Trish Talk

Women Tech Council: Women in Innovation Networking Event

2008-05-12T19:38:06Z

Om May 7, 2008 the Women Tech Council presented the first annual Women in Innovation Networking event with featured speaker Sharlene Wells Hawkes CMO of StoryRock.]]> Thanksgiving Point Garden Room. I believe the event registered 250+ people (mostly women) and provided a unique opportunity to network with other women and learn from the experiences of other women in technology innovation. The message from the keynote Sharlene Wells Hawkes and a message that is the central theme of previous, present and future events is "Do what you want with your future and your career and don't let anyone box you into their idea of what you are". This message resonates with other messages of "don't let anyone tell you no" and " become self aware". The Women Tech Council is a community of women that encourages women to employ forward thinking strategies generating support for all women. Women helping women, I like that !

Small Business Innovative Research grants (SBIR): Is this funding right for your small business?

2008-03-08T01:53:30Z

Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants are a great way to obtain research and development dollars for a small business. Once a small business has decided that the Federal SBIR funding mechanism is right for the organization, the small business must complete a step-by-step registration process before submitting an application. The sequence of the steps is critical to ensuring a smooth application process. National Institutes of Health must complete a registration process with all agencies before submitting grants and/or contracts. The small business should plan a minimum of eight weeks to complete the entire process and because each step requires a piece of information that is collected from one or more entities (i.e., EIN, DUNS, CCR). As a warning, the time to complete the entire process may exceed eight weeks. For Public Health Service grant submission there are five federal registration requirements: 1. Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 2. Register with Dun and Bradstreet to obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS). 3. Register in Federal Central Contractor Registry (CCR). 4. Register with Grants.gov. 5. Register with Electronic Research Administration (eRA commons). First and foremost a small business must obtain an Entity Identification Number (EIN) through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Obtaining an EIN allows the small business applicant apply for and obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) identification number. The DUNS number is the ID that is required and used as a means of identifying an organization within the multiple Federal entities. Without the EIN and DUNS, there is no mechanism to apply for funds. The second most important step in the SBIR process is to register with the Federal Central Contractor Registry (CCR), Grants.gov and the NIH Electronic Research Administration (eRA Commons). The CCR registry allows an applicant to submit an application via grants.gov that is in return sent along to the NIH for peer review. If these steps are not followed in the sequence outlined above, the potential applicant will get caught up in bureaucratic red tape the likes of which will frustrate even the most determined individual.]]>

The Utah Women's Technology Council - Inaugural Luncheon

2007-10-20T00:11:22Z

On October 18 the Utah Women’s Technology Council convened to launch the first meeting and luncheon at the Miller Free Enterprise Center. The Women’s Technology Council is a forum organized to bring women in technology sectors together to network and establish new relationships with women in various professional roles.]]> PodFitness and Carol Fineagan, CIO/SVP of Energy Solutions. Both speakers provided background information on themselves and their respective companies along with a few words of advice: become self-aware, employ forward think strategies and don’t let anyone stop you. One of the most important messages that was conveyed was the message that we, as professional women, have an obligation to become role models for all women. Indeed, as Carol Fineagan stated, “it is incumbent on us to get involved with young women to encourage them to enter into the fields of technology, math and science”. Teri Sundh had the following sound advice “engage in strategic partnerships that allow you to expand” and “ don’t let anyone tell you no”. Both women represent what we all strive to be in our professional lives and are great role models for women of all ages. Women helping women, I like that!

The Dynamics of Salesmanship

2007-05-02T22:05:21Z

The definition of a sale is ‘the act of meeting prospective buyers and providing them with a product or service in turn of money or other required compensation’ [Wikipedia, 2007]. The sale is the practical implementation of marketing event and has a clearly defined cycle of events through salesmanship that involves, to a larger extent, attributes in selling. Those attributes involve empathy, ego drive and strength. The sales cycle and execution of a sales plan, as a follow up to a marketing event requires personality attributes that contribute to successful sales. Salespeople are exposed to risk and rejection in a sale situation and must learn to process the rejection, adapt and move on to the next call. At VisualShare, we have had to learn how to become salespeople, selling a product to a market that has no money to spend. Identifying and calling potential customers, understanding their budget cycle and keeping them interested in you requires a well developed ego and a certain amount of empathy. Empathy: the term implies that the salesperson sense the reactions of others to illicit valuable feedback from a prospect. For the most part, empathy requires that a sales person not be hampered by a rigid sales pitch but rather, modify their approach to accept valuable feedback. Ego is necessary to make a sale. Ego allows a sales person use persuasion to get someone to buy their product and relishes the victory once the sale is closed. But too much ego can kill a sale giving potential customers the idea that you are both arrogant and insensitive. Customers need to feel like they are buying something of value not just sold something that may have limited value.

