Hey, That Went Pretty Well

Our presentations on Technology and Special Needs Populations went very well this afternoon. We gave the same ninety minute talk twice today, and believe it or not the first time was much better. The first session had a larger crowd, and we were able to get more questions and comments from them, which really helps engage the audience in what you are trying to tell them. The second group was smaller, but we still had some good dialogue.

The real trick here was presenting this topic without making this into a ninety minute sales pitch for software. No one wanted to see or hear that, so we were very careful in how we developed our material to really focus on the academic and real world research our center has participated in over the past three or four years. We did a very nice job of talking in general terms, even as I moved from the broader view into a live demo of SpinReg.org.

And despite all of this, and the fact that two thirds of the presented content wasn't about SpinReg at all, just about every question we fielded at the end of each session was about the new system.

How do you balance that? I told any who talked to me about it afterward the simple truth: FEPA's conference was not a marketing tool for us, but if they would like more info, I'd take their card and we would set up a real demo at a later date. That worked very well, and I think that everyone was appreciative of the fact that we hadn't taken this opportunity to simply stand up there and hawk our wares. Even though I would have liked to.

Honestly, in my opinion SpinReg is one of the most important projects I've worked on. It addresses a clear need in emergency management, and it does it in a way that is accessible and powerful. Of course, there are always issues. We are still trying to work out a price, for starters. The center is a research center at FSU, we are not a for profit enterprise. As such we are not interested in making gobs of money and then retiring, we honestly want to provide a product that is helpful to the community. Of course, that costs money. We have to fund ongoing development, support efforts, contract management, and etc. Therefore we have to price the product at a point where it is inexpensive enough for local governments to be interested, but also where it generates enough revenue to support itself. That is not an easy task, and one that I actually fear is impossible. We'll see.

Okay, this turned into a much longer bit that I had originally intended. Stay tuned for more news on SpinReg as we move closer to a public launch.