Startup Founder Says Even Prep Work for Presenting To Kids at AlligatorZone Was Helpful

January 13, 2015

AlligatorZone, the free public program where kids meet cool startups held its 8th session in Tampa Bay last Saturday (January 10, 2015), the first in the year 2015.  We expect 2015 to be an interesting year for a few reasons.  The first ever AlligatorZone session was launched in June 2014.  We have learned a lot since that day.  After showcasing 24 startups to kids in Florida and Silicon Valley in 12 successful sessions of AlligatorZone (including one held in Miami in September 2013 but was not publicized at the request of an elementary school for whose students it was held as part of their field-trip), the program has been gaining a robust following with libraries in more and more communities eager to host AlligatorZone.  Soon to be added to this list, is an awesome library in the Greater Philadelphia area.  Stay tuned and watch for updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone

Meanwhile, let’s look for lessons learned at AlligatorZone in Tampa Bay last Saturday, in the form of this picture-essay.

We decided to keep most things consistent to allow AlligatorZone to bloom in Tampa Bay.  The one thing we are still keeping variable is the timing.  AlligatorZone in Tampa Bay was held at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library in South Tampa in their open space.

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As you can see in the picture above, the library’s open space has cozy seats for children to gather around the startup founder who’s presenting.  The open nature of the space allows for curious patrons who are passersby to linger and stay if they find the proceedings interesting.  We haven’t seen anyone who stops by not grab a chair and stay to listen and, often to participate in the discussion.

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Pictured above is a poster that we reuse.  It gets placed at the entrance to the library on the day of the event.  We are not sure if it serves any purpose because it’s hard to measure its effectiveness, especially when displayed prominently only on the day of the event.  In a library, there are several programs, so that is just the way it is.  At some point we hope to promote the program directly to parents of school-going children.

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The first presenter was Mark Hembree, an experienced serial entrepreneur who sold two companies before starting Resell Solutions (check out www.resellsolutions.com).

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The early morning timings on a Saturday seemed to work well in summer when we first launched AlligatorZone, however, based on the slow warm-up of the audiences trickling in on a Saturday morning during the hectic school-year, and based on some informal polls of parents who signed up but still couldn’t make it, we will be trying out a different time of the day on a Saturday (for Tampa Bay) next month.

Mark said after the session that the prep work for AlligatorZone in itself was very helpful, however, we hope to bring him back in front of more kids during another session of AlligatorZone in a different location.

Here are some observations about showcasing business-to-business (B2B) products at AlligatorZone.  To keep the audience of kids engaged, even a B2B product is great, provided a working product is on display for the kids to see and grasp.  The other aspect that startup founders seem to struggle with is not knowing if or how much they should simplify their messaging for the young audience.  In our view, not much.  Avoid the jargon but keep things matter-of-fact.  Kids understand a lot about the world of technology and business, and constantly surprise us at AlligatorZone.  Verdafero was a utility-consumption dashboard for use by businesses, and kids still had great input and engagement with the product because the founder Dr. Alastair Hood showed the product to the kids even as he was explaining it.  As we mentioned in an earlier post, there’s no script when talking to kids, and no other way to learn other than to endure some time in the AlligatorZone and listen to the kids asking whatever is on their mind.

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The second presenter Wayne Rasenen was introduced by a 5th grader in the audience.  Wayne is the founder of in10did (see http://www.in10did.com) and the inventor of the product.  Kids are kinethetic, as pointed out by a previous presenter.

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It wasn’t until Wayne pulled out the latest version of his product that the kids got really interested.  We have seen this over and over again; slideshows with words do not go far at an AlligatorZone.

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As always, the parents in the audience stay very engaged along with their kids, and that is one of the things that makes AlligatorZone such a heart-warming program — it is a family-event.  In the picture above, a dad also participated in the discussion with the startup founder.

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Kids had many questions and suggestions on what they thought would make the product cooler.  We believe that it pays to listen to the kids who, as my friend Sean Murphy pointed out, are after all, digital natives.

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As with every session of AlligatorZone, whether big or small, we find it turns out to be a wholesome community gathering of the like-minded …

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… and people are rarely in a rush to leave.

Some of the lessons learned from this session of AlligatorZone include:

  • Pictures and Touch are better than Words on a Screen.  Discourage startup founders from bringing a slideshow that has words in it.  Only images, and actual product displays, because the library usually has free web connection.
  • Aim for a broader visibility through a wider promotional campaign.  Parents consider this program so valuable that they do not hesitate to drive 20 to 25 miles to bring their kids to an AlligatorZone on a Saturday.
  • Make AlligatorZone cool to attend.  This is perhaps the hardest to accomplish because to a large extent it entails shift in pop culture.  However, it is worth striving for.  For example, there’s no reason for Tampa Bay parents and kids to know more about Children’s Gasparilla than about AlligatorZone.  Maybe AlligatorZone ought to go through the AlligatorZone to learn from the kids about how to make itself better known among the parents, who after all, are the ones who drive the kids to the library.

We are indeed excited about the upcoming sessions of AlligatorZone.  A dedicated website is expected to be in place soon at AlligatorZone.org, so that visitors who are keen on learning how to participate can have all the information in one place.

Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone.  Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

PREVIOUS POSTS:

For your reading and viewing pleasure, here are links to previous articles about AlligatorZone, some of which also contain embedded videos:

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

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.

