Innovation Conferences
 Capturing
the Inputs into Innovation
July 8-10, 2008
Austin, Texas
Click here for a Class Schedule
When it comes to understanding customer needs, voice-of-the-customer
(VoC) programs are undermined in two ways: First, there is no
agreed-on standard that defines just what a “need” is - what its
purpose, structure, content, and format should be. Although
companies talk to customers, the inputs they gather differ on those
points, introducing variability that can derail the innovation
process. Second, and more specifically, companies do not understand
how to adapt the definition of “need” to suit the type of innovation
initiative being pursued.
This course, taught by senior consultants at Strategyn, is designed
for individuals responsible for conducting customer interviews and
capturing customer needs (jobs and outcomes). It introduces a set of
timeless standards that define the purpose, structure, content, and
format of a customer need statement, transforming the art of
requirements gathering - and innovation - into a rules-based
discipline. These standards, and the theory that supports them, are
the result of our analysis of over 10,000 customer need statements
collected for products and services covering nearly every industry.
A working knowledge of Outcome-Driven Innovation® is highly
recommended for this course. Market researchers, ethnographers, user
experience professionals, marketing professionals, and
engineers/technical people who collect inputs from customers in the
field will all benefit from this class.
Learn more |
Register now
 Generating
Ideas for Growth
Pepperdine University*
July 15-16, 2008
Malibu, CA
Click here for a Class Schedule
Creativity is the mental process by which an idea for a new product
or service concept or feature is triggered and conceived. Mastery of
this process can provide a company with a distinct advantage. But is
mastery possible? When it comes to creativity in product and service
innovation, the goal is to make a mental connection between the
technologies, systems, methods, and processes that are possible or
available and how these might be used to address unmet customer
needs and company objectives.
If a company is to actually put creativity to work for the
purpose of innovation, a precise and easy-to-use approach is needed.
First, an effective framework must be established for focused idea
generation. Then, context-specific creativity triggers must be
designed specifically for that framework and applied appropriately
within it. With this need in mind, we have devised such a framework
and translated the creativity principles of several popular methods,
along with all of the TRIZ principles, into a language that works
within that framework, being sure to maintain the integrity of the
initial principles. The result of this effort is three sets of
concrete and focused, concept-level creativity triggers. They are
specifically designed to help companies devise (1) new product and
service platforms, (2) new business models, and (3) new product and
service features. These triggers are based on proven principles that
have been used in the past to generate patentable ideas. They will
be valuable tools for those in an organization who have been
entrusted with coming up with the company’s next big idea.
This class is taught by TRIZ expert and Strategyn partner Ellen Domb
and by Strategyn Institute senior advisers Sandy Bates and Rick
Norman. It is designed for individuals or teams who are responsible
for generating new product and/or service ideas for the
organization.
Learn more |
Register
now
*Strategyn Institute programs are not affiliated with/endorsed by Pepperdine University
 Strategyn
Institute
Sept 15-19,
2008
Aspen, Colorado
The Strategyn Institute
offers its quarterly 4½-day program on Outcome-Driven Innovation.
This comprehensive program, presented by Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick,
is aimed at product and marketing managers, black belts, internal
consultants, QFD and VOC practitioners and other innovation
champions who want to lead their companies into the future with
Six-Sigma based practices that bring discipline and predictability
to the process of innovation.
For more information,
visit
the website or contact
Sandy Bates (866-729-8400, Option 2).
If you'd like to learn about scheduling Tony Ulwick or a Strategyn consultant to speak to
your group
click here.
Previous Conferences
Strategyn
Institute
Quarterly
Since 2006
Aspen, Colorado
The Strategyn Institute
offers its quarterly 4½-day program on outcome-driven innovation.
This comprehensive program, presented by Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick,
aimed at product and marketing managers, black belts, internal
consultants, QFD and VOC practitioners and other innovation
champions who want to lead their companies into the future with
Six-Sigma based practices that bring discipline and predictability
to the process of innovation.
For more information,
visit
the website or contact
Sandy Bates (866-729-8400, Option 2).
 Achieving
Growth Through Product
Development Best Practices
by the Chicago PDMA
June 10, 2008
Chicago, IL
The President of “Giant Company,” the leading manufacturer of specialty
widgets, has given the Marketing/Engineering team a week to come up with
a plan to improve lagging sales by overhauling the NPD processes. Giant
Co. executives (a.k.a. “conference participants”), will hear
presentations from several experts, on how their approach is exactly
what Giant Co. needs. Three critical areas are under consideration to be
overhauled to regain Giant Co.'s product leadership:
1) Voice of the Customer; 2) Ideation; and 3) NPD Process. A Q&A session
will follow every two presentations for each of the three areas of
product development. Participants will have an opportunity to pepper the
experts with questions designed to trip them up and expose the
fallacies, if any, in their approaches. Tony Ulwick presented
“Achieving Organic Growth Through Innovation” at this one-day conference
sponsored by the Chicago chapter of PDMA.