The UTC CEO P2P Experience

2007-03-22T01:49:50Z

Utah Technology Council (UTC) CEO P2P forum where the topic of discussion was “The Smartest Things I Ever Did”.]]> As a member of UTC I get notifications of events that are held to provide access to “a proven, powerful network of executives, innovators, and entrepreneurs working together to address the issues Utah technology companies care about most”. In the past, I have attended UTC sponsored events and every time I walk away with some valuable piece of advice or information largely based on the experience of my peers in the group. Even though I feel as though don’t have time in my schedule to attend these events, the overall experience is worth the time investment. A couple of invaluable pieces of advice: 1. Check you ego at the door – treat your partners and employees with the respect they deserve recognizing that these are the very people who have helped you get where you are today. 2. Transparency is the best policy – keep everyone abreast of where the company stands currently, where the company is headed and the overall goals and objectives of the company. 3. When you decide to go for investment capitol, don’t ask for capitol in the thousands, put together a plan that will position the company for a million(s) dollar investment. I will keep these three pieces of advice close and remember them at all times. In addition, I enjoyed the privilege of meeting a remarkable woman (for now will remain anonymous) who took the time to talk to me after the meeting and conveyed additional pieces of wisdom. I appreciate the entire experience.

I must have misunderstood what was said....

2007-03-06T23:21:42Z

Okay, there are times when someone tells me something and I read into it what fits or what I want to hear at the time. Then there are other times, believe it or not, that I am really listening and I take in every word at face value. Those very special times when I am really paying attention and I don't read anything into what is being said, then later discover that I misunderstood what was said...well...that is baffling.

]]> For the past 12 years I have been working on, around or with technology that allows two or more individuals to collaborate with images. Without giving away my age, I started testing the use of web-based collaboration around images using Netscape 0.87b. That seems like a century ago.

To make a very long history short, I have published a few peer reviewed articles, obtained Federal funding, filed patents and started a small business around the methods and processes for image collaboration and management. I know a little about the subject. For brevity's sake, we will refer the methods and processes as the collection

Recently, I have been engaged with two other parties that are interested in different aspects of the collection. Each party, for a variety of reasons has an agenda that is part of an overall strategy and does not necessarily match my own agenda. Therein lies the problem. So I have to pay extra careful attention when I engage in a dialog with the 'other' parties.

One can imagine my surprise and disbelief upon discovering that I misunderstood a simple sentence that consisted of 13 words. To protect the innocent, I will not repeat the sentence in this forum although it is tempting to do so. Needless to say, I alternated between anger and disbelief to discover that I had been manipulated in this manner by a former colleague and friend (oh grow up you say?) I reminded this individual that I have a mind like a steel trap (along with those X chromosomes) and I don't forget anything.

After the conversation, I kept going over the discussion in my head and analyzed the outcome with my colleagues after which I wondered if I did read something into that single sentence? Could I have forgotten something? I have to admit that I perseverated over the episode until someone who has no emotional attachment to the situation and no relationship to the ‘other’ parties made an observation to my business partner “This is a great opportunity for you! You can state that you did indeed misunderstand what was said and in turn, get a direct answer to the original question. This approach allows you to skip through the confusing rhetoric”. I like that!

What is the lesson here? Well I'll tell you. Don't react. Disengage on an emotional level. Say very little and get everything in writing.

