Experiencia Accepts an Extraordinary Work of Art

Courtesy of Arthur Roger of Arthur Roger Gallery in New Orleans, we've now hung an absolutely extraordinary "jigsaw puzzle" piece by Al Souza.

Buzz Tracker and Experiencia Team Up on an Exciting New Information Tool

I am pleased to announce that we have added a powerful new and simple resource for educators to the Experiencia website. (www.experiencia-world.com)

In the lower left hand corner is a short listing of the most read, linked-to and talked-about items on Education for the last 24 hours.

It’s easy to use this service, it’s handy and it solves an overwhelming and growing problem which we all know as the “Information Glut”. And if the media alone wasn’t enough, there are now millions of blogs with information being added to the Internet every minute.

Our little unassuming tool scans 1000 websites and 90,000 of the most popular and well-read blogs every day and selects the articles on Education that are the most talked-about, read and linked-to throughout the United States. And the results are there for you every morning.

One click takes you to the stories page and one more click takes you to the blog or media site for the complete story.

Education is our business and information is the most powerful tool we have – but only if we can find and use it.

Thanks to our partner Alan Warms and Buzz Tracker for their help in launching this enhancement to our site.

Congrats to Chris Scarborough on a Cool Cover

Chris's piece was featured on the cover of the Spring, 2007 issue of dart International

Great TV Piece on Fox News on Experiencia

Fox News did a wonderful piece last night covering the visit to Exoperiencia of the students from the Greenbriar School in Northbrook. The link (click on title above) for now is:

http://mfile.akamai.com/21880/wmv/cmfour.download.akamai.com/21880/wm.communications-four/7235Management/Fox_Workesperience.asx

and we now have a link on our website as well for a fuller version in the EXP TV section.

Congrats to Mike Ellis and David Gracie on Gillock Show

Congrats to Collection Artists Mike Ellis and David Gracie on their upcoming show at Gillock Gallery in Evanston - just in time for Art Chicago 2007.

Fast Pitch Speech - The Per$piration Principle$

A number of people asked to have the principal Per$piration Principle$ summarized which were covered in the Fast Pitch speech. Click on the title above to see the speech. Basically, the Principle$ are set out below:

TELL A SIMPLE STORY

SOLVE AN IMPORTANT PROBLEM

KEEP MOVING AND RAISING THE BAR

DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE DEFINED BY OTHERS' LIMITATIONS

START WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

MAKE "CHEAP" MISTAKES

DON'T BE A SLAVE TO YOUR MODEL

YOU CAN'T ADD VALUE IF YOU DON'T HAVE VALUES

MAKE ROOM FOR PEOPLE

Needless to say, there are many, many more, but these were the major themes of the talk and the conclusion, as always, was:

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.

More quotes and pithy statements are catalogued in the Words of Wisdom section of my main website at www.tullman.com. Enjoy.

FUNDRAISER FOR VI DALEY

We had the opportunity to host a fundraiser for Vi Daley along with Mayor Daley at Harry Carey's Restaurant. Vi is running for alderman in a close runoff race, but we are confident that, with the Mayor's support, and all the excited faces that we had at the breakfast, she will win. Vi has been a great alderman and a terrific supporter of Experiencia from its earliest days. She not only appears in our Pilot video but was also instrumental in helping us to get a grant from the Wrightwood Neighbors Association to help the Alcott, Agassiz and Oscar Mayer schools bring their student entrepreneurs and scientists to Exchange City and Earthworks.

FLASHPOINT OPEN HOUSE - MARCH 31st

We had a great turnout and a lot of fun at the first formal Open House for Flashpoint Academy students and prospects along with their parents. The whole team turned out to help and - best news of all - we were still outnumbered by our guests.

We started at the new downtown campus to see the construction and plans and then everyone headed over to the studio for a tour and a very thorough Q & A session. NEXT OFFICIAL OPEN HOUSE will be April 14th but tours and visits can be scheduled at any time.

Some pictures of the event follow:

HAT Gives Keynote Address at Fast Pitch Competition (Click Here to Watch)

GATHERINGS

Pitching practice
Entrepreneurs compete for a precious few minutes to sell their dream

By Chris McNamara

Special to the Tribune

March 4, 2007

The normally inspirational view of the Chicago River and adjacent skyscrapers was dampened Monday by a frozen drizzle. But inside a 6th-floor conference room at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive, dreams were bouncing off the walls.

