Incubator
Assessment and Refinement: Systematically Evaluating Your Incubator's
Strengths and Weaknesses
Using new methods and tools,
this workshop will allow managers and board members of operating incubators
to conduct an evaluation of their programs and begin the process of resolving
areas of weakness in their operations. The workshop is based on an incubator
self-evaluation tool developed by NBIA.
This tool is designed to help
managers and stakeholders of established incubators (those past the feasibility
and development stages) conduct quick but comprehensive evaluations of
their programs. The process begins with mission statements, strategic
plans, staffing and finance and progresses to recruiting, selecting and
servicing clients. It concludes with the spotlight on working with boards
of directors, managing stakeholders and graduating clients.
The workshop will be a creative
blend of lecture, individual activity and group discussions. Lectures
will introduce attendees to the subject and the self-evaluation tool.
Individual activity will occur as participants complete sections of the
tool and score their incubators on each of the criteria. Group discussions
will permit attendees to share areas in which their incubators are particularly
strong or need more attention. Finally, brainstorming activities will
help participants begin the process of finding solutions to the issues
uncovered during the workshop.
Faculty - Jim Greenwood,
president of Greenwood Consulting Group, has been active in the incubator
industry since 1984. He codeveloped and then managed for 11 years the
Los Alamos Small Business Center, the first incubator in New Mexico. Since
1995 he has consulted with more than 30 communities on incubator issues
from feasibility to assessment. An author of numerous articles and instructor
for previous NBIA Fall Training Institutes and conferences, Greenwood
served on an advisory panel for the development of the NBIA self-evaluation
tool used in this training session.
Fee: $300 members/$350
nonmembers
November 10, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Developers' Prep
Course: Developing a Nonprofit or For-Profit Incubation Program
Developing a business incubation
program, either for-profit or nonprofit, can be a complex undertaking.
Jonathan Gorham will present the acclaimed Developers' Prep Course, which
will cover how to conduct a feasibility study and develop a business plan,
locate and attract prospective clients, create a self-sufficient incubator
and achieve intended goals. Gorham also will explain how incubator managers
can effectively use the Web to market their programs and help clients
achieve success.
Whether you're in the conceptual
stage or already knee deep in development, you can't afford to miss this
workshop. Gorham has taught incubator feasibility and management techniques
to more than 1,200 private developers and economic development professionals
since 1991.
This particular training session
has garnered consistently high evaluations from participants year after
year. During its most recent offering at NBIA's 15th International Conference
on Business Incubation, NBIA closed the workshop to enrollment after 75
attendees registered. Don't miss this workshop. Register early.
Faculty - Jonathan
Gorham is founder and president of Gorham Associates, which provides incubator
development and advisory consulting services and manages technology and
commercialization projects throughout the Northeast. Gorham cofounded
Science Park Associates, which developed the business and technology programs
at Yale University's Science Park. He has consulted with more than four
dozen communities on incubation development and management. Over the past
two decades Gorham founded five start-up companies that have developed
a variety of new products. His principal area of technology expertise
is energy conservation. Gorham has an undergraduate degree from Harvard
College and a master's degree in business from Yale University.
Sponsored by 
Fee: $325 members/$370 nonmembers
November 10, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Best Practices
in Organizational Effectiveness for Incubators and Their Clients
Organizational effectiveness
is a measure of how well an enterprise uses its resources to achieve its
goals. According to a recent Kauffman Foundation report (Profiles in
Organizational Effectiveness for Nonprofits: 2001 Edition), effective
organizations are mission directed, entrepreneurial, sustainable, outcome
oriented, adaptable and customer focused.
For business incubator directors
and staff, the challenges and opportunities related to achieving organizational
effectiveness are doubly significant, as they must maximize the effectiveness
of their own organizations while fostering effectiveness in their clients
and partners. This workshop focuses first on the foundation of organizational
effectiveness — crafting mission and vision statements that are exceptionally
clear and achievable in all the decisions, actions and programs the incubator
undertakes.
After learning the key underlying
concepts (including organizational development, learning, culture and
climate), participants will analyze the current state of their incubator
organizations and draft transition plans to move to their "desired
state." In addition, workshop leaders and participants will brainstorm
and refine assessment techniques to insure that organizational effectiveness
is on track. The workshop also will explore how incubator staff can coach
and guide clients and partners to achieve organizational effectiveness.
Faculty - Mary Wilson
Callahan, Ph.D., MBA, is president and founder of Work in Progress, a
consulting practice whose key clients are incubator directors and formation
teams as well as incubator member companies. She facilitates the growth
of a high-performance organizational culture in corporations. Callahan
also consults with university-based entrepreneurship and small business
programs. She is a divisional vice-president of the U.S. Association for
Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and has more than 20 years' experience
in the high-tech corporate environment. Callahan spent four years as a
consultant at the Advanced Technology Development Center Incubator in
Atlanta.
