The CleanTech Academy and Investor Conference was ok. The Investor Conference portion didn't have as many investors as I would have thought, but it was ok. I went solo on this trip. It was different doing everything by myself, but very manageable. There was an exhibit fair, it was ok. The Academy itself provided a good overview of what to do win the competition. We've been through most of this already due to our great adviser, Dr. Carol Reeves. We prepared an elevator pitch. If you've followed us through the competition circuit you know that we did fairly well with our pitch. There were some good speakers sprinkled throughout the weekend. I think what made it just ok was that for being in the middle of Silicon Valley there were a lot of technical glitches. Mics didn't always work, website was very slow, and internet was worst than 56k. I understand there were a lot of people using up that bandwidth, but this is Silicon Valley. There was also a lot of information crammed into the weekend and the days were long. Many of the participants were exhausted by the flood of presentations, most of which were good and some were well... not so good. I'm sure I could say that about most of the competitions and event we've been to, but part of the purpose of this event is to network. They skimped on social activities and left little time to network individually. Overall it was a decent event. Some things that could make it better is more technical preparation, firmer schedule, and smaller sessions. For some of the topics smaller groups would've definitely been beneficial, while for keynote speakers it was fine to have everyone in one room.
And now I'm sitting here in Little Rock waiting for a flight to Dallas then transferring to a flight to Tulsa, then driving back to Fayetteville. I started in San Jose flew to Los Angeles then got delayed by the dust storm in Phoenix, missed my connection to Tulsa and so here I am.
Posts
sawasdee ka!
ReplyDeletei come to visit naka.
lily.