Find out more.
 Strategyn’s
First Annual Global Practitioner Conference
May 6 – 7
2008 Chicago, IL
Do you have the tools needed to formulate an organic growth strategy for
your organization? At Strategyn’s first annual Global Practitioner
Conference, participants were shown how to create a revolutionary
innovation program. Participants learned about new innovation
developments and breakthroughs made and patented over the past year.
Many new and exciting findings were revealed publicly for the first
time. Participants heard real-world success stories from their peers
resulting from the application of Outcome-Driven Innovation® theory.
Here are just a few of the companies that attended: 3M, Dow
Chemical, Hach Company, IBM, Ingersoll Rand, Advanced Medical Optics,
Line 6, Masco Corporation, Microsoft, Neenah Paper, Roche Diagnostics
Operations, Inc., Sabre Holdings, Society for Human Resource Management,
and Weyerhaeuser.
 InnoTech:
Technology Innovation Conference & Expo
April 16–17, 2008
Portland, OR
The fifth annual Oregon InnoTech assembled the leading business and
technology executives in the region for answers to innovation issues,
real world case studies and provided a chance to see the latest products
and solutions to support business. Best-selling author and Strategyn
CEO, Tony Ulwick, presented two keynote addresses, The Secrets to
Predictable Innovation and Going Beyond Core Platform Growth. These
dynamic presentations included teachings about unlocking hidden
opportunities, decoding unarticulated needs and driving new market
creation.
Kill Bad Innovation Theory &
Revolutionize the Innovation Process
April 17, 2008
1:00 PM EST - LIVE Online Event
In this thought provoking online presentation was presented in
conjunction with the
American Marketing Association.
Topics included:
- What it is companies don’t know about innovation that is
hurting them.
- How the innovation process should be executed – the steps,
sequence and inputs.
- How to choose a market growth path.
- How to overcome the complexities of new platform and new
market growth.
- How to think about innovation.
How will your company benefit? With revenue growth, a reduction
in R&D costs and the ability to create products and services that
customers want.
You can
attend this free recorded webinar at any time.
 LifeScience Alley’s Crossroads Series
Minneapolis, MN March 12, 2008
LifeScience Alley’s 2008 Crossroads Series is designed to bring
together leaders from all aspects of the life sciences and provide a
forum for them to learn about broad-reaching trends in life sciences
and health care. Renowned Innovation expert, Tony Ulwick, presented
the keynote address Achieving Organic Growth through Innovation
on March 12, 2008, allowing leaders in the industry to learn the
correct sequence in which to execute the innovation process and how
to construct a visionary, organic growth strategy.
 Stage-Gate
Innovation Summit ’08
February 26–27, 2008
Clearwater, Florida
Strategyn was a proud gold sponsor of the prestigious 2008
Stage-Gate® Innovation Summit, at which organizations met with
innovation leaders and Stage-Gate best-practice champions to learn
how to get better results from their innovation programs. Strategyn
was on site with methodology white papers that illustrate how its
unique offerings dramatically improve the discovery phase of the
Stage-Gate process and increase the likelihood that the products and
services produced by companies will be a success.
Visit the
conference website.
 PDMA
- Front End of Innovation
January 28-31, 2008
Vienna, Austria
The second annual Front End of Innovation Europe event is THE event
dedicated to advancing the knowledge and practice of global innovation
in the front end. This jam packed agenda consisted of today's most cutting-edge
topics with expert cross-industry speakers, including Tony Ulwick, best
selling author and founder
of Strategyn, who spoke on Energizing Growth through
Predictable Innovation at the Pre-Conference Symposium.
Visit the conference website.
 The
Management Roundtable
November 5-6, 2007
Chicago, IL
8 Steps to Predictable Innovation - a two day Strategyn event held
in conjunction with Management Roundtable. This workshop, presented by
Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick, was aimed at decision makers in all industries
who are responsible for growth and can influence the way their business
devises, evaluates and approves new products. Recommended for vice
presidents, directors and senior managers in marketing, R&D, product
engineering, business development, operations and general management.
For upcoming conferences with Management Roundtable,
visit the website.
 PDMA
International Conference 2007
Voice of the Customer:
Helping or Hurting Creativity?
October 1-2, 2007
Orlando, Florida
Voice of the Customer has been an accepted best practice in New
Product Development for more than 15 years now. And in the PDMA’s
2004 Comparative Performance Assessment Study (CPAS), it turned out
to be one of the strongest differentiators between the “best”
performing product development companies versus the “rest”. But VOC
has its detractors, as well. In this lively 2-hour session, a panel
of experts from all sides of the VOC debate, including Tony Ulwick,
CEO of Strategyn, “duked it out” – and audience participation
was encouraged!
Click here to see the panel details, or
go to the conference website.
