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Friday, February 25, 2011

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week – “Start It Up”

What: The Idea Village’s Third Annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week When: March 19-25

Heeding President Obama’s call to ‘Startup America,’ the nation’s greatest entrepreneurial minds will gather in New Orleans for the 3rd annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), March 19-25, 2011. The event, unveiled today, will serve as a manifestation of a movement that is sweeping the globe.

Driven by the entrepreneurial momentum that has fueled the city’s rebirth, NOEW, an initiative of The Idea Village, will feature a unique program of world-class activities including over 45 business workshops, investment pitches, networking events, keynote speeches and interactive discussion sessions. This high-impact week of service, networking and collaboration redefines New Orleans as a laboratory of innovation and a model for national best practices by connecting students, entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

“I am thrilled about the potential of the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. The New Orleans community has come together to sustain a movement to support and grow entrepreneurial talent,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Honorary Chair of NOEW 2011. “NOEW illustrates that New Orleans is a model city for innovation and entrepreneurship. With smart investments in innovation and partnerships like the one we have with The Idea Village, we can set the course for growth and renewal in America.”

Joining The Idea Village as Premier Partners for NOEW are Penny & Jim Coulter, Downtown Development District of New Orleans, Economic Development Administration, Goldman Sachs, Google, Greater New Orleans Foundation, HP, Jones Walker, Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, Louisiana Recovery Authority, Kevin Clifford Family, NakedPizza, and Tulane University.

“NOEW is a physical manifestation of the entrepreneurial ecosystem that has evolved over the last 10 years in New Orleans,” said Tim Williamson, co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village. “During this week, New Orleans will engage a global community of change makers to provide direct resources to the local entrepreneurial community and in doing so position New Orleans at the forefront of what is becoming a national movement.”

The idea behind NOEW was hatched in 2006 when ambitious MBA students seized the opportunity to spend their spring break in New Orleans working with early-stage, high-growth entrepreneurs. In 2009, led by investment from the Economic Development Administration, The Idea Village decided to scale the impact for the community by engaging national and local corporations, universities, investors, and individuals to spend a week in New Orleans providing direct support to local entrepreneurs surrounded by the City’s unique cultural assets in food, music and vanguard entrepreneur leaders. NOEW 2010 brought over 150 of the nation’s top MBA students and corporate volunteers together with 329 local entrepreneurs to provide over 9,121 hours of direct service to entrepreneurs at 37 events throughout downtown New Orleans.

“What initially started as a philanthropic partnership in the wake of Katrina has evolved into a more strategic initiative for the company,” says Tara Canobbio of Google’s Talent and Outreach Programs, K-12. “We have found it invaluable to be surrounded by so many driven people that share the same passion for entrepreneurship and New Orleans and it’s amazing to see the tangible impact that energy is having on the city.”

“The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses initiative is honored to partner with Mayor Landrieu and The Idea Village to unlock the growth and job-creation potential of New Orleans’ small business owners. We are pleased to partner with NOEW to provide local entrepreneurs access business skills, capital, mentors and networks,” said Dina Habib Powell, President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

Google and Goldman Sachs, along with other global corporations such as Cisco will join a network of professional service providers to host public educational sessions for the local entrepreneurial community on an array of topics critical to start ups and entrepreneurs including, alternative and traditional financing, communications and social media strategy, franchising, and legal issues. There are 1,000 slots available to local entrepreneurs on a first come – first serve basis. For more information on all the events, please visit www.noew.org.

“It is inspiring to interact with the kind of talent that The Idea Village assembles together for NOEW. Not only are Cisco employees able to support local entrepreneurs, but they walk away having learned something too,” said Luke Stewart of Cisco.

NOEW 2011 will feature MBA IDEAcorps teams from Berkeley, Cornell, University of Chicago Booth, Stanford, Northwestern Kellogg, Tulane and Loyola (New Orleans). Each student team will work closely with entrepreneurs Bideo, The Durationator Company, NOLA Brewing Company, Rare Cuts, Rebirth Financial, Spa Workshop and SensPac, from The Idea Village’s 2011 Entrepreneur Challenge (IVEC) class, to provide strategic consulting on a catalytic business challenge.

Additionally, NOEW 2011 offers a world-class investment pitch opportunity called IDEApitch led by Jim Coulter, founding partner of TPG Capital. IDEApitch will offer 5 local entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their ventures to leading investors from TPG, Bain Venture Capital, Redpoint, Prism, IBM Ventures, and American Funds

“This is a special and important moment for the city of New Orleans,” said Jim Coulter, “The Coulter Challenge IDEApitch specifically identifies five of Louisiana’s most scalable ventures and gives them the opportunity to pitch their plans to some of the world’s leading growth capital firms.”

2011 IDEApitch entrepreneurs include Federated Sample, Naked Pizza, Spa Workshop, Mini Vax and NOvate Medical Technologies, LLC.

Additionally, NOEW will feature a $50,000 ‘Water Challenge’ to promote innovative water management solutions through entrepreneurship. Interested entrepreneurs can through midnight CST on February, 21, 2011 at http://www.ideavillage.org/waterchallenge.