There’s No Script When A Founder Presents A Startup To Kids and Teens at AlligatorZone

December 11, 2014.

AlligatorZone is where kids meet cool startups.  So far it has been held in library locations in cities such as Tampa Bay FL, Pinecrest (a suburb of Miami, FL), Sunnyvale CA, and Mountain View CA.  That’s where children are most comfortable, and a place that is associated with joyful learning.  This week on December 8, 2014, we tested out a new library location for AlligatorZone in Tampa Bay Area.  The Seminole Heights Branch Library reopened not too long ago after a $3.9 million renovation.  AlligatorZone was held in one of its glass walled meeting rooms.

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Here’s another audio-visual report on the AlligatorZone session where startups Lilypad and Shootrac presented to a gathering of kids, teens and parents.  These reports tend to take an introspective approach as this AlligatorZone is a unique and new program with no script.  The kids define AlligatorZone’s evolution.  That’s how we like it.

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A teenage member of the audience introduces the first presenter of the evening, Eric Rabinovitz, founder & CEO of Lilypad (http://www.lilypad.co), which is a software for spread-out teams that are far away and out in the field to come together in a fun environment online – or in business-speak, a gamified collaborative work-space for distributed and field workforce.

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More kids joined the audience a little later, but Eric was kind enough to start over so that they knew what he was talking about.

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Kids and teens in the audience were able to relate to it using metaphors of school teams and school project work, and seemed to really enjoy knowing about the use of such tools by grown-ups in a business environment.

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More questions and suggestions poured in once the kids were able to understand that this was a tool to get some healthy competition going between teams and team-members in a business, to improve the overall productivity of the organization.

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Eric paid attention to all the questions and suggestions from the kids, and also made himself available for later by staying back for the rest of the evening.

It was time for the next presenter. Omar Garcia, founder and CEO of Shootrac, a software for businesses to keep track of their assets

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One of the younger members of the audience introduces Omar Garcia to everyone, and his presentation begins.

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AlligatorZone sessions are highly interactive, and the kids’ opinions are valued.  The sessions also turn out to be a time for parents to interact with their kids as well as with the startup founders.

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Omar invites the youth in the audience to test-drive the Shootrac product with their iphones.

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AlligatorZone, is an inspiring and uplifting family-event, and the vibe is unlike any other startup-related event.  All the while, the entrepreneurs learn a lot from these digital natives.  Startup founders often bring their own families along to sit in, and interact with the other members of the audience.

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All the rules that apply to story-time in a library typically apply to AlligatorZone.  After all, the startup founders are also story-tellers.

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After every session of AlligatorZone we notice the people like to hang out and talk to the entrepreneurs. Lilypad’s Eric Rabinovitz is seen above enjoying a conversation with a youth from the audience.

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Other families gather around Shootrac’s Omar Garcia.

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AlligatorZone sessions allow a community to celebrate local entrepreneurs.

We got great feedback from a dad (http://youtu.be/V1XJYP9t1DI) and a mom in the audience (http://youtu.be/TspLewFYg6Q).

The takeaway from this session of AlligatorZone was that it simply can’t be scripted, so there’s no way to ‘coach’ a presenter to talk about a startup to children and teens.

Here’s a video of feedback from the presenters, Eric Rabinovitz of Lilypad (see http://youtu.be/GQrgYEhY274) and Omar Garcia of Shootrac (see http://youtu.be/jih523Y–ts)

  Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone.  Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

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.

It’s Not Just Software Startups at AlligatorZone — Founders Who Are Artists and Makers Get Kids Inspired Just As Well!

December 3, 2014

AlligatorZone, is the free program where kids meet cool startups.  If you have been following the leaps and lunges (as against a slither) by which AlligatorZone has been growing since it began in June 2014, and following the startups featured, you might be under the wrong impression that at AlligatorZone the kids only meet cool software startups.

At the AlligatorZone of October 11, 2014, held at the Jan Kaminis Platt Public Library in South Tampa, we had one inventor who was a startup founder show us glimpses of his artistic side, and it took the kids and their families pleasantly by surprise.  His invention BriefSkate has a lot of technology hidden within for a high-performance skate board that doubles as a briefcase.

Please scroll down to enjoy this audio-visual report of yet another session of AlligatorZone, where kids meet cool startups.

The startup founders presenting were those of WaZINIT (http://www.wazinit.com), and the founder of  and LooshesLabs.com, creator of BriefSkate.com.

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Brian and Christina Di Vito, two of the 3 cofounders of WaZINIT arrive early and start laying out empty food cartons on which the kids would soon test their app.

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Parents and kids start gathering as WaZINIT’s Brian prepares the app to get started.  Saturday morning is one time-slot being tested in South Tampa, among the various locations where AlligatorZone sessions are being piloted.  It takes a very dedicated parent with a commitment to give their kids this unique opportunity to meet with startup founders, to wake up on a Saturday morning, clear their schedules, and show up with kids in tow.  When they do show up, we know they are keen about the learning opportunity, and that they a very discerning audience.

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Parents are equally engaged as WaZINIT is attempting to solve a problem of managing food allergies through better informed consumers.

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It was time for the next presenter, Alexei Novitzsky, founder of LooshesLabs.com and inventor of SkateBoard (see www.SkateBoard.com).

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Kids are naturally makers, so a product like BriefSkate.com resonated early with the eager kids.

