Two types of meetings are held in Phoenix: 

PUBLIC meetings are those meetings in which everyone is invited.  To help cover expenses, the cost is $5 for all non-members. 

PRIVATE (closed door) meetings are for members only. 

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PHOENIX -- PUBLIC Meetings - 1st Wed. of each month from 7-9pm
Where:  DeVry University --2149 W. Dunlap Rd,  (look for posted signs)    

 PHOENIX -- PRIVATE Meetings - 3rd Wed. of the month from 7-9pm
Where:  DeVry University -- 2149 W. Dunlap Rd, Room #218 (Look for posted signs or check the campus directory by the Administrative Office!)

BELOW IS A LIST OF DATES & SPEAKERS FOR UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS

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Phoenix: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm                    

Orca Communications Unlimited, LLC is pleased to address the members of the Invention Association of Arizona on Wednesday, May 7^th to discuss “Big PR for Inventors & Entrepreneurs”.  The panel experts will offer an overview of public relations and highlight the advantages of implied endorsements versus costly advertising and direct mail.  In addition, the panel will address guerilla marketing/PR, the importance of newsworthiness, the basic tools of PR, and tips for leveraging PR.  The panel consists of Julia Hutton, Founder and CEO, Debra Jones, Director of HR and Marketing, Jennifer Hoffman, Senior Publicist, Catherine Anifantis, Publicist, and Dee Ransom, Assistant Director of Marketing.

Orca Communications Unlimited is widely known as America’s PR firm for inventors and entrepreneurs.  Their hard-hitting, highly effective, out-of-the-box approach to public relations allows us to continually produce exceptional results for our clients.  Orca’s clients have been featured in the worlds’ most critically acclaimed media outlets, including Oprah, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, The Today Show, Time Magazine, People Magazine, Newsweek, In Style Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, Men’s Journal, and many more.  Orca has a strong commitment to understanding a client’s business and long-term goals so that they can effectively and strategically present their products and services to the world.  Orca specializes in consumer PR in all industries including baby and children’s products, pet, home & garden, style & beauty, retail, health & safety, trends & gifts, technical innovations, and much more.

Orca Communications Unlimited is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and was founded in 2002 by Julia Hutton, a 40-year public relations veteran.  In 2008, the company was selected by Arizona Woman Magazine for one of the best places for women to work in the state.  For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.OrcaCommunications.com.

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    HERE ARE SPEAKERS WHO HAVE PRESENTED IN 2008!!

Phx 1/9/08 -- Peter A. Cicero, MBA, SPHR, CEC  of Capjem Group has picked up “secrets” by assisting corporations around the world in driving their profits by implementing creative, effective, and outrageous sales/marketing strategies.  All workshop attendees walked away with simple, yet effective tips on how to drive their business.

Phx 2/6/08 -- Law Gardner, owner of Media 3D - a 3d animation and digital video design studio located here in Phoenix.  Mr. Gardner/Media 3d takes pride in their ability to provide their unique services to individuals and companies with a budget of “a few bucks” to a budget that allows for major-motion-picture-quality detail.  For more information on Law Gardner and Media 3d, please visit www.media3d.net, or contact Law directly @ 602-459-2839. 

Phx 3/5/08 --  The Lucky Napkin Company  We’re a company founded by entrepreneurs, providing both prospective and active entrepreneurs with information, education, opportunity and access to a suite of critical services needed to take their raw ideas from mind to market and their businesses from creation to cash flow. You’ve probably already heard about us on The Big Idea™ with Donny Deutsch on CNBC® or read about us in The Business Journal, but if you want to learn more,you can read all about us here- http://www.luckynapkin.com  Anthony Tesoriero presented information to us regarding the Lucky Napkin Live event which was held on March 20th.

Phx 4/2/08 --  Anthony Tesoriero, Co-Founder of Lucky Napkin provided much feedback and explanation about the March 20th event.  Anthony also shared valuable information about packaging, QVC and marketing strategies.  A multitude of questions were asked and answered.     

HERE ARE SPEAKERS WHO HAVE PRESENTED IN 2007!!