Changing the Voice is More Like a Changing of the Guard

2007-02-15T01:57:46Z

Recently, I have had some difficulty writing blog entries. My main concern is that the since my blog is directly linked to my company are the entries that I create and write can have a positive or negative impact on the company image? Since I have put so much energy and time into building a small business the image of the company means more to me and I the last thing I would want is to tarnish that image by not projecting a more professional tone of voice. I have had many (thank you) individuals who continually remind me that I need to write more entries but I have struggled with the voice of the entries, so much so that I tend to sabotage my own contribution to the blog. I feel compelled to write in a professional voice to ensure that anyone who reads the entries will understand that I am a serious small business owner. On the other hand, I have written entries about Harriette (a.k.a. Pea Pod) using a much lighter voice than the otherwise serious tone of the small business owner who must project a professional manner. I have also learned (thank you) that the tone of a blog is conversational as opposed to formal. This is a personal hurdle for me since most of what I write is targeted to a peer group (i.e., grants, contracts, manuscripts subjected to peer review) that better have citations and references to the literature that can be verified. After all, credibility can be checked don’t forget. I was trained that one never publishes an article unless it is grammatically or stylistically correct, is completely free of typographical errors and adheres to the rules of parallel construction. These rules apparently don’t apply to blog entries. Lessons learned, 1) drop the formal voice and adopt a new informal tone to writing and 2) don’t be so concerned with writing an entry that is will obviously never pass for peer review. The formal voice creates inertia and a tendency to put off writing entries. In an informal voice I can write anything I want, in other words, anything goes.

Building a Statewide Program for Child Abuse Medical Assessment

2007-02-14T01:50:08Z

In January 2007 VisualShare was had the pleasure of an onsite visit from two individuals, Amanda Peterson and Deborah Pullin from the New Hampshire Network of Child Advocacy Centers (NHNCAC). Amanda and Deb are in the process of defining developing a statewide program for peer review and quality assurance in child abuse medicine with the promise to protect children from abuse. Their ultimate goal is to provide access to multidisciplinary services through Children’s Advocacy Centers for every abused child in the state of New Hampshire.

]]> The goal of NHNCAC is to establish a multidisciplinary team model by bringing together representatives from the Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF), law enforcement, the County Attorney’s Office, local Crisis Centers and medical and mental health providers to investigate and intervene in cases of alleged child abuse. Designed by professionals and volunteers responding to the needs of their own communities, Child Advocacy Centers ensure that children are not further victimized by interventions intended to protect them.

NHNCAC has partnered with VisualShare to provide the technical component to facilitate peer review for medical providers including physicians, nurse practitioners, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs), and physician’s assistants in the medical evaluation of children suspected of child abuse, particularly child sexual abuse.

Those of us at VisualShare learned more about the challenges of developing a statewide program for child abuse evaluations. Amanda and Deb, come visit us anytime!

Culture Shock: Embracing the role of the entrepreneur

2006-12-15T23:45:59Z

What you think you know and what you realize you don't know when you step into entrepreneurship. A transition from academia to small business and the inevitable cultural changes. There have been several examples of individuals becoming entrepreneurs from academics to big company executives. One reads success stories (and failures) about the world of entrepreneurship with a mix of envy and admiration for those willing to take the big step (or plunge) if you will. For some individuals the attraction to the risk of entrepreneurship is always present, after all, it can’t be that difficult to build a successful small company can it? Yes, it can be difficult in many ways. For instance, the culture shock of starting up and running a small business is very different from the academic environment. Having been successful and comfortable in an academic research environment is no guarantee that a small business that conducts essentially the same research and development will be successful. Starting a software research and development company is very different from directing the research and development within the protective walls of a University. Within the University environment, the principle investigator is responsible for obtaining the funding to direct research efforts, teach and direct students and publish results. The every day details of overhead, payroll and reporting are all part of the supporting institution. That is not the case for a small business. Responsibilities such as overhead and payroll would be delegated to a department that focuses on such matters. Entrepreneurs are multidimensional in nature. They have to juggle new business contacts, customer and technical support with payroll, sales, marketing and public relations, not to mention the problems one faces when the small business is courted by the IRS. The amount of time spent on the phone resolving what appears to be a simple misunderstanding with IRS, countless trips to the office supply store or troubleshooting a internal Internet connection problem can amount to hours and may not be resolved for a couple of days. All in a days work even if that day is on average, a 12 hour day. Overall, the entrepreneurial experience is rewarding. Sure it is a tough road and not for everyone. One must count every penny that comes in and goes out and there are a multitude of unexpected challenges but the learning experience, freedom, especially the freedom to run with an idea and make it a success without the bureaucracy is the ultimate reward. In a small business there are many unknowns and entrepreneurs learn to expect the unexpected.

