Date
Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Time
8:30-10:30 AM

Location
ITA TechNexus
Conference Room A/B
200 S. Wacker, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606

To register to attend the event, please sign up on the ITA website:  http://www.illinoistech.org/event.aspx/2922

The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) is a regional industry trade association headquartered in Chicago and serving all of Illinois.  The ITA provides members with access to connections, information and promotional opportunities to improve business locally, regionally and nationally.

Date
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Time
8:30-10:30 AM

Location
ITA TechNexus
Conference Room A/B
200 S. Wacker, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606

To register to attend the event, please sign up on the ITA website:  http://www.illinoistech.org/calendar.aspx/1876

The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) is a regional industry trade association headquartered in Chicago and serving all of Illinois.  The ITA provides members with access to connections, information and promotional opportunities to improve business locally, regionally and nationally.

As provided in the graphic below, the seminar will focus on the marketing and design opportunities that exist at the nexus of intellectual property and semiotics (the science of signs).  This is a complimentary series, open to the public and RSVPs are not necessary.  A reception will be held at 3:30 pm and refreshments are provided.

I will be attending the seminar to supplement my patent law expertise with additional marketing and product development perspectives and concepts.  I encourage all of my interested Chicago area patent law clients to join me in person and my national and international clients to attend via webcast.  If you plan to join me, contact me so I can look for you at the event.

For driving directions to Northwestern University follow the link provided:  http://www.mpd.northwestern.edu/contact/directions.php.  To access the webcast, visit www.mpd.northwestern.edu and click on the MPD Seminar icon.  Further information concerning the seminar is provided below:

This short clip above is a portion of a much longer lecture directed to entrepreneurship in the biotech field.  It’s just one example of the great reference material to be found on their archives.

I hope that you get an opportunity to explore the content provided and find something educational and/or inspirational!

On Thursday, December 17,  Headstand Media, a Chicago web design company, will host an educational and networking event as part of their ongoing Nightstand series.  The event centers around providing Wheelwell, a Chicago non-profit, advice and recommendations regarding implementing a web site, brand and strategy.

The event starts at 6 pm with informal networking.  Food and beverages will be provided.  At 6:30 pm the hosts and attendees will break up into small task groups to discuss and strategize regarding Wheelwell’s:

• Content, Site Architecture, Brand and SEO Strategy
• Visual Brand, User Interface and Experience Design
• Technology, Platform, Hosting and Site Implementation Strategy

At 7:15 each of the groups will make 15-minute presentations regarding their recommendations.  At 8 pm there will be a general group discussion through which a formalized strategic recommendation will be made.  Headstand Media will post their summary recommendation online after the event.

Give Back:

Headstand Media is planning to donate some leadership, time and expertise to implementing the recommended plan for Wheelwell and invites us to join them in any way we can.  Headstand Media will provide and explain the options for contributing as the plan is developed.

Invite Others and RSVP!

The invitation has been extended and you are encouraged to pass along this invitation to others in the industry who would benefit from and could contribute to this kind of event.  Please RSVP by leaving a comment on the Nightstand Gives Back site with your name and organization.

I hope to see you there!

The event will take place in the Headstand Media offices at 333 W. Wacker Dr., Suite 850, Chicago, Illinois.  Informal networking begins at 6 PM, with food and beverages provided.  The presentation and informal discussion will go from 7:00 PM until about 8:30 PM.

To RSVP to the event click through to Headstand Media’s invitation and leave a comment with your name and company or organization.  I hope to see you there!

The kids section of the USPTO website includes news and events as well as links to resources for kids and teachers.  For example, there is a link to the USPTO’s Intellectual Property Curriculum designed to help teachers educate their students about patents, trademarks and copyrights and respecting others’ intellectual property rights.  The curriculum includes content for three different instruction levels designed for upper-elementary, middle, and high school students.

There is also a link to a Kids’ Pages section with games, puzzles and other fun pages, such as the Trademark Soundex where you can listen to audio trademarks.  Really fun.

Lastly, the For Kids section links to InventNow.org, a third party website aimed at kids with unique content aimed at teaching and encouraging kids to explore inventions and creative problem solving.  The InventNow website is an interactive playground for young inventors and could keep me occupied for hours.

To the best of my knowledge, the For Kids section is not new, but tonight was the first time I found it thanks to the redesigned layout.  I am happy to have found these resources and hope that my post helps more people find and enjoy these pages.