Of all the strategies that I have used to get feedback, I have found the Inventor’s Clinic of IANE to be the most painless and most helpful. Although I have yet to present, I attended my second last night and left wondering why this type of meeting doesn’t happen all the time across the world. Maybe it does, under different names and not highly advertised to keep the crowd honest and small. I’ll give you a quick run down of the meeting structure and regulations, so perhaps you can create your own inventor’s clinic where you live and then talk about why these meetings are great for the inventors.
The meeting is held at Bob’s house, the president of IANE (private residence so not disclosure) and feature coffee and water, although next month I will bring brownies. The group is members of IANE (only $40/ yr) only, between 10-15 people show up. Around four people show up to present their idea. Each presenter has a non disclosure (3 yr length) the audience signs that also assigns all ideas from the meeting to the inventor free of charge. The confidentiality agreement includes a few vague words about the invention, so if anyone in the audience is working on something similar, they can excuse themselves. The meetings are recorded by a digital audio recorder and this time by a camcorder. Bob runs through the typical pitch format, problem, market, competition, solution, questions for the audience like would you buy, at what price etc. The recording starts, the confidentiality agreement and social contract (help the presenter, so when you present you get help) are explained. The inventor is introduced, the door is closed so someone who comes in late and hasn’t signed the agreement can’t hear the presentation has to wait in the kitchen. And then the fun begins.
The response, questions, concerns all coming from fellow inventors that specialize in different fields like engineering, manufacturing and marketing and relying on the most universal attribute among the crowd, consumers drives the fun. Of course, I can’t talk about the inventions, questions, answers or even the results but it seems as though the presenters leave the meeting with an idea of what to do next, whether it be to abort, pursue this avenue, talk to these people or just get going and do it.
As a product developer, I thrive on getting products moving forward in a productive direction. Whether a client, a fellow inventor or just someone on the street, helping ideas get to the next stage delivers a lot of satisfaction. The inventors clinic seems to be able to do that in a cheap, easy, honest, and effective means. I’ll be attending these for a long time.
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