NOEW 2011 will offer interactive roundtable discussions on seeding and growing entrepreneur ecosystems led by national luminaries such as Jim Coulter, Senator Mary Landrieu D-La, James Carville, Mary Matalin, Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, and leading business entities such as McKinsey & Company, Bain Venture Capital and IBM.

Featured Speakers and Panelists for NOEW 2011:

* Jim Coulter, Founding Partner, TPG Capital
* John Turner, President , Whitney Bank
* Dr. Patti Greene, President’s Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship, Babson College
* Rick Aubry, Founder, New Foundry Ventures/Associate Provost, Tulane University
* Kris Licht and Eric Harmon, Partners, McKinsey & Co.
* Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief, Entrepreneur Magazine
* Jeff Schwartz, Managing Director, Bain Capital
* Kevin Clifford, President and CEO, American Funds
* Wendy Lung, Partner, IBM Venture Capital
* Jeff Brody, Founding Partner, Redpoint Ventures
* Jim Counihan, Partner, Prism Venture Works
* Gene Zelazny, Director of Visual Communications, McKinsey & Co.
* Jennifer Aaker, General Atlantic Professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business
* Chris Gergen , Executive Director, Bull City Forward, Life Entrepreneurs
* Jessica Jackley, Founder, Kiva and Profounder
* Robbie Vitrano, Naked Pizza
* David Waggonner, FAIA, Waggoner & Ball Architects
* Mark Davis, Director, Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy

For more information, including a full schedule of events, please visit www.NOEW.org.
For a full list of NOEW 2011 sponsors, please visit http://noew.org/about_us/sponsors.

About the Idea Village
The Idea Village was founded in 2000 as an independent 501(c) (3) non-profit organization with a mission to identify, support and retain entrepreneurial talent in New Orleans by providing business resources to high-impact ventures. To date, The Idea Village has supported over 590 local entrepreneurs by engaging 890 professionals and allocating over 56,000 consulting hours and $2.5 million in capital. This portfolio generates over $87 million in annual revenue and has created 1,000 jobs for the community.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

A Bad PR Move for Walmart

In crisis communications, I advise clients to always put a plan in place which will help them deal with any negative situation that could possibly occur. It's called thinking ahead and can prevent additional backlash from media of delayed comments or lack of action taken on the part of the company.

One of the worst things a company, really any organization, can experience is an armed robber or angry person out for revenge. Sadly, it's becoming more and more common and something that cannot be overlooked at any level.

Recently four employees at a Walmart store in Utah were fired, not honored for their bravery, after noticing and subduing an armed robber. Their actions were courageous, no doubt, and deserve to be recognized. However, the company says that they have an employee policy in place that states that employees are not to confront an armed robber, but rather let them go...possibly on a shooting rampage, injuring or even killing employees and customers.

As a PR professional, I believe that Walmart has gotten this one all wrong. Sure, I agree that should employees take on this situation, they may be injured. But, in thinking what would be the worst of two evils, I would salute these employees for their actions in protecting the greater good and numerous people within the store. It's easy to imagine just what might have occurred if these three men and woman had not taken steps into their own hands. It was four against one. The odds were more than on their side.

As a consumer, I believe and trust that those who work in stores like this should be adequately trained and encouraged to keep me, and other consumers, safe from danger while I am on their property. The people of Layton, Utah should feel good about their local heroes as well as Walmart for hiring such courageous individuals.

Wal-Mart Misses the PR Mark:
Ironically, since this happened it has been gaining national media attention, and it hasn't been so positive for Walmart. These four individuals were fired, straight out. Not because they failed in their positions or received bad reviews for their work, but because they saw the need to take action to keep themselves, other employees and their customers safe.

Remember that Walmart has positioned itself as part of every community. They are a community "center", if you will, where you are warmly welcomed each time you walk in the door. Their commitment to consumers and affordability has set the tone for competition and the marketplace, in general. It is more than disappointing that they failed to realize the potential backlash from the media and professionals, like myself, in this situation. It is even more disappointing that instead of feeling safe with heroes at their local market looking out and keeping them safe, the people of Layton may just feel the opposite. Sales will decline in the store, for a period, possibly leading to the loss of other jobs.

What Walmart should do is get modify the policy and train staff to adequately deal with crisis situations like this. They should honor these four employees, most of them managers who are now out looking for jobs. This should have been a moment of pride for the Walmart organization, now it's just another stain on a reputation that a number of consumers have questioned for years - whether the store is convenient and prices pleasing. They may shop your store, but not respect your business. Now they have just another reason to look down their nose at the reputation of Waart.

This morning, three of the four employees were on CNN, their story told and allowed to give a 30 second pitch to anyone viewing who might like to hire them. They seemed to have great credentials, valuable work experience and have already proven their worth and commitment to a company. That's rare to find, I know!

Sometimes you have to take every situation on an individual basis to determine the best outcome. In this instance, Walmart's customers are safe but their brave employees are not, and now they are facing a negative PR situation that will be difficult to overcome since the strategy they should have taken is now too late to implement. It's just too late now...

My hope is that companies will be smart, take hold of these three individuals and thumb their nose at Walmart.




What do you think? Leave a comment!