ViPlus.BlogSpot.Com: INNOVATION

“Avoid clichés like the plague,” is thrown about frequently in journalism and media circles as it is at ThinkInk. Like a well-worn record, or maybe I should update my own tired imagery to something like an endlessly re-tweeted tweet, clichés usually succeed in getting their point across, but not without the listener rolling their eyes over yet another hackneyed phrase. Too much use with too little care and the force behind the words is totally lost.

In today’s schizoid re-invent-the-wheel-every-day atmosphere – from wordy ways to jump start the job market, to long-winded debates over the commonsense logic of having the US government meet its debt obligations (yawn) – even the word “innovation” has lost much of its sparkle, according to Jack Springman, author and growth strategies consultant in a recent Harvard Business Review blog post.

His advice to readers: jettison the word “innovation” from their business vocabulary. Doing so, he says, refocuses a company’s attention on delivering quality to its customers, not the manufacture of buzzwords directed inward at corporate higher-ups.

While so deliberately discarding a word sounds a little sophomoric, kind of like having a “no-cursing” change jar to dissuade poor language (which definitely hasn’t worked at our agency – we simply love a good swear), Springman is nevertheless on to something. While doing research for his piece, a search of the term “innovation” on the HBR site came up with 4,700 results. Perform a similar Google search for “innovation” and “business” and you end up with 423,000,000 hits. Clearly the term innovation has, wait for it….. had its day in the sun.

Innovation, like guru, and expert, among countless other words, is a term that should be used like salt in a recipe, sparingly and with extreme care to not scuttle the dish. PR and communications firms should also take note Springman’s advice. I don’t know if innovation should be completely excised from our corporate lexicon, but a timeout is certainly in order.

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At our new CloudBeat 2011 conference (Nov 30-Dec1), we’ll be holding an “Innovation Showdown” to showcase the coolest, most disruptive products leveraging the cloud.

We’re opening the nomination process today, and we’ll be selecting 10 finalists on Oct 31 to present their products/services to the event’s full audience. The event will be at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City.

To be nominated, a company’s product or service will need to be leveraging the cloud in a disruptive way. The more revolutionary the idea, the more chance we’ll select them as a finalist.Nominations can include startups or established companies with brilliant new ideas. We’re giving special consideration to products that are new, or that haven’t been widely publicized yet.

We’re looking for products that will change how businesses serve customers, empower employees and deliver tangible value to investors.

Here’s how it will work. Finalists will have four minutes to showcase their innovative cloud technologies live at CloudBeat 2011. Live at the event, our team of sages — made up of industry experts, venture capitalists, and actual enterprise customers — will provide feedback on the products/services presented. Ultimately, our sages will recap the highlights of the competition and determine the winner.

The Showdown winner will be announced onstage at CloudBeat 2011 and will receive a VentureBeat editorial profile, introductions to investors and/or relevant potential customers in our network, and other prizes yet to be announced. Additionally, the audience will get to choose its favorite new product/service. The winner of the “People’s Choice” award will also be announced live onstage.

To submit your company/product for nomination, go here. Deadline for submission is Oct 31.

Upon what criteria will the companies be judged?
Freshness of ideaPotential to disrupt an industryThe success they can potentially drive for their customers
What are the guidelines and other rules?
A short video telling us more about your company or product must be included with your application. This should not be an elaborate production. We are just looking for a no frills video of the entrepreneur or executive talking about the idea, so that we know it is concise and clear enough.All applications must be received no later than October 31, 2011, at 5pm PST.A person from your company must be available to pitch live at CloudBeat 2011Powerpoints must be no longer than 4 slides long and must be received two weeks prior to the event.In addition to PowerPoint, you can do a demo, video, screenshots or other creative ways of presenting your technology.If you are a startup and/or have received less than 10 million in funding, we will provide you with a mandatory “bootcamp” where experts will help you to hone your pitch (don’t worry, this will be amazingly useful).We’ll accept products that haven’t even been launched yet, and in fact we’d encourage this, and prioritize this.
Apply for the Innovation Showdown here, and don’t forget to register for CloudBeat 2011 today and save 25%. We’ll see you at the event!

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