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Alexei, who goes by Looshes captivated the young audience with more pictures of his various skatecase designs.  The fact that he hand-makes each of them spurred the kids to ask even more questions.

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As the session wrapped up, Alexei offered to recite a poem he wrote.

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Alexei showed the audience the cartoon character Ollie born out of his product’s mascot.

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The audience moved out to the parking lot where he had his ‘marketing vehicle’ (the writer’s interpretation) that he uses at various skating events to promote BriefSkate.

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Alexei patiently answered more questions that the kids had, regarding his product.

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Alexei even let audience members autograph his vehicle.  I believe he calls it Ollie Mobile.

As with every AlligatorZone session, parents and families hang out for a little while after the sessions, and they turn out to be impromptu community gathering of like-minded people.  We also take the time to interview the presenting startup founders to get feedback on what worked and what did not.  Here’s a video of WaZINIT founders talking about their experience at AlligatorZone.

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Zac, the 3rd co-founder of WaZINIT was able to join the presenters before the session ended.

For December, we are testing out a new day and timing and a more central location at the Seminole Heights Library in Tampa Bay.  After an outstanding debut there last month, AlligatorZone is now going to be recurring program at Mountain View Public Library in Mountain View, California.  Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone.  Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

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.

It’s Okay to Show a Beta Version at AlligatorZone — Lessons Learned this Week (a Pictorial Report)

November 9, 2014.

AlligatorZone, is the free program where kids meet cool startups.  The one thing that startup founders worry about is showing their product before it is perfect in their own minds. We would like to address that in this blog post.  This introspective approach to recording each AlligatorZone session’s lessons helps us to arrive at the ideal set of criteria to curate the startups presenting at each session.

Our presenters this week were the founders of Mentorem and LetTheWorldJudge.com, respectively.

At today’s AlligatorZone, we encouraged the startup founders to show their beta site to our audience of youngsters and families.  While its true that showing slideshows with words is not ideal for this audience, and to most audiences, when story-telling is combined with images and the opportunity to look at what the entrepreneur is describing, it helps the kids and teens and the families to provide better feedback.  It also keeps them engaged.

Mentorem founder Hoang Nguyen kept the audience very engaged by demonstrating a deep understanding of the studying methods currently used by school-aged children.  However, we realized that it would make for a richer conversation if he actually showed them the software that he and his team have been developing.

The second speaker was Cornell Wilder, Founding Owner and CEO of LetTheWorldJudge.com.  Cornell was able to explain the concept of his business with real-world examples of civil lawsuits, although a working prototype was not ready for the audience members to play with.  Regardless, Cornell was very successful in simplifying the message, while the questions for the kids and the suggestion from one of the parents about positioning the startup’s offering gave him and his team some food for thought as they prepare for the commercial launch.

Here are some more pictures for your enjoyment.

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Cornell Wilder, Founding Owner/CEO of LetTheWorldJudge.com and, Hoang Nguyen of Mentorem strike a conversation as families start gathering for yet another session of AlligatorZone at the Jan PLatt Library in South Tampa on November 8, 2014.

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Librarian Laura Doyle of Hillsborough County talk to kids who have just arrived to attend AlligatorZone.  Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative has been a great ally in this endeavor, providing space and promotional support.

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There’s something special about using the library as a venue of choice for AlligatorZone – it is not intimidating for the children.

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The session begins with Hoang Nguyen, founder of Mentorem explaining about his startup’s offering.

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Notice the photographer on the left?  That’s the founder of CadeLancaster Photography, a high-school freshman who has started his own photography business, covering AlligatorZone through his lens.

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Even he couldn’t help chiming in with some insights and questions.

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Parents added to the conversation and provided further insights.

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We encouraged the founder to show the audience his beta version, and he obliged.

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At which point, at least one of the kids sought solace in his book after opining that another website gives “so many rewards” to users.  Tough crowd!

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After the entire session was over, Hoang Nguyen received more feedback from one of the parents …

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… and from the kids.  Startup founders really benefit when they care to pay attention to, and listen to the kids in the audience, because kids are after all “digital natives” (to quote Sean Murphy who attended the Sunnyvale debut of AlligatorZone).

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The second presenter of the session was Cornell Wilder, Founding Owner/CEO of LetTheWorldJudge.com.  His topic resonated with the audience as well.

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The kids had many questions for Cornell and he took the time to answer each of them, while his Pearl from his team recorded the entire session on her iPad.  AlligatorZone sessions are known to provide eye-opening moments and wisdom to the founders of startups.

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Cornell Wilder of LetTheWorldJudge.com explains his business model to a 6th grader who asked how his company will make money.

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Questions from a 5th grade girl in the audience, led to some interesting suggestions from one of the parents on the positioning of the business that gave the founder some serious food for thought.

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Another incredibly successful session of AlligatorZone concluded with still more questions to be answered.

We’ll soon have videos of the presenting startup founders’ impressions of AlligatorZone.  In our quest to find the best time and location for parents to be able to bring their kids to this exciting learning opportunity, we are going to be trying the Seminole Heights Library on a Monday evening, December 8th, 2014.  Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone.  Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.comMountain View Public Library will open their own registrations 2 weeks prior to the event.  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.

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.

Mountain View Public Library to host AlligatorZone, the free program where kids meet cool startups.

October 25, 2014

Here’s the room where AlligatorZone will hold its first session in the City of Mountain View, California.

