ZEN eChallenge Workshops

Acting Director, ECIC: Dr Allan O'Connor
ZEN eChallenge Organising Team: Zrinka Tokic
Twist & Shake team member: Vishal Jodhani

The aim of this workshop is to introduce the ZEN eChallenge and show how you, as an entrepreneur, have the skills to turn an idea and opportunity into a profitable business.

Workshop covers:

• Understanding your own entrepreneurial talents
• Understanding the creative process
• Understanding how to look for ideas
• Recognising the differences between ideas and opportunities
• Understanding the concept of intrapreneurship
• Understanding the concept of innovation

State Manager, Australian Institute for Commercialisation: Simon Williams

Workshop covers:

• Creative thinking and innovation
• Opportunity funnelling
• Presentation essentials
• Innovation: backing winners

CEO & Founder, EDAD Technologies Trust: George Kraguljac

What makes you more unique, more valuable, and more visible in the market? In our highly competitive world, you have to be unique and fill a special niche to be successful in the marketplace. Yet one of the most harmful mistakes small businesses make is not being unique and positioning themselves as the best choice in the market Use a Unique Selling Proposition or "USP". Having a USP will dramatically improve the positioning and marketability of your company and products

Workshop covers:

• Developing your USP
• What are your products biggest benefits
• Condensing your USP into one clear and powerful sentence
• Integrating your USP into all Marketing materials
• Delivering on your USP's promise
• Points to be covered in your concept proposal
• What the judges will be looking for

Partner, Madderns Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys: Bill McFarlane

Patents and Trademarks are intellectual Property Rights (IP) created and awarded by the Government to provide ownership and control of new ideas and designs. This workshop will help the participants develop an understanding of the legal issues of structuring their business for the future in order to protect their opportunity.

Workshop covers:

• What are patents, trademarks and designs?
• How to exploit your IP
• What protection is available
• What is patentable
• Search before filing
• Patent procedure in brief
• Structure of a patent document
• Trademarks process and cost

Director, Best Solutions International Pty Ltd: Glen B. Wheatley

The outcome of the eChallenge program is to develop a business plan that can be presented to a panel of judges. The workshop is designed to show participants the business plan as an overview, explaining how the sections link together to form a complete document.

Workshop covers:

• Why a business plan is a vital element in developing a successful business
• Clarifying the business model
• Clarifying the audience of the business plan
• Defining key points for each section
• Timing / investment
• Following the Business plan template
• Your mentor is an important member of your team: how to best utilise and respect your mentor

TBA

A "marketing approach" is the starting point for the business planning process, as success revolves around whether the business can fulfil a market need or not. A basic understanding of the "marketing "concept is therefore essential as an introduction to developing a business plan.

The marketing workshop is designed to encourage participants to adopt a marketing attitude towards the entire business planning process, with the plans being developed around fulfilment of customer needs.

Workshop covers:

• Defining how marketing is important to their business
• Determining who their customers are and defining their importance to their business
• Outlining the 4 Ps in relation to their business- Product, Price, Promotion ,Place
• Determining the products use
• Mapping out distribution channels
• Methods of promotion and determining a promotions schedule for the product
• How to set the price for the product
• Setting in place a marketing budget
• Writing a marketing plan
• Understanding the implications for setting up a business overseas

Finance and accounting reflect the costs and revenues of the business and is the testing mechanism that establishes whether the financial plan will provide a viable business. However, a financial plan needs to be a practical and useable document. This requires an understanding of basic financial principles.

This workshop is designed to encourage participants to view financial planning as an integral part of business planning and operating which in turn provides them with a much clearer picture of how their business is functioning.

Workshop covers:

• Understanding and defining basic accounting terms
• Start up timing assumptions
• Business cycle timing assumptions
• Observing financial objectives for business ventures
• Outlining capital available to the business venture
• Understanding essential financial statements; balance sheets, profit and loss statements and cash flow forecasts

TBA

This workshop concentrates on how to effectively present your concept to judges. Because teams have a limited time in which to present their ideas, the business presentation must be an organised product. To make a pitch more convincing, ideas and materials must be presented in the most effective sequence.

Workshop covers:

• The 30 second opener
• Setting your objectives
• Researching your audience
• Structuring your presentation
• Delivering your message
• Stories sell facts tell
• Passionate people persuade

Managing Director, The Speaker Studio: David Griggs

Workshop (provided by Innovate SA) covers:

• How to effectively present your concept to the judges
• Presentation is more than words: style and staging
• Building confidence in presenting.

Workshop covers:

• Further skills in presenting
• 2 minute pitch development for the Awards Dinner video