I apologize for how dark this video came out (we were in an outdoor courtyard with no lights), but the sound is fine, so you can get the gist of the presentation. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is a video of my presentation to a group architects at an AIA Los Angeles event. I was one of seven speakers. We were each allowed 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. There were approximately 50 people in attendance. I got to talk to a couple people afterward and received encouraging feedback, but I think my presentation was too general to really spark people’s interest. That will come as I continue to refine the idea.

I’m still super early on in concept development for my venture, so the idea is changing almost every week. Of course, ideas build on each other and I want to show the progression of thought, so I’m posting this up. I spent a good chunk of today on instantdomainsearch.com, trying to find a better available domain name than Vverdant. Gotta sleep on a few gems I came across. I don’t want to take too long though, as I’ve already seen one good name disappear before I could register it: fillvoid.com.

I’ll be presenting my idea for Vverdant at this event next week!

I’m excited…. I get 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide = 6:40 to inspire and make my point. I’m working on my slides and pitch now. This event is put on by AIA Los Angeles. Pecha Kucha is a global movement — I had never heard of it, but they even have a .org. Google, is doing the same thing, but calling it Ignite. There are 9 talks in this video and most of them are worth watching:

I just found the Bloblive video post (below) of my presentation from the event I spoke at in Santa Monica on June 4, 2009. This was totally unrehearsed, so please excuse the ambiguity. This was also before I started blogging here at drewshula.com, and began to think about my idea more seriously. Watching the video makes me want to go back and refine my pitch! Especially now that I have a name for my company (Vverdant), and a more clearly defined concept.

The presentation format at Bloblive is to speak for 90 seconds and then receive 3 minutes of feedback from the audience. There were about 100 people there and the idea was generally well received. One guy thought I might be “late to the game” though. What do you think? Check it out:

I recently took the stage at a “Bloblive” event in Santa Monica, to share my idea for Vverdant with the crowd. The Bloblive website introduces the concept as, “The city’s open mic night for ideas.” It’s a forum to, “Grab the mic and hit the crowd with your best elevator pitch.” People have 90 seconds to talk and then get 3 minutes of feedback.

There were about 100 people there, and it was a great feeling to give my pitch to a room full of other entrepreneurs. I got mostly positive feedback from the audience. One guy must have read the same article I had, because he told me he thought Web 2.0 would be “growing up” this year. A UCLA Anderson Entrepreneurship professor patted me on the back on the way out and said “You did a great job tonight!”

Overall, it was a very positive experience that’s driving me to push forward. Here’s a great link to a Time article about the Web 2.0 “revolution.”