Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • May 28, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: Startups & Entrepreneurs CT Invention Convention breeds student entrepreneurs Q&A talks with Ron Katz, executive director of the Connecticut Invention Convention (CIC). Q. The CIC celebrated its 35th-year anniversary this year. Can you tell us who you are and what you do? A. CIC is a nonprofit organization that provides invention education to students in grades K-12. This year more than 17,000 students from 293 schools across the state participated in our program, which encourages students to use their creative problem-solving and critical- thinking skills to develop an original invention. The program is designed to help students build the skills they will need to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), which is vital to developing the state's future workforce. We are fortunate to be surrounded by many companies that recognize this need for talent development and receive 85 percent of our funding from corporate sponsors, including Boehringer Ingelheim Cares Founda- tion, Eversource Energy Foundation, Hologic, Hubbell Inc., Stanley Black and Decker, and United Technologies Corp., among others. Q. CIC has its own online invention curriculum for schools. What does it entail and how widespread is its use in Connecticut? A. The CIC curriculum includes over 100 lessons and activities designed to stimulate creativity and problem-solv- ing skills and teach the engineering de- sign process through invention. Teach- ers have access to a portal that delivers these activities by category and grade level, and the program's flexibility allows each teacher to select the best lessons and activities for their classroom. The CIC curriculum has now be- come the basis for a national invention education curriculum. Q. You had 800 kid inventors who participated in the state finals in late April. What were the results? A. Sixty-six students received spon- sored awards at the state finals from 3M, ESPN, Lincoln Financial Foundation, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and Wepco Plastics, among other organiza- tions. We also honored 166 recognized inventors who were identified by judges as standouts during the evaluation process. From this group, 200 student inventors were invited to represent the CIC program at the National Invention Convention (NICEE), to be held at the Henry Ford Museum, May 31-June 2. At NICEE, which is also sponsored by UTC, students will meet young inven- tors from across the U.S. and enjoy educational opportunities designed to further their innovative spirit. Last year at NICEE, Audrey Larson from Wall- ingford received The Cantor Colburn Patent Award (a best of show award) for Ron Katz Executive Director, Connecticut Invention Convention By Norman Bell Special to the Hartford Business Journal "Y es and" is the fundamental principle of improvisational theater. It requires performers to accept and build onto another's statement without challenge. Now a West Hartford firm is show- ing improv skills can be an asset in the business world. Ellen Feldman Ornato and Jenny Drescher are the principals behind The Bolder Company. They share similar backgrounds as workplace trainers, execu- tive coaches and improvisational theater per- formers. They launched Con- nectAnd Improv in Middletown in 2014 before moving to West Hartford and rebranding this year as The Bolder Company. The firm's web- site lays out the premise clearly: "The Bolder Com- pany is the cata- lyst for the lasting behavioral change that empowers businesses to thrive. We con- nect individuals to themselves, to each other, and to the futures of their organiza- tions. We combine fully experiential, improvisation- based learning with grounded, outcomes-focused content to produce lasting behavioral change." It's a model that has built a follow- ing among startups, young leaders and clients at reSET's business incuba- tor in Hartford. Today Ornato and Drescher are in demand as speakers at training con- ferences and in the workplace and are writing a chapter on "Applied Improv" for the textbook Change Handbook. They shun conventional lecture tech- niques in favor of getting everyone on their feet and engaged. "People learn bet- ter through experience," Drescher said. Participants are encouraged to engage with the understanding there is nothing at stake in the sessions. Taking a page from the improv stage, participants take turns using a "Yes and" model to build on a colleague's statement while steering the conver- sation toward a common goal. Ojala Naeem, managing director at reSET, said The Bolder Company's ap- proach has been "an incredible fit" for coaching startups in reSET's business ac- celerator program. The improv training helps executives develop pitching and presentation skills while learning to "roll with it" when answering questions that sometimes seem to come from left field. "It has been fascinating to see these people have fun and loosen up," she said. While acknowledging not everyone embraces improv immediately, there is a "massive difference" in the group's presentation skills over time, she said. Shem Lachhman, CEO of Norwalk biotech startup Pelletric, leveraged training from The Bolder Company into a strong showing at reSET's recent Venture Showcase competition. "Their methods are to remove you out of your shell when presenting and be comfortable when you improv dur- ing presentations," he said. "During my reSET pitch, the projector shut off and I did not have any slides. So I had to improv the rest of the presentation and drive my points across without visual aid. Their classes are to teach you to be comfortable in these types of situations." One of The Bolder Company's larg- est clients is AARP. Cynthia Langley, who leads the membership organiza- tion's Community Leadership Acad- emy, turned to Ornato and Drescher for help training leaders of AARP's volunteer programs. Off-Stage Coaching West Hartford startup matches theatrical improv with workplace training Ellen Feldman Ornato (left) and Jenny Drescher are the founders of The Bolder Company, offering an unusual combination of corporate training and improvisational theater techniques. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

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