Phx 1/3/07 -- No meeting was held due to holiday schedule conflicts.

Phx 2/7/07 --Tom Gilluly, Sales Manager for Profile Precision Extrusions Co.  Tom leads a sales team of 2 salaried sales professionals and 7 Manufacturers Representatives.  Tom & his wife Kristy own Pyramid Credit Services in Tempe AZ.

Phx 3/7/07 -- Gail Keith Marketing Strategies, LLC                        GKMS is a known firm in Phoenix and provides strategic marketing plans that produce results for business to consumer or business to business markets. Gail uncovered critical myths, tricks and tips that every inventor needs to know to turn their invention into actual cash.   www.gailkeithmarketing.com

Phx 4/4/07 -- Hand-outs on the following topics were available courtesy of S.C.O.R.E. Chapter #105:  Mailing instructions for Application for Provisional Patent, Business Leads, Sample Bait letter (for manufacturing companies), Sample Assignment letter, A list of "to do's" before advertising, creating a web site or opening a new business, What to do after the application for provisional patent is filed, Sample order to revoke your power of attorney and appoint a new, Sample petition to accord a filing date, Sample Contract, Sample confidential disclosure agreement, A do it yourself manual on trade names and trademarks, A do it yourself manual for creating and registering a domain name, Workshop packet on writing your own provisional application for patent, Seminar notes on protecting your creations, Caution information on invention promotion firms and Information on obtaining business contacts and sales leads.

Phx 5/1/07 -- John Donachy, Design Research Director with Raytech Corporation, discussed the hidden tasks, timelines and product acceptance factors that should be accounted for before investing in any deal.

Tuc 5/10/07 -- The Inventors Association of Arizona was Back in Tucson! – 15 year old association for Inventors re-ignites and begins meeting in Tucson again.  Lisa Lloyd (www.icaninvent.com) discussed how she licensed 7 products to companies like Goody®, Scunci®, Vidal Sassoon® and others for millions of dollars in passive income.   

Phx July 4th - A meeting was not held due to the Independence Day holiday.

Phx 8/1/07 -- Kim Babjak, founder of KimCo LLC, is a mother of four, entrepreneur, inventor, author and speaker, who despite only completing the 10^th grade, was determined to create and realizing her dreams of product development.  She has written a book called “Dream It, Make It, Sell It” which shares her step-by-step process of bringing an idea to market successfully.  Due to Babjak’s tenacity and sheer determination, she was recognized with the SCORE 2005 “Client of the Year” award.

Phx 9/5/07 --  Marcia Rorke is the founder of Mohawk Research Corporation, a firm specializing in research, project design, and training focused on the innovation process as it affects new product development and technology management. mrorke@mohawkresearch.com     ww.mohawkresearch.com

Phx 10/3/07 --Two speakers for the price of one!  Ed Clapper and Dick Stover

An Arizona resident, Edward Clapper is an engineer, inventor, designer and musician with 33 issued U.S. patents and several copyrights.  With a BSME from Penn State, and 20 years of professional experience as a mechanical design engineer, he currently leads a design team at Intel’s Digital Health Group.  Outside of Intel, Ed develops his own inventions and products in his personal business, Ideonx.  Productized designs of his patented candle accessories are on track for market introduction this year.  Richard (Dick) Stover is an entrepreneur who started 7 small businesses during his 40+ year career. Included business to business marketing of information systems for engineering and manufacturing; Hi-tech marketing; Consulting; Publishing; financing small businesses.

Phx 11/7/07 -- Due to unforeseen circumstances, CapJem was unable to present tonight.  However, CapJem has confirmed to present on Jan 9, 2008.  The format this evening was used to answer specific questions by attendees that they needed answers for to move their inventions to the next level.

Phx 12/5/07 -- US Government Grants & Contracting -  Sandy DiCosola is the owner of Summit Contract Management, and has worked in Government Contracting for both large and small businesses for 25 years. Sandy provided step by step personal guidance from proposal submission through contract close-out.  www.summitcontractmanagement.com

HERE ARE SPEAKERS WHO HAVE PRESENTED IN 2006!!

