Serving the SBIR/STTR Community Since 1993

SBIR-CounselorSM Workshop   

(To grow tech-based economies, communities need
to ID, support & generate successful applicants)
[SBIR Logo]
 
AKA: Identification, Care and Feeding of SBIR Applicants

MEDA Attendees Register Here (but, do not pay)

The basic SBIR-CounselorTM workshop is designed to train Economic Development Professionals and Small Business Counselors to:

  1. understand SBIR/STTR's role as the nation's leading venture financing source,
  2. understand the value of SBIR/STTR's as a local economic development tool,
  3. screen their clients as possible applicants,
  4. identify potential SBIR/STTR winners #,
  5. gently dissuade the unlikely candidates,
  6. properly encourage and support selected clients,
  7. guide supported applicants through the serious problems and issues,
  8. point supported clents to appropriate resources,
  9. speak cogently on the subject of SBIR/STTR programs@
           # includes our proprietary analysis sheet to aid in evaluation of potential applicants.
           @ includes a canned, electronic PowerPoint(R) presentation for each attendee.


For organizations having an SBIR Outreach CenterTM, these workshops may also include:
  1. an orientation to and guide for SBIR Outreach CenterTM operations,
  2. training in how to employ the SBIR-ToolKitTM libraries,
  3. training in how to employ the SBIR-TutorialTM library,
  4. a list of lists that Center counselors need to maintain,
  5. a special listing of "screened" SBIR/STTR documents and how to get them, and
  6. discussion of how/where to access additional support from various sources.
The full Counselor workshop (about 4.5 hours) is typically organized into three distinct sections as follows:

    SECTION 1) Explains, from the Economic Development Professional's point of view, the importance of SBIR/STTR's as a local development tool. It also discusses what other localities are doing to find and support their SBIR applicants. (~1.5 hours)

    SECTION 2) Provides a clear, useful understanding of the SBIR program from the applicant's perspective vs. the government's, based on both strategic and tactical issues. Also, it establishes useful guidelines for, and provides proprietary tools to aid in, evaluation of a small business client's suitability for pursuing funding under SBIR/STTR. (~1.5 hours)

    SECTION 3) If a counseling center is present, this orients the operator's understanding toward how to successfully use an Outreach Center's various tools and resources to screen, guide and support potential applicants. (~1.5 hours)

The first two sections are suitable for all E. D. Professionals, while the last section is designed exclusively for SBIR Outreach CenterTM operators/counselors (unnecessary for those not serving in a Center).

This workshop has been distilled from the SBIR Center's many years of experience in providing the leading business development resources to the national SBIR/STTR community. In that time, several thousand individual inventors and small firms have been helped to win SBIR or STTR funding. Also, the center has provided time saving tools/software resources to hundreds more who have been denied funding. All of this has lead to a sensitivity and understanding of the most salient characteristics of "winning applicants" at all 11 SBIR agencies. This understanding was initially forged into a half day training session and delivered as part of a counselor re-certification program for the Maryland SBDC Network in 1998. Before each presentation the workshop is refined and updated to reflect current conditions in the SBIR/STTR program.

Subsequently, this special workshop has been updated and presented many times to audiences in various states. It is always well received by those attending and can be customized to fit your particular situation. We do not have access to all of the attendee feedback forms that each state used, thus we cannot share all the results with you, however, we can offer the following.

Although offered many times, in many locations, a reduced version of this workshop was presented by invitation to a very appreciative, albeit small, group of counselors at two National ASBDC Conferences held in Miami in 2000 and again in New Orleans in 2004. Official feedback (attendee reviews) from the Miami presentation was tabulated by the ASBDC and sent to us as follows:

Questions: *
# 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
#229 Identifying & Helping SBDC Clients In ... SBIR & STTR 18 VG-12
G-5
F-0
P-0
VG-13
G-4
F-0
P-0
Y-14
N-1
Y-17
N-0
Y-13
N-1
TS-1
TL-2
JR-14
TM-0
NE-6
E-4

          * Workshop Evaluation Questions:
          1. Information content (Very Good/Good/Fair/Poor)
          2. Relevance of information (Very Good/Good/Fair/Poor)
          3. I will do some things differently as a result of this workshop (Yes/No)
          4. I gained new knowledge and insights into the topic covered (Yes/No)
          5. I would attend a workshop on this topic next year (Yes/No)
          6. The time allotted for this workshop (Too Short/Too Long/Just Right)
          7. There were Too Many/Not Enough/Enough workshops on this topic this year

INSTRUCTOR: John Davis is General Manager of The SBIR Resource Center(R)*, the leading commercial provider of business development resources and software tools to the SBIR/STTR community. Mr. Davis has personally developed/supported proposals and grant requests to each of the 11 SBIR/STTR agencies every year since 1993, and he updates and leads the highly acclaimed SBIR Bidder's Course and WorkshopSM at least six times a year. He has over thirty years of progressive experience as an executive, program manager, research engineer and proposal writer in leading technical organizations where he won, and lead the technical performance on, numerous US Government R&D projects. He has also earned advanced academic degrees in engineering and business administration. Davis is a popular speaker on "Competitive Proposal Writing" and on "Project Management", is an active member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals and is a much published author on the subject of SBIR/STTR.

*The SBIR Resource Center(R) is a division of JADE Research Corporation.


BACK



"SBIR Resources" lead to "SBIR Success"

SBIR Resource Center(R) has been the leading provider of commercial SBIR and STTR resources since 1994. 

[Home]  [Info Request]  [Testimonials]  [Products List]  [E-Mail Us]  

(C) Copyright JADE Research Corporation 1995 to 2006