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It is a meeting room at the Mountain View Public Library.

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I had a chance to visit the library recently.  As with every AlligatorZone program in a library, there’s always someone who decides to take a chance on us and allows us to bring the program.  It is getting easier though, with each passing month because we are building a track-record of having not only brought startup founders to an audience of kids and teens, but also learning how to keep our audience of digital natives engaged and interested in learning from those who are in the middle of the creative process that any startup entails.

Meet Karin Bricker, Library Manager, Youth and Outreach Services, City of Mountain View Public Library.  Karin was extremely gracious in taking the time to meet with me early morning on a Saturday to accommodate my compressed travel schedule.

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With Karin Bricker’s recommendations as to the timings and promotional methods, we tentatively decided on exploring a launch in November.

At my request, Karin also graciously provided me with a tour of the library, which helped us understand the strong community ties that the library has nurtured with the parents and children.

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The paper-clip bunting covers the ceiling of the library’s children’s section, each clip representing a book read during the summer by kids in the community.

The one thing that we have learned doing several of these AlligatorZone sessions featuring startup founders in front of kids, is that there no way to know what to expect.  Startup founders have been asking me for video samples, so we recently recorded one session in South Tampa, however all that it really shows is that entrepreneurs do well when they allow the kids in the audience to download and use an app instantly, or when the product being displayed offers a tactile experience.

Take for example, the demo product shown by LumaStream, where the kids could manipulate the lighting system from an iPad that the founder Eric Higgs had brought along.

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Take a look at how engaged the kids are with the BriefSkate displayed by inventor and Looshes Lab founder Alexei Novitzky.

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Even Brian DiVito of WazInIt had the audience completely engaged because he told a personal story behind his startup.

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One can’t help but notice that even the parents who are present really get excited meeting the entrepreneurs, probably because entrepreneurs usually exude optimism and faith in their company becoming successful.

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Let’s do a quick recap.  Entrepreneurs have infectious energy.  Children and teens have infectious energy.  I suspect, in some ways, entrepreneurs are like children – they work with hope, optimism, they embrace vulnerability, and are willing to dust themselves off and get back in the game, should they stumble and get bruised.

No wonder, people tend to leave an AlligatorZone session with a spring in their step — especially if it ends with an entrepreneur reciting a poem he wrote and then leads the kids to his ride which he customized as a marketing banner for his product, and even lets them scrawl their names on it.

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We are indeed excited about our launch at Mountain View Public Library, in Mountain View, California with one of the presenting startup founders being someone who was personally involved in coding Ratatouille, the Pixar movie. See you in Mountain View, California on November 19th!  Who says Alligators and Mountains do not mix.

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.comMountain View Public Library will open their own registrations 2 weeks prior to the event.  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.

This report was posted by a volunteer from SiliconGlades, an innovation firm that designs 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.

Startup Founders Describe Talking to Kids and Teens at AlligatorZone as ‘Amazing’, ‘Eye-Opening’.

October 12, 2014.

We continue our series of picture-essays while sharing some of the lessons learned doing more AlligatorZone sessions at a local public library.  AlligatorZone is, where kids (and that includes teens), their parents and other members of the community get to meet with startup founders, learn about them and offer constructive feedback and insights.  AlligatorZone has found a great reception by the community and incredible success simply by working with public libraries in different cities.

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As we fine-tune this program with support from the various library teams, we are learning about what works and what does not, not just in terms of different seating arrangements or promotional campaigns, but also the mix of startups being presented and the sequence in which they are presented for keeping the young audience completely engaged.

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We plan to use this knowledge to make startup founders better prepared to present complex ideas in simple words, to the general community.  I heard recently from a fellow entrepreneur in town who used to regularly get featured on CNBC to speak on TV as a financial markets expert, that they were always advised to speak to the camera by imagining that they are talking to a 4th grader.  At AlligatorZone, there’s no need to just imagine that – we actually have 4th graders present, along with teens and soccer moms, and entrepreneurs, even dads and moms who are angel investors showing up to see and hear the entrepreneurs, and more importantly, to be heard.

We do not coach the presenting founders specifically, but we have a lot of written material including a list of 31 tips on talking startup stuff with kids.  Saxon Baum began asking the kids questions about their own entrepreneurial ideas after he completed his short pitch, but I stepped in to help out by reminding everyone that we want to focus on the business of the entrepreneur.  Things went smoothly after than, and questions and suggestions started pouring in. Based on more founders asking us to show videos of what to expect, we have plans to record speakers even while they are presenting.  It may present some challenges because we all tend to behave differently when we are on camera.  However, we are willing to try and tweak this till we get it right.

Here are some pictures of the first segment of the morning.

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In the picture above, young members of the audience talk to WeVue co-founder Saxon Baum sharing interesting insights, which leaves everyone pleasantly surprised.  These sessions are very joyous because of the unique insights and the unfiltered comments from the kids who have a certain innate pureness in the way they see the world.

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People gather and watch the startup founder talking, and things are kept very informal.  Passersby also stop and join the audience, because it is a public library and it is a Saturday morning, so those who are already there looking for books are often not in a rush.

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Let’s take a look at some more scenes and post-event interviews from the September 13th AlligatorZone session in South Tampa, in Forida.  The startups that were featured were WeVue and LumaStream, and their founders were present to talk to the community.