The SBIR Experience: Beginning to End and Everything in Between

2006-10-12T03:09:34Z

The process of competing for and winning a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant is an undertaking that requires a serious committment in planning and execution. The following describes the process of planning, writing, submitting and finally, obtaining an SBIR award. 45 CFR Part 74. 2. Decide if the SBIR grant mechanism is for you and your small business 3. The electronic submission process. 4. Peer review 5. Notice of grant award 6. Gaining access to the SBIR funds]]>

Image Collaboration in Pediatric Ophthalmology

2006-10-10T21:47:03Z

The weekend of October 6 I was invited to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Conference and Exhibition. This conference was held in the lovely city of Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) and attended by close to 40,000 pediatricians, pediatric specialists and practitioners and device manufacturers and vendors. RetCam II by Clarity Medical. Retcam II is a device that captures pediatric retinal images. The images are high quality and provide a detailed examination of the retina to determine eye disease in premature infants or retinal haemorrhage in shaken baby syndrome. Since the retinas display certain characteristics of detachment and the detection of the retinal detachment is a primary method of determining if a child has been exposed to shaking, the Retcam II provides definitive proof for medical examiners. From the non clinician perspective, I managed to take away a great deal of knowledge from this conference and will make every effort to attend next year,]]>

Business Ignitor Series with Tom Stockham

2006-09-28T03:19:58Z

Wednesday, September 27 the Business Ingnitor Series presented Tom Stockham President and CEO of 3point5, a company that develops technology that trains retail sales associates. The talk was sponsored by Grow Utah Ventures, Grant Thornton, and Connect Magazine for the entreprenurial community. ]]> MyFamily.com for which I discovered Tom was the founder and CEO. Tom Stockham talked about what it takes to make a difference and how an individual can focus their talents to execute a difference. He opened his talk with a great joke that had something to do with "celebrating" as opposed to 'celibating'. It took me a minute to get the joke but slowly, I got it. The point of the joke (without repeating it) was show how easy it is to misinperpret a message. Great opener. The rest of his talk centered around getting the message out in clear terms, keeping the passion for what you believe in, and some thoughtful advice on how to get there from here. It was a great talk from the perspective that you just can't give up and it takes tenacity and perserverance to build a successful business. Some great advice offered at this talk: 1. Don't give up and be passionate about what you are doing. 2. Do your best to create a simple message to communicate what your business is about. 3. Follow up on all leads. What one person doesn't understand, another person will. 4. Build a company that is supported by sales of your product or services, then go for capitol investment. Tom, thank you for the candid talk. It was worth attending!

Harriett (a.k.a. Pea Pod)

2006-09-13T21:36:03Z

Let me introduce you to Harriett, a.k.a. Pea Pod. Her other aliases, of which I use randomly and often, are stinky rat or just plain old stink, BeBop, Teapot, little mutt, Larriett and Marriett.

Harriett is an 8 year old female Jack Russell terrier. Like most Jack Russell terriers, Harriett has an endless supply of energy and thinks that she is about the size of a labrador retriever or larger. I have witnessed her ability to quickly subdue two Weimarers into complete submission, herd them off of her property and then turn around with that "look who is in charge now" expression. That energy/tenacity combination also allows her to jump 3 or 4 feet in the air to chase down an inflated balloon (looks like a ball) for as long as it takes to get it. This activity can go on for hours until she drops from sheer exhaustion. Tenacity is a descriptive term that applies directly to Harriett and, I am discovering, the entire breed.

]]> Being the good dog owner that I am I decided to take the opportunity to participate in the Dog Shotz photo shoot sponsored by Ann Torrence of Ann Torrence Photography. Harriett knew we were up to something and as soon as I mentioned the single most important word in Harriett's vocabulary "GO". We were off and running to have her picture taken. Never mind that Harriett had no idea where we were going or why, we were just going, and going at the speed of light.

