Chicago Ideas Week: Experiences Worth The Price

​Last week I had the privilege of attending Chicago Ideas Week for the first time. Chicago Ideas Week held in October where events are held all across Downtown Chicago to bring people together to share ideas and spark innovation in their community. Events included conversations, labs, and talks.  Thanks to an excellent discount from the Chicago Latino Network I was able to attend several events at a discount and even a free lab from a Twitter giveaway. Let me tell you what I learned from my events. 

Financial services for the common good 
The first event I attended was a FinTech conversation titled, "Innovating for good: How can FinTech use technology to change the way that we use financial services?" The event included companies such as TipYourself, Pangea, and MoneyThink. MoneyThink helps the first generation low-income students were instead of email they communicate via text messaging. Tip Yourself was an app used to tip yourself on a goal you are trying to reach such as saving up for a car, vacation, or whatever you desire. All of the companies are making financial services a benefit to society, not a burden. 

Edelman Lab - Cultural Influences Shape on-Demand Brand Positioning 
If you were ever wondering what the growth trends are in society, then look no more than the Google Trends website, (trends.google.com). The Lab had participants engaged in a beauty product case study to determine where resources should focus on for trends in the market. The information was helpful in learning about trends and how agencies help companies identify trends that are beneficial to the companies customers. 
 
Solving customers pains 
The Lean Canvas workshop was helpful in finding the right product for the right market fit. The overall night focused on getting the right customer who has a big problem and willing to pay you to solve the problem. Participants went through several activities to get at who is the specific customer, their pains, and who we plan to address those pains. 

_________________ solve their ____________________ problem
(Potential Segment)                   (Hypothesize Problem)

Producing a commercial via phone
Univision hosted a lab titled, "produce a commercial with your mobile phone," which I found helpful and wish I knew a year ago. The lab provided apps that can help with filming and editing videos. Apps mentioned included iMovie, FilmoraGo, Quik, Viva Video, Splice, InShot. The activity consisted of filming a short commercial for a clock to practice storyboarding, filming, and editing. After the lab, I started to shoot my vlogs using my iPhone and using FilmoraGo as my editing tool, and you can see the difference yourself. 

Radio at it's best 
The last session of the week was titled, "Be the DJ at iHeartMedia." I didn't get to do much except learn what goes on behind the radio scenes and how cutthroat the radio industry can be for radio personalities. Our group did get a live radio shout-out by V103 but other than that not much on hands experience. I was expecting that we could try to be on the radio and announce the upcoming song or make a live conversation. 

Overall, Chicago Ideas Week was a way to get my face out in the market, learn from industry experts, and take ideas that I can use for my business. What did you take away from the 2017 Chicago Ideas Week? 

---

Mr. J Real Talk

Educator and blogger. Follow Mr.J on social media @MrJRealTalk