The session began at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library with WeVue cofounder Saxon Baum presenting their app.  The video screen in the background was not hooked up, but as you can see in the pictures, several of the young members of the audience used their parents’ mobile devices to start playing with WeVue’s app.

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The circular and cozy seating arrangement seems to be working fine in getting the kids more engaged with the startup founders who are presenting.  This was unplanned, but the idea is to make the entrepreneurs seem human without the aura that popular media confers upon them.  The unspoken message to the kids and teens is that even they can come up with an idea, build something worthwhile and change the world.

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This teenager chose to stay in the background and watch the proceedings. His mother had driven almost an hour to bring him to the session.  She was also interested in learning how to become an angel investor to participate in an investment round of one of the startups being featured.  At AlligatorZone, we are still figuring out how to convey the message clearly and concisely that the program is not just for kids, but for teenagers as well.  The elementary kids do not mind being grouped with the older ones, but teenagers seem apprehensive about a program that they, we are told, suspect is child’s play — but it’s not child’s play by any measure — it’s serious stuff.  These are serious and overly busy entrepeneurs who show up on a Saturday morning to talk to them and hear them out.  It takes us 2 to 3 months before getting a startup founder scheduled and confirmed to present.  Startup founders especially are extremely busy because they wear many hats and it is harder to get an event on their calendar than most business executives.

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With Saturday morning sessions, the challenge is that 10:15 a.m. may be too early for parents to pack kids in their cars or minivans.  By the time Saxon Baum of WeVue was wrapping up his session, the audience grew larger and even attracted some curious passers-by.  If you have a crowd, it is easier to make it bigger even in mid-session, especially when it is held in an open area of the library, as you can see below.

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Here’s Saxon Baum, cofounder of WeVue sharing his thoughts on the experience, after the session concluded.  Saxon brought stickers for the children, which were of course a big hit!

The next presenter was Eric Higgs, the founder and CEO of LumaStream out of St. Petersburg in the Tampa Bay Area.  Eric brought a demo product which the kids could manipulate using an iPad.  Let’s take a look at some of the pictures and a video interview at the end of the session.

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Eric Higgs unknowingly creates a halo for himself using his a demo piece that uses LumaStream’s technology.  Or was it the result of all that adulation from the young audience?

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The audio-visual equipment is still not functional, so that’s one thing we need to improve so that founders can show their product on the bigger screen.  Having to hold up a laptop is not ideal with an audience that is so dispersed even within that small area.

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Eric Higgs had an engaged audience curious about energy conservation and even digressing into fish territory, but they soon came back to LumaStream technology when Eric switched on his product demo.

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It got even better when he let the kids control it from an iPad.

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We spoke to Eric Higgs after the session, and obtained feedback so we could keep improving upon this new community resource.

It was soon time to wrap the session.  Melissa Falvey, manager of the library thanked everyone and reminded them of the next session a month later.

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AlligatorZone, has since received recognition and support from the Economic Development Innovation Initiative of the Hillsborough County for this session in an HCPLC Library in Tampa Bay Area, and it is also getting the attention of businesses looking to sponsor the program for its unique value to communities.   This will ensure the program’s longevity and evolution.  We will be in South Tampa, Florida again, and for the first time in Mountain View, California, in November 2014.  See you at the next session of AlligatorZone!  Sign-ups are at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  Reservations are to be made at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

This report was posted by a volunteer from SiliconGlades, an innovation firm that designs hyperlocal social impact programs such as AlligatorZone.  Don’t you love jargon?  Let’s rephrase that:  SiliconGlades designs programs that bring your community together for a common uplifting purpose, right in your neighborhood.

Startup Founder Gets “Golden Nugget That Actually Came From One of The Kids” at AlligatorZone in Silicon Valley

August 27, 2014

AlligatorZone had, what we have come to realize, a very successful session in Sunnyvale Public Library on Saturday, August 23rd, 2014.  One of our volunteers flew over from Tampa Bay specially for the pilot session.  With three successful AlligatorZone sessions under its belt, the program has already made several adjustments to make it more valuable, both to the kids and to the startups.  The Sunnyvale session was yet another learning experience, because it had a larger number of seats reserved, it was at 3 p.m. on a Saturday, and because Sunnyvale is in the heart of Silicon Valley, “ground-zero of startup activity” — as Sean Murphy of Bootstrappers Breakfast put it.  Some of the lessons learned from AlligatorZone in Sunnyvale Public Library are being shared towards the end of this report.

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With over a hundred sign-ups for seat-reservations, we did away with the wait-listing setup in eventbrite and opened up blocks of seats, because the library advised us to expect a large percentage of no-shows.

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The large number of sign-ups before any publicity efforts, coupled with  outstanding support received from the Sunnyvale Public Library made for a trip that started from Tampa Bay in anticipation of an exciting session.  However, there’s always uncertainty in the numbers that would actually show up, particularly when it’s a free event.

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It was a beautiful weekend afternoon in Sunnyvale.  The library was very busy.  However, there was no way of telling how many people would show up in the meeting room for AlligatorZone.

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Wendy in the Sunnyvale Public Library had created an eye-catching banner emphasizing the alligator on the Z that we designed.  We originally had a different tag line – more business like.  This new tag-line that we made: ‘where kids meet cool startups’, was less confusing and more direct.  Though seemingly trivial, it played a critical part in how the program was initially interpreted and announced.  It was announced in the general programs calendar, not in the Youth and Children’s program calendar.  More on that in a bit.