A photo shoot...great! What was I thinking? Harriett + photo shoot = chaos. Harriett sitting still for a few minutes to have her picture taken? What was I thinking? In any event, we arrive at the photo shoot and immediately Harriett has tapped into her energy reserves so she is amped up from the start. Ann has graciously purchased a few toys and treats for the canines participating in the photo shoot and Harriett quickly zeros in on the rubber fish that contains a squeeker inside. I have already mentioned that Harriett is tenacious? that tenacity becomes obsession in a blink of an eye. Harriett is obsessed with life in general and completely obsessed with squeeky toys that resemble anything close to a ball (e.g., the rubber fish). Did I mention the sitting still part? Forget the treats, Harriett is so obsessed with the rubber fish that she can't sit still for even a minute and has no interest in treats. She gets that all to familiar wild look in her eyes that she will never see that rubber fish again and the photo opp turns into a chaotic scene and all the while she stares up at me with those crazed eyes that say "but the fish, where is it?!?".

Okay, we made it through the photo opp and I have this picture to prove it. This picture shows Harriett doing her best (under strict owner verbal command and the threat of no more balls or fish...whatever), to sit still. I would guess that this picture is one of possibly 45 pictures that were taken of Harriett in the span of an hour that downloaded from the Smug Mug site. I suspect that there are only a handful of pictures where she is actually sitting, much less remaining still enough for the camera.

All in all, we had a great experience although I am certain that Ann will want to screen all of her potential canine participants in the future and seriously consider banning energy/tenacious/obsessed Jack Russell terriers in photo shoots.

Harriett enjoyed the outing. She played with the fish for about an hour and successfully removed the dorsal fin, tail and the squeeker on the fish so that it was reduced to a slimey ball with extra parts. A great outcome of our photo shoot adventure is that Harriett burned off some energy and was all around happy to be outside on a walk with her owner. I had a great time and now have a great picture of my little Pea Pod. On the way home we spotted a kitty cat...did I mention that Harriett really loves kitty cats?

Knowledge Representation of Visual Annotations with Images

2006-08-22T22:34:38Z

Providing clinicians and basic scientists with knowledge representation tools built on the need to visually identify and label features on an image and add expert knowledge for collaboration and sharing will improve the process of clinical and scientific discoveries.
The figures demonstrate how visual annotations can be applied to images from different imaging modalities without destroying the underlying image. Any given solution must provide the ability to add or incorporate a standard lexicon or vocabulary to a single annotation, a set of annotated information, the image, or the entire session and export or save the annotation session in a structured output format. Adopting a structured output format of the image, visual annotations, and textual information in a format such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), simplifies storage and retrieval by facilitating indexing and cataloging of the knowledge base. A solution that is designed to maintain the knowledge base of images and visual annotations has broad application in both the clinical and scientific community. ]]>

VisualShare's Public-Private Partnership Initiative for Diagnosing Child Abuse

2006-08-12T16:21:36Z

Primary Children’s Medical Center Safe and Healthy Families Center (PCMC) the Utah State Attorney General, and Children’s Justice Centers throughout the State of Utah. ]]> The role of VisualShare is to provide information technology for child abuse diagnosis. The information technology is provided through the solution TeleCAM that serves as a framework to facilitate peer review and case consultation between geographically distant medical providers specializing in the area of child abuse diagnosis. Providers in child abuse medicine are often geographically remote from one another and have limited or no access to expert consultation and findings. TeleCAM is a framework that bridges examiners in rural communities with experts located in tertiary care centers. The approach allows children to be examined in their community environment by community providers that have access to expert clinical consultation in diagnosing child abuse. The TeleCAM system is a web-based system that has been designed to reflect the workflow of nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians in the area of child abuse and maintains a record for diagnosis, training and reporting. Because TeleCAM is a web-based consultation record and has features that directly support the needs of practitioners in the field of child abuse diagnosis, clinical case management and oversight, image tracking and management and clinical case consultation and review are available to examiners in rural communities. The public-private partnership developed in the State of Utah is a model for other States. Recently, VisualShare was asked to consider becoming involved as a technology partner with the Midwest Children's Resource Center and the Mississippi Children's Justice Center through a the grant from the Ronal McDonald Charities Foundation to provide case review and oversight for children’s advocacy groups in rural communities. This endeavor would allow small communities that do not have access to child abuse expertise to form a consortium that has access to a ‘super team’ of care providers in child abuse such as, mental health, law enforcement and medical oversight. Our goal is to provide a resource that can be accessed using telehealth and teleconsultation as a mechanism to support those needs.