perk up before responding. The magic gets diluted sometimes … especially when we have a moderator walking around with a microphone and sticks it in front of a child in larger settings such as a room of 77 people as it happened in Santa Clara, California recently. The trick is to find ways for the kids to know that they can ask any question and not be ridiculed for it.
Next up was Bryan Andersen, CEO of 3G1V. Bryan brought samples of raw material and the finished products made of recycled material. He was introduced by another young member of the audience.
“Can I break this?”, asks a kid in the audience, showing a sample product made out of recycled styrofoam.
AlligatorZone sessions are usually very animated, with several discussions and active participation by kids and parents in the audience.
Before you know it, the hour has passed. People like to linger and have conversations. This is also one of our favorite parts – it’s an uplifting gathering of like-minded people from the community.
We also had some esteemed visitors from another county to observe the goings-on.
The conversations between the startup founders, the kids and the parents often continue.
Often the best insights for startup founders come from these post-session conversations that they have with some of the most engaged kids in the audience.
Both presenters, Robyn Spoto (https://youtu.be/CfhZWDCqzUg) and Bryan Andersen (https://youtu.be/D4iDB0BjlM8) obliged us with a post-session interview, shown below for your viewing pleasure.
Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone. Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.
Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.
AlligatorZone is one of several impact-programs being designed at SiliconGlades. If you know of startups that would make for interesting presenters to an audience of kids, teens and families, please send your suggestion to events [at] siliconglades [dot] com, or direct-message at @siliconglades
This report was posted by a volunteer from SiliconGlades, an innovation firm that designs, among other things, hyperlocal social impact programs such as AlligatorZone. In other words, SiliconGlades designs programs that bring communities together for a common uplifting purpose, right in your neighborhood.