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Liz Hickok, Supervising Librarian at Sunnyvale Public Library ‘got’ AlligatorZone the moment it was pitched to her in an unplanned meeting at the library a few months earlier.  A few phone conversations later, and after a few exchanges with the Hillsborough County Library leadership in the Tampa Bay Area, we had firmed up a date and time for the first session of AlligatorZone in Sunnyvale Library.  Later on in this report, you will see a video of Liz talking about how heart-warming it was to see the kids participate in AlligatorZone, contributing to the discussions with the various startup founders.

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The Sunnyvale Library was prepared for a strong turnout as indicated by the number of sign-ups.

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Liz Hickock, Supervising Librarian, Technical Services, Sunnyvale Public Library, who evangelized the AlligatorZone program at the library is seen here helping Bruce Kim, founder of startup ExtraMile with the audio system.

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As presenter, Larry Davis, Cofounder and CTO of startup VisualStager was getting settled in, the first of several attendees walked in.

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Seen here in the foreground are Larry Davis, CTO and co-founder of VisualStager, Jake Heller, founder of Casetext and, Bruce Kim, founder of ExtraMile.  Seeing only grown-ups in the audience at the start made me wonder if kids were going to show up.  As the program was being announced in the early weeks, it was initially placed in the adult services calendar, as I learned later.  As we got closer to the event date, and the tag line was changed, there were more targeted announcements to kids and parents.  Changing the tagline to “where kids meet cool startups” seems to have made all the difference.  A few words, but they mattered.  We learned an important lesson in communicating in a simple and elegant manner.

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Liz Hickok of Sunnyvale Public Library welcomes everyone, highlights the cooperation and collaboration with Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative in bringing AlligatorZone, the program where kids meet cool startups, to Sunnyvale Public Library, and credits SiliconGlades for the creation and design of AlligatorZone, a program where kids meet cool startups.

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The meeting room started filling up as Bruce Kim of ExtraMile (www.extramilehq.com) started talking about his startup.  We asked different kids from the audience to introduce each speaker, using a short introduction script that we had already crafted for each.

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As Bruce started taking questions from the audience he got wonderful suggestions from kids, teens and moms and dads.

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A teenage member of the audience introduces the next presenter Larry Davis, cofounder & CTO of startup VisualStager, as Larry gets ready to demo his product.

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Larry gets the crowd engaged with the product demo.

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A parent offers a suggestion to Larry.  We had a hard time keeping up with requests for the microphone from members of the audience.

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Jake Heller, founder of Casetext (www.casetext.com) waits as a teenage member of the audience completes her introduction of the final presenter of the day.

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“How many goats are you allowed to own in the city of San Francisco?” asks Jake Heller.

Jake, you know how to rock this gig!Jake Heller #founder of @casetext entertains kids with law trivia @alligatorzone pic.twitter.com/R9Ckek83Tj

— Pam Fox Rollin (@PamFR)

August 23, 2014

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Jake took several interesting questions.  Listening to a young child ask questions such as “Can you edit the site” made one realize that this audience of kids was tech-savvy.

As Sean Murphy, founder of SKMurphy, Inc. and Bootstrappers Breakfast, who graciously accepted our invitation to attend, later observed, “these kids are digital natives” and ought to be taken seriously.

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As in every AlligatorZone session that we have done so far, the venue becomes a gathering place of like-minded individuals and families in the community.  Thank you @PamFR for the tweets!

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The hour was over and Liz wrapped up the session thanking everyone for attending, and making a request to them to complete the library’s comment cards.  We couldn’t find comment cards for the kids programs so we used some of the Adult Services evaluation form.  AlligatorZone, is however, a program for kids and teens, and the family members accompanying those kids.

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Here are some of the comments received, and our reaction to one of them, which had a hidden lesson for us.

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This evaluation shows that we have still a long way to go before we communicate clearly what we want to accomplish with AlligatorZone.  The program has several benefits and nuances.  We hope to get the language right soon.  It also calls for a need to standardize the language being used to communicate the program to patrons across various libraries where AlligatorZone is extending its program.

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After each AlligatorZone session (though we failed to do this in our very first one held in June in Valrico, Florida) we seek feedback from the startup founders who presented their companies to the kids and families.  This time we also decided to capture feedback on video from one of the parents, and with his permission his kids who seemed very engaged and impressed all the startup founders.

Let us now summarize the lessons learned from this session of AlligatorZone.

  1. Right-sizing the audience is an art, not a science.  Success is to be measured also by the quality of interaction, and not merely by how many seats were requested or filled.  Despite 137 seats being reserved, only 47 actually showed up.  Even though it was our highest turnout at any session since we first began in June 2014, we did expect a larger crowd based on the reservations.  We will try other combinations to see if a weekday evening brings in a bigger crowed.  However, at the same time, we are getting requests from another library specifically interested in attracting a smaller group of parents and children, not a large public gathering, to ensure that the kids have richer conversations with the startup founders.  Smaller audiences may be better.  We do not yet know the sweet spot, the ideal ratio between startup founder and kids.
  2. Taglines matter.  Targeting the announcement to grown-up audiences sent a mixed signal.  The new tagline now clarifies the positioning of AlligatorZone better.  It took us a couple of meetings with library officials in Tampa Bay to realized that our earlier tagline that went something to the effect of ‘helping entrepreneurs identify opportunities and threats’ was causing confusion about our target audience.  Sunnyvale Public Library will be looking into more targeted marketing.
  3. Be patient with parents as they have a lot of juggling to do.  There are many variables in attracting a young audience to AlligatorZone, however the kids can’t show up if the parent has other priorities.  Finding the right time and day of the week may take many more attempts.  It calls for patience to get this right, so we must not be too hard on ourselves.
  4. Offer some reading material.  Grown-ups in the audience may need or come to expect a printed program or agenda.  One member of the audience asked for reading material as she walked in. She said she has trouble hearing.  We will plan on arranging for that in future.
  5. Kids learn through play.  Did you read one of the hand-written comments from a child? Kids want to play independently with the technology that is being demonstrated.  We will look into trying out other formats for closer interaction, not just with the founders, but also with their startup’s offerings.  Expect some cool things from AlligatorZone in the foreseeable future, inspired just by this request!