 MCPC
2007 - World Conference on
Mass Customization & Personalization
October 7-10, 2007
MIT Cambridge/Boston
The World Conference on Mass Customization & Personalization (MCPC)
is the primary event in this domain. Bridging between academic
research and management practice, the conference provides an
interactive platform to learn about mass customization strategies
and to discuss the latest technologies and enablers. The conference
will start at MIT in Cambridge/Boston, with an interdisciplinary
focus on the new advancements in the field. Tony Ulwick will address
the topic of Customer Need, speaking from his much publicized white
paper What is a Customer Need? – a key component in the field of
Mass Customization.
Visit the conference website.
PDMA
Tri-State Annual Conference
October 8, 2007
Cincinnati, Ohio
At this point most companies get it. Consistent innovation in
new products and services is the life blood of corporate
competitiveness. They probably also know that successful innovation
begins by building a culture from the top of the company to the
bottom and, that the success of innovation projects begins at the
beginning – the so-called “fuzzy front end of innovation.”
Strategyn's Urquhart "Urko" Wood, presented
"What
Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create
Breakthrough Products and Services."
Click here to go to the website.
 Rocky
Mountain Product Development & Management Association (PDMA)
October 18, 2007
Denver, Colorado
"What Customers Want" - presented by Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick.
Located at: First Floor, Comcast, 183 Inverness Drive West,
Englewood, CO.
Visit the conference website for more details about upcoming
events.
The Management Roundtable
Customer Needs Discovery Congress
August 13-15, 2007
Chicago, IL
An unprecedented, groundbreaking conversation among the foremost
innovation pioneers. Supersede traditional VOC methods to uncover,
interpret and act on the human-centered insights that lead to
breakthrough products and services. At this groundbreaking conference,
Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick offered the keynote presentation “What
is a Customer Need? Defining the Inputs Into Innovation.”
 Product
Innovation Summit
May 23 – 24, 2007
Boston, MA
Conference
agenda
Aberdeen’s Global Product Innovation Summit, is the
preeminent best practices and networking event for product
management, product development, and engineering executives to
accelerate strategies for increasing product profitability through
improved product innovation, product development, and engineering
processes and technology. Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick, gave a keynote
presentation entitled “Outcome-Driven Innovation and other Tools
for Innovation” at the 2007 Summit. Aberdeen Group, industry
experts and top product innovation executives, participated in this
vital summit on product management, product development, and
engineering strategies. For more information about future Aberdeen
events and conferences,
visit the website.
For speaking referrals, please contact: Jim Brown, Aberdeen
 8
Steps to Predictable Innovation
May 1-2, 2007
Montreal, Quebec
This two-day Strategyn event is held in conjunction with Institute for
Product Development in Quebec. Presented by Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick
and Strategyn consultant Lance Bettencourt, it’s aimed at decision
makers in all industries who are responsible for growth and can
influence the way their business devises, evaluates and approves new
products. Recommended for vice presidents, directors and senior managers
in marketing, R&D, product engineering, business development, operations
and general management. For more information send an
email or see the
brochure.
The Management Roundtable
March 6 & 7, 2007
Miami, Florida
8 Steps to Predictable Innovation - a two day Strategyn event
held in conjunction with Management Roundtable. This workshop, presented
by Strategyn CEO Tony Ulwick, aimed at decision makers in all industries
who are responsible for growth and can influence the way their business
devises, evaluates and approves new products. Recommended for vice
presidents, directors and senior managers in marketing, R&D, product
engineering, business development, operations and general management.
For upcoming conferences with Management Roundtable, visit the
website.
 The
International Planning & Research Corporation
March 8 & 9, 2007
Sunnyvale, California
The Computer Market Analysis Group (CMAG) is an industry
consortium of market research personnel from hardware, software, and
related service companies. Founded by the IPR in 1990 to aid researchers
in their efforts to use market information effectively, and to
promote industry market research standards, CMAG has grown to
include representatives from 50 companies. Each meeting is designed
to help CMAG members become more informed about current market
information sources and research methodologies through
forums and group discussions. At this conference, Strategyn CEO
Tony Ulwick presented "Outcome-Driven Methods for New
Market Creation." For more information on upcoming CMAG
conferences,
visit the website.
 The Association for
Strategic Planning (ASP) 2007 Annual Conference
February 27, 2007
Long Beach, California
Strategic Planning: Lessons from Practice. The ASP's annual
conference is the nation's premier forum for professional discussion
and exchange of information and experiences among strategic-planning
practitioners. Once each year this conference brings together
thought leaders and practitioners for a full day of proceedings
dedicated to advancing all aspects of strategic thinking, planning,
and action. The topic at this conference was, "Strategic Planning:
Lessons from Practice," and focused on applied strategic planning
experiences and lessons in implementing strategic plans. Strategyn
CEO Tony Ulwick presented “Beat the Competition through Predictable
Innovation.” |