Tuc 1/3/06 -- Road trip!  Greg Rettberg, a manager of Catalina Tool and Mold, 6230 S. Country Club Rd. (just North of Valencia) in Tucson gave a tour of the facility for a mold making tour! A front to back look at creating a mold for casting a plastic piece, part, unit or component.

Phx 1/4/06 -- Kerry Zang, D.P.M, Founder of the Arizona Institute of Footcare Physicians, Dr. Zang has more than 30 years experience developing and providing the latest technologies in podiatric care.  Kerry shared his trial and error experiences.   

Tuc 2/7/06 -- Dave and Karyl from Pelham West, shared their valuable insights from invention to your product on the market. 

Phx 2/1/06 -- Three speakers answering everyone's questions were Wayne Carroll, a registered Patent Attorney, Tim Crawley, IAA President and Kelly Kinnard, IAA Vice President.  February was all about getting your questions answered as to what's the next step.  

Tuc 3/7/06 -- Mr. Frank Hamilton is currently President of Decision Support, Inc. (DSI), a firm he formed in 1990 to provide a broad range of market research and consulting services and Jan Knight is an independent research specialist and Owner of Bancroft Information Services, LLC. She provides customized business intelligence and secondary market research to companies who wish to make “informed decisions.” Her work involves business plans, marketing strategies and new business development for a diverse set of clients.

Phx 3/1/06 --  From bartender to inventor and entrepreneur. . .Andrew Rose, President of Green Thumb Innovations is just that!  In just a few short years, Rose has grown a single idea for a Lawn and Garden product to a 70+ SKU line selling in leading retailers across the country, including The Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Kmart, ACE Hardware, Do it Best and many others.

Tuc 4/4/06 --  Mr. Jaime Ladriere, Adhesives and Sealants Engineer for Henkel Loctite Corporation, a manufacturer of a wide variety of adhesives used widely in industry.  His OEM experience includes working in military, electronic, electrical, medical, small engines, small carburetors, connectors, etc. and his experience in MRO working is with Phelps Dodge and Asarco.

Phx 4/5/06 -- April we had a trio of presenters which include: Richard Dennis, Plastic Design Resources, LLC a designer and developer of plastics.
Tanguy is with Desert Star Plastics, and his company can do prototyping from a basic drawing, and can produce the CAD drawings and do production.
Bob Heller, Salesman with Mastercraft Companies is a full service, custom and production plastic fabrication and manufacturing company.

Tuc 5/2/06 AND Phx  5/3/06 -- William McHenry, President of Entrepreneur Sales & Marketing, LLC and has over 20 years of successful experience in the industry.  Bill provides a competitive edge in sales and marketing.

Tuc 6/6/06 --  Mr. Samuelsen is a high integrity, creative, and people oriented business executive.  He has a diverse background in Fortune 500 companies, startups, and most recently as President of a dramatic high tech mid-market turnaround. He has successfully executed the five primary roles of a CEO including building a strong team, establishing the organizational design, setting the tactics and agenda for the business, building the strategy, and providing strong, hands-on leadership.

Phx 6/7/06 -- Echo Buck owns and operates WCB Solutions a rapid prototyping company using the latest technology in 3D color printing. She has done purchasing in technical field for over 10 years. Her husband is an engineer with one patent and with his help she decided to move forward with owning her own prototyping business.

Tuc 7/4/06 -- Meeting was cancelled for all to celebrate Independence Day!

Phx 7/5/06 --  Mr. Kirk D. Dorius, Attorney with Snell & Wilmer LLP and has recently presented "Strategies for Protecting Innovations and Brand Assets" at the Arizona Product Development and Management Association 2006 Conference.

Tuc 8/1/06 -- Successful business owner, inventor and Co-founder of the Inventor's Association of Arizona: Lisa Lloyd imparted us with valuable information regarding the MARKETING and LICENSING of our new products.

Phx 8/2/06 -- Back by popular demand was an open forum meeting to ask all of the questions that you have been anxious to get answers for in moving to the next step. Wayne Carroll, registered Patent Attorney was there answering legal questions. Tim Crawley, IAA President answered proto-typing and product development questions.  Kelly Kinnard, IAA Vice President gave guidance on what to consider when writing a business plan.

