I was blown away by Dr. Worden’s entrepreneurial impact and vision for NASA Ames.  My interview with him covers topics ranging from space exploration to NASA’s strategic entrepreneurial partnerships (i.e. Google and Airship Ventures) to the usually more difficult feat of encouraging employees to be entrepreneurial.

Legendary Venture Capitalist Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, investor in Skype and Hotmail, not only captured the audience at USASBE ‘09 with his cutting-edge insight into the future of venture capital funding and technology, but somehow inspired 400 academias to clap enthusiastically to the beat of entrepreneurship.

Before I cover his entertaining musical interlude, here are several insights from his speech that caught my attention:

• “Entrepreneurs are heroes. Right now, we NEED heroes.”
• “After every bubble burst, there was a spike in innovation. Be ready for it.”
• “In 1423, if you were in Salem, MA, facing a wall and talking to yourself, you’d be burned at the stake. If you were at UC Berkeley in 1970, facing a wall and talking to yourself, you’d be considered stoned.  Nowadays, if you are facing a wall and talking to yourself, you’re probably on your cell phone.”

AND, this is where you should start paying attention! The future, according to Draper:

• Abundantly cheap water
• Non-invasive health devices
• Net zero energy homes
• Reigniting batteries
• Piloted electric cars
• Online education for the masses
• All computing from the cloud
• 3D on demand for entertainment
• Storable instant fresh meals (something, he said, he is greatly looking forward to :))
• Genetic disease prediction
• Cure for Cancer, AIDs, & Malaria
• 5cents/KWH electric fuel
• New life forms
• Cure for heart disease

After business is taken care of, Draper loosens up… and busts out the musical notes! It sure is refreshing to see such a well-respected and highly-regarded business leader poking fun at himself.

C’mon, guys, sing along! “He isss the rissskmmassstterrrr…..”

At a conference with 400 educators, center directors, and advocates, I was the ONLY STUDENT.  To my delight, of course.

I got a sneak peek into where our professors get their information, initiative, research, and tips.

There were sessions on everything from “Developing Entrepreneurship Education” to “Hiring Entrepreneurial Students” to “Integration of Entrepreneurship Education & Clubs” to “Technology Commercialization @ Universities”

I infiltrated. I learned. I took away…

Most surprising key lesson:

For graduating seniors studying Entrepreneurship, there are some smart options to consider if you’re not ready for a start-up. a) You can work for a start-up, b) You can work with a company like ValPak or Tom James whose missions are to mentor, develop, and advance their employees, c) You can become a franchisee, or d) You can work in sales.

Sales? I know. Sounds crazy. But they almost sold me on this one.. no pun intended.  Being able to “sell” is such a critical piece of being an entrepreneur (from selling your idea to convincing others to work with you, etc), that sales very easily becomes a vital piece of the big picture.

Outstanding Keynotes:

Don Kuratko, “the Tony Robbins of Entrepreneurship” as put by a good friend of mine , told the shaking story of entrepreneurship education in the US:

“30 years ago there were only 6 universities that had recognized (entrepreneurship) programs. In the early 2000s, that number grew to 1,600. The initiative didn’t come from us. It came from the students. They CLAMORED for it! And we must not forget that.”

He went on to define entrepreneurship, in the context of the global economic state:

“… It is the most potent economic force the world has ever seen.”

His advice to the educators present?

1. “Be dedicated to entrepreneurship research - the creation of it, the respect for it, and the application of it.  Serve on editorial boards of journals, and to the criticizers, tell them - entrepreneurship is NOT magic. It’s a discipline, and like any discipline, it can be learned.“
2. “As entrepreneurship expands throughout your respective campuses, be careful not to lose its meaning!”
3. “If you sit and tell yourself how difficult campus administration is to convince, remember - Powerlessness is a state of mind.  If you THINK you’re powerless, then you ARE.”
4. “We have reached a point in time when the gap between what can be imagined and what can be accomplished has never been smaller.”
5. “The old order of things is crumbling and a new way is painfully trying to structure itself. Be a part of that.”

Tomorrow LIVE @ USASBE - Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, one of the world’s most legendary venture capitalists!

In terms of CES, I gave you the WHY but what about the HOW?

Your 10-STEP-to-CES Guidebook, while it’s fresh in my memory:

1. Recession? Normally = Bad, but Recession in Las Vegas during CES = Advantages (i.e. the hotel I stayed in - The Palazzo - should have cost 300+ per night during CES week. The damage? Only 130 / night. In addition, car rental was only 7 BUCKS / DAY! Did my whole blog just become unbelievable? Awesome!)

2. Stay near the conference. The “stress-saved” is worth a little extra cash. All of the keynotes are held in the Venetian meeting rooms. The Venetian is joined with 1) the Palazzo, 2) The Wynn, and 3) The Encore. The “Show Floor” (where all the companies display) is in the Sans Expo. A shuttle bus runs between the Venetian and the Sans all day long.

