{"id":1233,"date":"2014-06-07T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anaadi.net\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2015-01-19T19:46:28","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T19:46:28","slug":"bizcampbe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anaadi.net\/blog\/2014\/06\/07\/bizcampbe\/","title":{"rendered":"Bizcampbe #11 – lessons for academics from the start-up world"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Ana<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 It is the start-ups that I look up to these days. They look for the bright ideas and for the ways in which the world can be a better place and people can be happier. They do it on the move, endocrinologist<\/a> out of traditional office hours and sometimes even out of traditional offices. And, salve<\/a> in my view, symptoms<\/a> it is the start-ups that pick up on the needs of the “new workforce” and therefore inspire and inform my teaching.<\/p>\n

While in Belgium during the first week of June, I took advantage of the fact that Bizcamp was taking place in Kortrijk (the city of Vives, an insitution that I collaborate with and visit as a visiting lecturers for many years now) and joined. Bizcamp <\/a>is “a free \u00e2\u20ac\u0153un-conference\u00e2\u20ac\u009d organized by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs which brings together about 100 people twice a year in Belgium”. It is a great event where ideas are encouraged, solutions are sought and expertise is shared. At the start of the event people who want to deliver a presentation are asked to put it up on a sticker-board and then pitch it in less than one minute to the other participants. After that they have 20 minutes to deliver to their promise.<\/p>\n

As an academic, used to conferences and talks prepared well in advance, pitching was new – at conferences the schedule is set in advance and in some instances so is the audience. I used my “in the works” workshop idea for the upcoming Festival of Learning at BU<\/a> and then tailored my talk to the audience trying not only to address their questions but also linking my learning points to the presentations delivered earlier.<\/p>\n

Here’s what I learned:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. An elevator pitch is not for the weak<\/strong>. It needs to provide enough information about the session without giving out the content. It therefore needs to spark curiosity while showcasing the experience of the speakers and making a value-promise to the attendee.<\/li>\n
  2. Humor<\/strong> (and small size) can help you attract attention. To know what works, it is a good idea to observe the crowd and the way people interact but also keep an eye on the social media stream of the event.<\/li>\n
  3. Relevance<\/strong>. This can be achieved in three ways: providing your own answer to a problem that is stated, help people find their (own) answers or ask people to help you find an anwer\/solution.<\/li>\n
  4. Keep people busy<\/strong>. The traditional academic delivery includes a large audience and a sole speaker. At Bizcamp it was dialogue, humor and most importantly interaction that made sessions attractive. People had to complete tasks within a limited time or provide fedback while contributing finding solutions to given problems. I think we should include this model (from once in a while) into the academic lecture mode of delivery. Apart from breaking up with monotony, this “disruptive” learning should help remind our students that solutions (and learning) come in many shapes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And there’s one more thing: Bournemouth could have its own Bizcamp but ours could perhaps include the university as well: A sort of DCS Showcase and Festival of Learning pumped up and expanded to include and celebrate the many talented people in the South.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u00c2\u00a0 It is the start-ups that I look up to these days. They look for the bright ideas and for the ways in which the world can be a better place and people can be happier. They do it on the move, endocrinologist out of traditional office hours and sometimes even out of traditional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[498,20,6],"tags":[521,520,523,209,522],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consultancy","category-events","category-new-media","tag-bizcamp","tag-bizcampbe","tag-pitching","tag-social-media","tag-social-media-management"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t