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HERE ARE SPEAKERS WHO HAVE PRESENTED IN 2005!!

Tuc 1/4/05-- A successful inventor, CHARLES BLEDSOE of the Painter's Apprentice demonstrated how to conduct thorough patent searches on the Internet.  

Phx 1/5/05 -- PAUL E. BURNS,  an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson, LLP and who is an expert on patents and intellectual property presented to the group.  

Tuc 2/1/05 -- The guest speaker was HEATH LAUSENG, Vice President of Greenberg Financial Group.

Phx 2/2/05--"Writing a Successful Business Plan" presented by MARTIN (Marty) ROBBINS from SCORE - Counselors to America's Small Businesses.

Tuc 3/1/05 -- “E-Marketing for Innovation” by Ben Bessick and Gabriela Cervantes from AGM's Container Controls on east Ft. Lowell Rd. 

Phx 3/2/05 -- Kim Babjak, successful entrepreneur and inventor of Zip-A-Ruffle speaks about how she took her idea to market. 

Tuc 4/5/05 --  Tom Farmer demonstrated the wide range of resources the library has for conducting research on your projects. 

Phx 4/6/05 -- John Faraday, the founder of Inventor's Digest will be our honored guest.   

Tuc 5/3/05 -- Eric Zuercher, Senior Design Engineer for Ascension products and Howard N. Stewart, President of AGM Container Controls presented “Wheelchair Lift Design: Starting from Scratch.”   

Phx 5/4/05 -- Don J. Flickinger, an Intellectual Property Counselor at the Phx SCORE® Chapter 105 and also a registered patent agent was our featured presenter. 

Tuc 6/7/05 -- Kim M. Bayne, freelance writer and best-selling author of "The Internet Marketing Plan" presented an insider's guide to BLOGS and PODCASTS.

Phx 6/1/05 -- Marty Robbins from SCORE will be a 90-minute presentation titled, “Entrepreneurship – The Positives and the Pitfalls”   

Phx 7/6/05 -- Sue Shipman, a veteran Productivity Consultant for businesses of all sizes and specializes in guiding entrepreneurs.  

Tuc 8/2/05 -- Greg Rettbergh, a manager at Catalina Tool and Mold discussed many interesting facets of plastics. 

Phx 8/3/05 -- Maria Crimi Speth, an attorney specializing in the areas of intellectual property and commercial litigation, presented valuable information on how inventors need to protect themselves and their ideas/projects. 

Phx 9/7/05 -- Albert W. Davis, Jr. an expert patent agent retired after 30 years with the US Patent and Trademark Office.  He co-founded The Trimex Company and counsels inventors on Intellectual Property concerns for SCORE, an arm of the SBA.

Tuc10/4/05 -- Ray Rivera of GE Polymers and Chuck Amos of MSC Industrial Supply Co. spoke about the fact that many inventions are made of plastics. But which plastic was best?

Phx 10/5/05 -- Jack Floyd, owner of  "The Roller Wizard".  spoke about the process on how this paint roller cleaning tool made it to market.

Tuc 11/2/05 -- Peter B. Goldman, a registered patent attorney and member of the law firm of Leonard Felker Altfeld Greenberg & Battaile, P.C. spoke and answered questions about patents, trademarks, Trade Secret Law, Copyrights, litigation, etc.

Phx 11/2/05 -- Albert W. Davis, Jr. an expert patent agent, retired after 30 years with the US Patent and Trademark Office currently counsels inventors on Intellectual Property concerns for SCORE, an arm of the SBA.  Mr. Davis lent his expertise to many inventors on how to proceed with their ideas. 

Tuc 12/6/05 -- Tom Shambo, Business Analyst with the Small Business Development Center of Pima Community College.  Tom spoke about the basics of setting up various forms of businesses.  

Phx 12/7/05 --  IRA M. SCHWARTZ, a Shareholder in the Phoenix office of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy.   He practices primarily in the intellectual property area, representing a broad range of clients from large corporations and universities, to small and medium sized high tech business, to individual artists, authors and inventors.