The learning continues.  AlligatorZone will however, take its time growing and perfecting it slowly for our audience of kids, teens and their parents.  When we learn to slow down to the pace of children, life becomes more beautiful.  We want to make AlligatorZone a beautiful experience.  We hope to grow AlligatorZone keeping the children’s needs in mind first.  We will be testing another new format in Miami-Dade county at the Pinecrest Library next month for a class of 4th and 5th graders on a field-trip to the library, so our learning will continue on many fronts.  We will do our best to share lessons learned.  Stay tuned.

Thanks are due to Liz Hickock, Christine Mendoza, Susan Kaplan, Patrick Sweeney and Wendy at Sunnyvale Public Library.  Thanks are also due to the participating startups, and to all members of the audience!  Thanks to the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, The City of Sunnyvale, StartupDigest, Bootstrappers Breakfast, and our friends at CoderDojo Silicon Valley for helping promote AlligatorZone.

Thank you again for this opportunity to make a difference, one child at a time, one startup at a time, in your local community, even if just a small difference.

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  Reservations are to be made at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

This report was posted by a volunteer from SiliconGlades, an innovation firm that designs hyperlocal social impact programs such as AlligatorZone.  Don’t you love jargon?  Let’s rephrase that:  SiliconGlades designs programs that bring your community together for a common uplifting purpose, right in your neighborhood.

If Alligators Could Roar: Lessons from another AlligatorZone, where kids meet cool startups

August 10, 2014

The second Saturday of a new month at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library meant yet another session of AlligatorZone.  For those interested in upcoming sessions at various locations, here’s the link: AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.   A few new things were attempted during this session, with mixed results.  Here are some of the early impressions as captured by volunteers moderating the session.

Is three a crowd, or is it company?

Based on feedback from kids and parents in the audience at previous sessions, the organizers limited it to showcasing just 2 entrepreneurs instead of 3.  This made the session a little more relaxed in its pace.  We wonder if it also made it a little less exciting.  Was it like watching golf versus watching football?  Did an extended life fail to leave the audience pining for more?  Audience members still lingered after the session to chat with the one entrepreneur who was able to stay back to finish all conversations.  In Silicon Valley, there’s going to be a pilot of AlligatorZone in 2 weeks (August 23rd) at the Sunnyvale Public Library, when we expect to have 3 entrepreneurs presenting to a bigger audience of families and kids and teenagers.  We’ll keep an eye on the outcomes and then make adjustments.  We have to strike a balance between the slow pace that gives enough time for an audience to absorb and understand new startups being presented, the sense of urgency with shorter presentations by more entrepreneurs, and the increased noise levels of a larger crowd which undeniably brings a compelling sense of energy and joy.

The power of story-telling without a bright screen

For reasons of poor coordination on our part, we did not even have the presenters’ company name, and logo on display on the flat screen in the backdrop.

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Matt Rutkivitz, founder of OuterAction talks to kids and families at AlligatorZone on August 9, 2014.

The presenters showed up as story-tellers without props to help their effort.  As you will see in the video below, Matt Branton, Founder of SenderDefender later said it would have taken just 3 minutes to show his highly technical product, and that would have made it easier.  Come to think of it, one of those computers in the library lined up behind the audience could have been used to get on the Internet.  No one thought of it.  We were all focused on the entrepreneur’s story telling.  We may stick with that format.

Matt Branton, founder of SenderDefender speaks on camera after the session of AlligatorZone on August 9, 2014.

What happens when the camera is turned off

For this session of AlligatorZone, we decided not to record a video.  We found the presenters to be much more relaxed.  They could be themselves.  The conversations seemed more authentic.  Just like at a backyard barbecue in your neighborhood.  The audience was also focused on listening to the startup founders and not distracted with the urge to tweet or post anything on social media.  We are still unsure whether live-tweeting is a good thing or not for hyperlocal events such as AlligatorZone.  The young participant who hand-wrote her feedback, has recommended greater use of social media.  We however noticed more people showing up after reading about AlligatorZone in the local newspaper than through email campaigns via constant contact and twitter campaigns.  Twitter has accomplished more wide-spread awareness for AlligatorZone in places as far away Australia and the U.K.  However, at the hyperlocal level, the jury is still out on whether social media is effective in making parents want to bring their kids to the library to listen to startup entrepreneurs.

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Kayla Hayes wrote this excellent story for the Bloomingdale Gazette, which was mentioned by one of the families who attended AlligatorZone.

