hester & sorocco to speak at Oklahoma epscor conference

Dr. Kathryn Hester and myself will be speaking on October 22, 2004 at an Oklahoma EPSCoR seminar entitled "An Entrepreneurial Workshop".

This entrepreneurial workshop is an educational event for young entrepreneurs that features instruction from top business professionals, entrepreneurs, service providers and investors with experience in a variety of knowledge areas that are critical for the emerging technology-based company. 

The focus of the workshop will be on practical issues such as: IP Protection, Competitive Strategy, and Alternative ways to find Capital.   

• Protecting Your Creativity 
  Doug Sorocco and Kathryn  Hester, Dunlap, Codding & Rogers, P.C.
• Putting Together Your Business Plan
  John Fitzpatrick, CEO and Founder, LifeGuard America
• Cost, Capital and the Challenges 
  David Humphrey , Oklahoma Equity Partners  

During lunch hear Success Stories from young business professionals who have walked the path of entrepreneurship right here in Oklahoma .  They will tell you how they did it and what pitfalls to avoid. 

• Kord Campbell, Having successful created and sold one internet related startup, Kord is launching Zoto, a second internet technology enterprise.
• Bryan Kirchmer, ForcePro, a Tulsa early stage company features advances in plastics manufacturing that may revolutionize the way many products are made.  

We will follow up with a fun and insightful hands on workshop by Mel James, Enterprise Director, i2E, that will provide the tools to move forward with your entrepreneurial career goals.   

Who Should Attend: This Entrepreneurial Workshop is open to all young entrepreneurs, university students and faculty throughout the State of Oklahoma who are eager to learn how to become the next high-tech entrepreneur in Oklahoma !      

Why You Should Attend: Competitive regional economies require entrepreneurship.  The process of starting, growing and sustaining advanced technology based companies is faced with many challenges.   

It is critical for entrepreneurs, innovators, students and business professionals to expose themselves to information designed to enhance their understanding of the critical processes involved in starting high growth companies, recognizing that successful entrepreneurship requires an understanding of numerous business topics.   

Who wants to be an Entrepreneur will provide essential information on topics that will assist in navigating the technology commercialization process.

The Oklahoma EPSCoR program helps build the research competitiveness of Oklahoma�s universities through strategic support of research instruments and facilities, research collaborations, integrated education and research programs, and high-performance computer networks. The success of the National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR program had lead to the development of six other EPSCoR programs within federal agencies (DOD, DOE, EPA, NASA, NIH, USDA). Recent awards have allowed for the development of the Oklahoma Functional Genomics Resources Consortium (FGRC), the Oklahoma Network for Nanostructured Materials (NanoNet), the Oklahoma Biotechnology Network, the Center for Environmental Applications of the Oklahoma Mesonet and the Center for Photonic and Electronic Materials and Devices.