3. Ladies - skip the high heels. I speak from experience. 1.7 million net square feet of demo space. Enough said.

4. The “Lake of Dreams” is a MUST. Every 30 minutes, there is a (for lack of a better word) “dreamy” show put on in the lake outside the Wynn. See the famous “Singing Frog” show below… too funny!

5. Walk around the hotels. Think - actually think - about the effort and amount of detail that went into the design of these buildings. FYI - Encore cost 1.3 billion to build, with an overwhelming $50 million just for landscaping! Its brand new club, XS, is the largest club in North America. Why the name “XS”? Well, it’s excessive. Really!

6. Look out for celebrities and never forget your camera. You never know who might be around you. Paul Allen (Microsoft) was sitting a few rows ahead of me. Guess who forget her camera that day?

7. Bring your business cards! But don’t use PrintsMadeEasy.com. In a hurry to get a new shipment of cards for CES, I ordered 100 more and asked for them to be delivered to my hotel in Las Vegas. Instead, they sent them to my HOUSE In Connecticut!

8. Definitely take a walk down the strip. Definitely bring a friend.

9. Try the calamari @ the Woo in the Palazzo. You haven’t had calamari til you’ve tasted these. Yum.

10. Repeat after me. “MY. CELLPHONE. CAN. NEVER. BE. CHARGED. TOO. MUCH. AT. CES.” (IF. I. HAVE. AN. IPHONE. I. AM. S-O-L.)

So you know where to find me next January. Hope to see you all there, at the heart of the newest trends, technology, and event-extraordinaire!

Microsoft Keynote

“The future of technology will be 3 screens – the PC, the phone, and the TV.  There will eventually be one single platform for creating all connected experiences, and we are proud to know that Windows will be the FUTURE!”

“We have written the language that over 1 billion people speak.”

- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO @ CES ‘09

Sony Keynote

The CEO of Sony, Sir Howard Stringer, brought on stage a plethora of celebrities. Finding myself among a sea of “tech geeks”, I was easily able to scramble to the front of the audience when USHER came out on stage!!!!!

…What?

I am a normal girl after all.

Sir Howard didn’t forget to bring out the rest of his friends: Tom Hanks and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson also made appearances.

Uh… the new Sony Products? Ummm…..

Ford Keynote

Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, mainly covered Sync, their new in-car communications and entertainment system forged from their Microsoft partnership. According to Mulally, there are nearly 1 million Ford cars on the road with Sync.  “Reviews have actually been great, too!” Their is hope for America’s car brand, after all?

Alan Mulally brings out Steve Ballmer to talk about their “new exciting partnership.”

Then, there’s me with Mulally! I waited patiently to talk to him. As I introduce myself, I hear his assistant proclaim, “It’s a Mulally LOVE-fest.”

I’ll tell you, though. Alan Mulally is a genuinely COOL person. Definitely on “the Factor” list. Not only did he hang around to talk to the audience members for 45 minutes, he took the time to sincerely talk to each one of them!

Verdict? Pencil It In Next Year! Jan 7-10, 2010

From the amazing 3-D Sound headphones to the world’s largest plasma flatscreen (150 inches!) to the thousands of interesting, smart people to the amazing keynotes to… Las Vegas - CES is a MUST for you in 2010!

Before I left for this “adventure” (as my parents put it), I made sure to change my Facebook status to “Lauren will be in Vegas for CES. Who else is going??” A good friend of mine commented:

“Half the WORLD goes to CES.”

Actually a very small percentage of the world goes to CES – only 150,000 out of the 6.7 billion humans there are on this planet. So, he was in fact, very wrong. However, if half of the world did go, which half would you be with?

Another friend commented:

“I don’t like zoos.”

There may be about 150,000 people at a large zoo in a city, on any given day. So in that respect I’ll concede.

But zoos are stinky, dirty, and ugly looking. I’ll let you decide for yourself, but judging by the picture of the Venetian to the right, I’d say if this is a zoo, it’s a zoo for the animals with Black Cards!

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO Keynote

Bill Gates has spoken at CES for the past 14 years, but 2009 called for a fresh outlook.  Considering, however, that having Microsoft open CES is a solid tradition, they didn’t stray too far away from the cradle. (strikingly representative of the world’s overall dependency on Microsoft!)  Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, will present tonight at 6:30pm PT.  Ballmer is known for continuing the legacy of Gates by building the current competitive culture of the corporation.

A very interesting research project would be to survey  the world’s PC users and ask them how many (regardless of if they actually will) want to make the terrifying Windows-to-Apple switch? Myself being one of them, I am sure the results would not favor Mister Softee. My point being… It’s an impactful year for Microsoft to show how innovative and user-friendly they really are, especially because of the economy. In fact, as I sit here, a dorky reporter asks a clueless girl:

Dorky Reporter: “So we are trying to discover what people here think Ballmer’s new product will be. What do you think?”

Girl: “uhhhh… I don’t really know anything about it.”

What do you think it will be? C’mon, no answer can be worse than the one I just had to painfully sit through.

Tune back in tonight in the am or tomorrow morning for CES coverage!