Our Future

Some say, the children are our future; others say, inventors are our future. What if both are our future? Recently, I participated in the Northern Plains Marketplace of Ideas (www.marketplaceofideas.org) - participating as a guest speaker and exhibitor, I met inventors, both young and old! In particular, I met 3 young inventors and asked them to share with me about their idea and invention. All enthusiastically and professionally articulated, with ease, the 'how the idea came to them' as well as the 'why their idea is so needed.' As these bright and very talented young inventors shared their stories, their families rallied in support and encouraged them - the applause when they all received recognition and awards was inspiring.

The Marketplace of Ideas 2010 Event truly was about connecting great ideas and great people. And yes, filled with what I call, "pinch me moments." Pinch me moments
(PM2) are situations when I am amazed and cannot actually believe that "it's" happening to me. We've all at some point in our lives have experienced these - PM. Well, mine happened when the keynote speaker, Stephen Key, stopped by to talk with me about Messy Face. Stephen is a licensing expert and inventor - you'll most likely recognize him from the photograph. His questions were very specific and from our conversation he graciously shared a new strategic direction that I had not even thought of for the MFD invention. Seriously. This was a HUGE PM2! Simply priceless...

The entire Marketplace of Ideas event was well worth the scenic drive to North Dakota. I met people from all over the United States, gained insight to a new strategy from an industry leader, connected with fellow inventors, made some new friends (a shout out to inventors Nikki Lamb from Formula Now and Nancy Tedeschi of Eyeego), had a photo opp with Stephen Key, Deb Hess (MN Inventors Congress), Bob Heitkamp (Inventor of Site Saver and Networking Guru) and Marilyn Kipp (Executive Director for Marketplace of Ideas), learned from fellow young inventors that a passion to make a difference and improve quality of life continues throughout life, and also, sharing of information to help others- means being part of the inventor experience AND being an inventor - for our future!