J. Arthur Maxwell, M.A.,
is the CEO and founder of J. Arthur Systems, a 25-year-old, Colorado-based
management consulting firm. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership
and management strategist, and is particularly experienced in coaching
leaders to achieve their personal and professional goals. He is an adjunct
professor of graduate business management at the University of Phoenix
and a training consultant to the Institute of Public Management and Administration
in Singapore.
Marie Longserre has served
as the president and CEO of the Santa Fe Business Incubator since its
inception more than four years ago. She has presented at numerous NBIA
conferences and training sessions. The Santa Fe Capital City Business
and Professional Women's Association named Longserre "Business Woman
of the Year" in 2000, and she recently received a Governor's Annual
Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women. The Santa Fe Business Incubator
has been awarded a "John J. Gunther Award for Best Practices"
from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as an
award for "Excellence in Economic Development" from the New
Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Fee: $300 members/$350
nonmembers
November 11, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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The Art of
Analysis: Critical Skills for Coaching Start-Up Companies
This two-day workshop is for
incubator managers and consultants who mentor and advise companies. Participants
will gain skills to train and assist companies in employing critical performance
analytics, which are key to the long-term strategic planning and viability
of start-up businesses.
Although incubator companies
are diverse, the need for performing timely analyses is universal. The
four topics of this session will provide participants with frameworks
and resources that incubator management can implement or easily teach
to the management of client firms. The format of the workshop will be
a combination of informal lecture, allowing for questions and discussion,
accompanied by short exercises that will clarify and reinforce concepts.
The short exercises combine to form a comprehensive mini case study.
The four topics critical for
the success of a start-up company, and covered in this workshop, are:
1) Financial Performance Analysis
2) Valuation and Managing Firm Value
3) Researching Target Markets
4) Pricing Products and Services to Maximize Profit
NOTE: THIS SESSION PROVIDES
UP TO 16 UNITS OF CPE FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS WHO ARE CERTIFIED PUBLIC
ACCOUNTANTS.
Faculty - Lynne Pastor
has a master's degree in industrial administration from the Graduate School
of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. Her concentrations
of study included entrepreneurship, marketing, strategy, accounting and
operations research. Pastor works with start-up companies in building
feasibility models and conducting technology and business valuations.
She also develops and facilitates financial analysis and marketing courses
for professional and entrepreneurial education. Pastor has held positions
in the high-tech practice of a Big Five accounting and consulting firm,
in the economic development field and owned a retail business for 13 years.
She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Fee: $500members/$550 nonmembers
November 11-12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Feasibility
Analysis for Small-Town and Rural Incubators
This workshop will teach attendees
how to apply a specific feasibility model to incubators in smaller communities
(population less than 25,000) and rural areas. It differs from past feasibility
workshops that NBIA has offered in that it uses a proprietary model developed
by the workshop facilitator and focuses on issues particular to small
and rural communities. Attendees will learn how to evaluate their communities'
potentials for supporting successful incubators. They also will learn
about critical issues that face small-town and rural incubators, and how
to mitigate problem areas.
Much of the workshop will
depend upon lectures given the magnitude of the material to be covered.
However, opportunities will exist for networking, working on individual
issues and working in group settings. Specific time blocks will encourage
interactivity among the attendees as well as with the facilitator.
Faculty: Jim Greenwood,
president of Greenwood Consulting Group, has been active in the incubator
industry since 1984. He codeveloped and then managed for 11 years the
Los Alamos Small Business Center, the first incubator in New Mexico. Since
1995 he has consulted with more than 30 communities on incubator issues
from feasibility to assessment. Greenwood has authored numerous articles
and has served as an instructor at previous NBIA Fall Training Institutes
and conferences.
Bob Haywood is the executive
director of the Georgia Institute for Community Business Development and
works primarily with small and rural communities on economic development
issues. Under Haywood's direction, GICBD founded the Georgia Business
Incubation Association and provides the Association staff support and
guidance. Haywood's past job experiences include small town planning and
zoning. Haywood has overseen several incubator initiatives in rural Georgia,
including a feasibility study and business plan for a mixed-use incubator
in Wahington, Ga. (population 15,000) and an assessment of an arts and
crafts incubator in Swainsboro, Ga. (population 10,000).
Sponsored by
Fee: $425 members/$475 nonmembers
November 11-12, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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NBIA
Fall Training Institute 2001
