Raconter une histoire

An important takeaway from the class for me will be the importance of your speeach as an entrepreneur. It is a fact that entrepreneurs will tell their story again and again and again for a very long period of time - from the idea draft until the company is being built, maybe even "To infinite ... and Beyond!" . Thus it is crucial that the speech, the presentation is well known, accurate and adaptable.

The entrepreneur will have to move, adapt and play with his speech a lot during the first phases of his idea : feedback and inputs from pervious presentations will have to be incorporated pretty fast if he/she wants to be ready for the next presentation.
It is also essential to settle the problem and its solution pretty fast in the speech, and make sure people will understand and remember it. What is better than a story to pitch a problem? It is exactly the point, define a simple and short story that will make the point better than a thousand words.

When we tried to apply that to Uni-Nails - our idea of creating a nail parlor on campus at UOttawa - we were searching for that simple short story that would set the tone of our presentation. We remembered that when Bayan first presented her idea it came from a need that she felt, so we decided to use her own story. And the impact was great!!

Unfortunately, for the final presentation neither Bayan nor me will be there, so it will be only the three guys. We thought about dressing one of them as a girl ... maybe not! But the story is the important point of our idea... We decided to make a video to capture the story:

For this video, what was important was to capture the story : a graduate student at uOttawa is tired of having ugly nail and would really appreciate the convenience of a nail parlor on campus. We decided to try 2 video options, a more "classic" one made with an online tool and a "fun" one made by ourselves. I am only showing you one of them : The beauty of uOttawa wants UniNails.

 

Making a video is not that difficult once you have the speech :

- 2h of watching the beauty & the beast in order to select the appropriate moments,

- 1h of background sound selection - I went for a nice Bali song typical in spas so that the public knows we are offering a peacefull moment

- 30min for recording the voice - being fluent in english is already difficult but when you know you are recorded it is not getting any easier... However, I did it!, yeaaahh!

Some important tips : be sure to include hilarious passage so that even your team is having fun watching it!

 

Let's enjoy it:



Observer le monde à travers nos yeux d’enfants

Observation is a very important skill for innovators. Before explaining the skill I want to make sure you all understand the different between seeing and observing. If you are reading this thinking it is stupid because you already know the difference, good for you, but there are many people who don’t know the difference and that is the element at the basis of innovators’skill. Seeing just means that a panel of form, colors and movements that come to you without you searching for it. You are passive when you see. Observing on the other hand, is actively examining, exploring and looking for things. Observing is not necessarily through your eyes, you can use the entire range of your senses… And you are most welcome to use all your sense since they will give you larger insights on things or job to do.

You might know how important it is for a chef to use every sense when he cook as well make his clients use all their senses when eating. Well it is the same kind of experience that innovators go through every time of every day in their life: the wide range of their senses enhances their observation capabilities.

Obersvation enable innovators :

·         see daily life problems : like Mr Tata’s observation of the unsafety use of scooter to transport a 4 person family under the rain in India gave him the idea of a cheap safe car for Indian middle class

·         comprehend the process of the customer : Tata had to provide financial and insurance services as well as a driving school on the spot if they wanted clients to buy the Tata Nano

·         meet solutions adapted to different issues that can be used : Mr Cook’s observation of the ease of use of interface that look like real life

·         Understand better the customer needs : The MET school focus on the social needs of its students to better develop their skills and increase their learning’s.

I can imagine your disappointment right now since I had the same feeling after reading the chapter 4 of “The Innovator’s DNA”: There is no way for me to become that good at observing. Happily, for me and for you, I didn’t stop my reading in the middle of the chapter but read it until the end… where the authors give us tips to develop our observing skills.

Schedule regular observation excursions.

Observe real people in real-life situations.

Understand what people like and hate.

Search for things that make life easier or not.

Treat companies like a case, what do they do and how.

Change environment (country, museum, activity…)

Fix 10min/day to observe something intensively.

Take notes about your key observations on a notepad, and review them later.

Now, let’s try all that and come back!
Claire-Marine