The inaugural Chicagoland Fast Pitch Competition welcomed local entrepreneurs to pit their business plans against one another to determine who had the best moneymaking idea. It was a wholly American contest, with the idol being success.

"This is a way to find people with ideas and promote them," said event producer Melissa Talarico, venture director with the Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Center, which provides business assistance to high-grossing companies. It was one of a long list of sponsors that also included the Illinois Business & Investors Forum, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce as well as several local universities.


Giving judges the business

Adorned with business suits and briefcases or blue jeans and facial piercings, 65 pitchers (as judges labeled them) included graduate students, business neophytes and successful professionals launching new ventures. And they were all eager to propel their dream business in the business world. Take Kathy Bridges, who is hoping to parlay experience as an accountant with Condo Association Billing, her business--launched in December--which manages the books for small buildings. "I'm here to market," she explained.

Or Ola Ayeni, 35, of Bolingbrook, who on this very day launched Text2Store Mobile, a business that facilitates the delivery of e-coupons to mobile phones. "I'm looking for funding," he explained. "Up to this point all funding has been from me."

Ayeni was not alone in cyberspace; Talarico estimated that a third of business plans were Web-based, including such unusual ideas as What's My Aura? an online spiritual reader conceptualized by Seth Deutsch. (The offbeat ideas weren't relegated to cyber-businesses, of course. Tim Probasco's inShield Wiper cleans the inside of the windshield.)

The business models were divided into five categories (Information Technology, Business Products and Services, Life Sciences, Retail and Consumer Products, Open Competition). Judges--a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts--critiqued each pitch and each pitcher, looking for those who could clearly define their plan and show how it would make money.

"This is a unique demonstration of entrepreneurship in this city," said judge Dennis Serio, founder of the Illinois Business & Investors Forum. "Hopefully we can show these people that there is a yellow brick road that leads to Oz--and that is funding."


The Finalists

Each category's winner (as selected by the judges) was given three minutes to pitch his or her idea in front of the packed room of fellow pitchers, judges and a few venture capitalists.

Nicki Shuh's Heartfelt Charity Cards are marketing devices for businesses, the catch being that each represents a donation to charity. Shuh currently employs 16 workers.

Aashish Dalal's ParkWhiz computer model helps concertgoers and sports fans find the cheapest parking near a venue before they arrive. "This idea was born out of personal pain trying to find parking. I've been working on this business full time for eight months," said the 29-year-old Chicagoan after his smooth three-minute pitch. (He admitted he drove his wife crazy practicing.) "Right now my focus is the product. The next angle is finding funding."

Jed Abernethy's Halo.net enables businesses to track their products the moment they leave the plant. For example, Coca-Cola could monitor the status of every can in every vending machine in a chosen region.

Kristen Ware's Optimal Vision offers the visually impaired--particularly those suffering from the common presbyopia--a new correction option.

Karen Gruber's The Perfect Dinner enables busy moms to pick up (or have delivered) gourmet meals at the last minute. "I launched the business three years ago. Now I'm looking to expand," said the Oak Park resident, who in addition to running her business is a student in the University of Chicago's executive program. "I'm taking advantage of every opportunity presented to students."


Success!

After each had presented, the audience voted for their favorites on ballots while the judges graded them on score sheets. These scores were combined to select the winners--Shuh (third place--$2,000), Ware (second--$3,000) and Dalal (first--$5,000), who was characteristically cool after his name was announced. "It's nice to be acknowledged by your peers," he said, "but this is more about the experience."

Until ParkWhiz explodes, that prize money Dalal was awarded can feed a lot of meters.


A top manufacturer of pithy sayings


Contrary to logic, business lectures don't have to be boring. Take Howard A. Tullman's motivational speech--presented while the judges selected the Fast Pitch finalists--which included the Bikini Rule: Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

As chairman and CEO of local learning center Experiencia and president emeritus of Kendall College, Tullman inspired his audience of pitchers with these other tidbits:

"Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you're a good person is like expecting a lion not to eat you because you're a vegetarian."

"A good plan violently executed today beats a perfect plan next week."

"Make `cheap' mistakes; skinned knees are part of the game. Make 'em. Admit 'em. Correct 'em. Forget 'em."

"Change occurs in an instant. It's overcoming the resistance to change that takes all the time."

--C.M.