Learning to be remembered, but not as an annoyance

The size of the audience was very small compared to over 50 people being present in the previous session.  We tried a few different things this time.  We sent one less email reminder to our existing mailing list of various program subscribers.  Parents who signed up did not show up, possibly because they decided to go shopping for school supplies.  Once inside the library, one parent was not able to find our session easily because there were no directional signs.  No giant poster.  Announcements were made on the library’s p.a. system, but we need to develop a script that the venue can use for these announcements.

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Feedback on the back of a flyer from one of the teenage members of the audience.

Training our sights on something more enduring for the kids, with mentoring

As we start building a community of entrepreneurs who are willing to talk to kids and families who are willing to invest time and effort in bringing their kids to an AlligatorZone, it opens up a new teaching opportunity that we will explore — one where the entrepreneurs can serve as mentors to kids in the audience.  Before we get to that point, we are developing simple systems that any organization wishing to have an AlligatorZone in its community can simply plug in and play.  The mere thought of this educational potential of AlligatorZone is exciting and heart-warming indeed.

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Matt Branton, founder of SenderDefender explains his highly technical ‘large-file encryption in email-attachments’ product to an audience of teens, kids and families, at AlligatorZone.

Dipping our toes in the waters of enriched educational programs

Next month, we are testing out a pilot at the Pinecrest Library of the Miami-Dade Public Library System where entrepreneurs will speak to children visiting the library for a field trip.  Creating self-sustaining learning opportunities in neighborhood libraries, for local schools, would be a worthwhile goal to pursue.

In his feedback video above, presenter Matt Rutkovitz, founder of OuterAction talks about how AlligatorZone is a two-way learning channel.

How can we make AlligatorZone’s message heard?  What if Alligators could roar?

Having completed the first three AlligatorZone sessions successfully, we have identified some of the areas we need to focus on.  Getting the local community to become aware that really busy entrepreneurs and startup founders (running a startup is a 24-hour non-stop endeavor) are taking the time to come and talk to their children is going to be our primary focus.  Our short-term goal is to find a way for the Alligator to roar so that parents and families hear about the AlligatorZone.

For your convenience, here are links to previous articles about AlligatorZone

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone.  Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone.  Reservations are to be made at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com.  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.

This guest post has been put together by contributing volunteers at SiliconGlades, the innovation and design firm that creates programs such as AlligatorZone for a community.

31 Tips for Founders of Startups Talking To Families and Kids at AlligatorZone

July 7, 2014

Last weekend we released several tweets with tips on what startup founders could do or expect, and get the most out of a shot at talking to parents and kids at an AlligatorZone.  These are based on observations and lessons learned in our inaugural session last month.  There’s an incredible amount of learning going on as we start running AlligatorZone sessions.  Our goal is to develop a set of guidelines and best practices as we continue down this path of bringing startups in front of families and kids for a community interaction of symbiotic enjoyment and benefit.  Here’s a listing of the recent flurry of tweets.

  1. Expect surprises. Last session a 6th grader asks “What analytics do you capture?”
  2. Linger for 1on1 chats post-session & get more ideas
  3. Talk little, then ask crowd for ideas and #listen
  4. It’s a chance to nudge a #mom to be a #mompreneur
  5. It’s an opportunity to inspire a kid or teenager
  6. You’re seen as a contributor to the local economy
  7. Silly dance video > Showing mugshot slide
  8. Wouldn’t hurt to offer families a tour of your lab
  9. Relax, Smile. Audience is out to help, not judge you
  10. Yr next employee/intern/distributor maybe in audience
  11. Traits that help — humility, vulnerability, patience
  12. Present to be likeable & the community reciprocates
  13. Don’t assume kids/teens learned tech concept in school
  14. When kids/teens ask questions, repeat for all to hear
  15. Avoid words ‘business model’; say Here’s how I make $
  16. Between real demo and deck, prefer demo
  17. Between demo & product, prefer audience trying product
  18. It’s teaching time; show kids how you solve a problem
  19. Learn from NYC street performers near EllisIslandFerry
  20. If it’s a physical product, bring samples
  21. Kids, teens are your future consumers; they’re always right!
  22. Practice in front of kids, not mirror.
  23. Explainer videos can’t convey #founder‘s passion
  24. When audience gives ideas, ask if they’d like to be kept posted
  25. When #teens in audience suggest a new market, consider hiring them as #interns
  26. Kids seeking dad’s iphone means you stopped #storytelling
  27. Slideshow can’t replace power of conversation
  28. If kids get it, #angel #investors will.
  29. Avoid saying “raised #seed money” or explain.
  30. Avoid responding to kid’s question with another question.
  31. Avoid words like #ideation.

Follow us on http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone for the latest.  Bookmark and sign up at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com to reserve spots and to learn of new startups in your neighborhood.  If you wish to suggest a startup, send an email to events at siliconglades dot com.

Hope to see you at the Bloomingdale Regional Library in Valrico Florida this Saturday at 10:15 a.m.  We plan to be showcasing startups every 2nd Saturday of each month at the Bloomingdale Regional Public Library in Valrico, Florida.  Look for us also in Jan Platt Library, in the near future.  We’ll also be in Sunnyvale Public Library on August 23, 2014 at 3 p.m.  Bring your children, nieces and nephews, parents and grand parents, and make it a community gathering to bring robust common-sense to startup founders, sharing perspectives that may never have occurred to them.