Waident was a proud sponsor for the recent TEDx Naperville conference. Here are the top 5 reasons why.
- It associates us with a community of people interested in making the world a better place. Throughout the conference, we saw presentations that took us out of our day-to-day and inspired us to look at issues in a new way.
- We learned from Joe Abraham that we all have the capacity to be entrepreneurs, but each of us has a unique “entrepreneurial DNA”: Builder, Opportunist, Specialist and Innovator. The trick is to match our business model to our strengths. Check out his book here – Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery that Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths.
- Known for creating MuggleNet (the biggest Harry Potter website) when he was 12, speaker Emerson Spartz now runs his own business called Spartz Media. He spoke on the subject of internet viralty – that is, how stories/photos go viral on the internet. He was very practical in his advice. I’m putting one piece of his advice with this posting – use odd numbered lists as a headline!
- Owner and founder of Nick’s Pizza, Nick Sarillo shared information about how build a big little business. He talked about engaging employees with a culture of “trust and track” and viewing your business as a school for your employees. He’s also got a book out – A Slice of the Pie: How to Build a Big Little Business
- Joshua Corman spoke about internet security and the very real risks. He encouraged us to “join the cavalry” instead of waiting for someone else to protect us from the bad guys.
I’ll share another posting when the videos become available. In the meanwhile, check out this video I saw during the conference from Ron Finley, guerilla gardener from Los Angeles. His call to action to “plant some sh**” applies not only to gardens, but life in general. Let’s go grow something.
