
"The DaVinci Institute: Where Great Ideas Happen"
The DaVinci Institute produces a number of unique events ranging from the two monthly networking event - the Night with a Futurist, and the Startup Junkie Underground - to a series of Boot Camps and Crash Courses primarily designed around serving the needs of businesses and entrepreneurs. Our events feature some of the most talented thinkers and seasoned veterans who have fundamentally changed the business landscape with the sheer weight of the footprints they leave behind. Our goal for each of these events is to serve as a turning point in the lives of all people who attend.
July 12, 2008
Professional Coaching Boot Camp Learn the secrets that successful people use
Talented people like you have many options, most of which you have never considered. The reason you are not able to grasp these opportunities for yourself is because you are too close to your own field of battle. That is where coaching comes in. And whether you call yourself an adviser, consultant, coach, or expert, people need the help of someone with a fresh pair of eyes to give them a better perspective.
Problems today are more complicated than at any time in history. There are more variables, more options, and fewer certainties to hang your hat on. The days of following a proven path are gone, and we find ourselves feeling and acting like trailblazers.
For this reason, the people we surround ourselves with, both formally and informally, are critical to our ability to succeed.
The Professional Coaching Boot Camp will help you understand the coaching profession, both from the standpoint of being a coach as well as hiring one.
In our intensely competitive world, it becomes critical to find and work with experts, and learning about the profession is the quickest way to mapping your options.
Join us as we spend a day with three seasoned experts and learn the secrets behind the coaching profession.
EVENT: Professional Coaching Boot Camp DATE: July 12, 2008 - Saturday TIMES: 8:30 am - 12:30 pm WEBSITE: www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=219
NEW LOCATION: The Arabian Horse Center, 12000 Zuni Street, Denver, CO 80234 NOTE: Because of construction work taking place at DeVry University, the location will be changed DIRECTIONS: Click here for map
INSTRUCTORS: Thomas Cogswell, Mike Faber, and Gordon Miller
COST: $119 - ($79 for DaVinci Institute Members) - Register here. COMBO PACKAGE: Membership combined with Professional Coaching Boot Camp: $179 - Register here. * PHONE: 303-666-4133
* - A $298 value. More about DaVinci Institute Memberships and Combo Packages at click here.
What You will Learn
Individuals who engage in a coaching relationship can expect to experience fresh perspectives on personal challenges and opportunities, enhanced thinking and decision making skills, enhanced interpersonal effectiveness, and increased confidence in carrying out their chosen vocation and life's work.
- How can you determine if coaching is right for you?
- What are typical reasons someone might work with a coach?
- What has caused the tremendous growth in the coaching industry?
- How is coaching delivered? What does the process look like?
- What should someone look for when selecting a coach?
- How long does a coach work with an individual?
- How do you ensure a compatible partnership?
- Within the partnership, what does the coach do? The individual?
- How can the success of the coaching process be measured?
INSTRUCTOR: Thomas Cogswell
 Thomas (Coach) Cogswell is a Certified Personal and Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). He has been serving the entrepreneurial spirit for business owners and professionals in the rocky mountain west for over 20 years. He specializes in helping develop best business practices for his clients, focusing on their financial as well as staff development objectives.
He has a strong foundation in business management, including 13 years of production, warehouse and operations management for a fortune 500 company. He has 6 years of experience of managing smaller privately held companies.
A leader in his community, a past winner of the Landmark Education Inc’s award for Community Leadership, past president and current membership chair for a Denver B2B networking chapter and the past president of a Denver chapter of Toastmasters.
In his spare time Tom has enjoyed the Colorado Mountains, especially extreme challenges like hiking Longs Peak. It is through these marathon hikes that he discovered his knack and passion for coaching. He came to the realization that coaching a first-timer up and down the mountain was much more satisfying that going solely with experienced hikers. Tom has supported several others in reaching the summit of Longs Peak 13 times out of 15 attempts.
INSTRUCTOR: Mike Faber
Mike Faber is a keynote speaker, trainer and certified professional coach who has taught thousands of business leaders to communicate passionately and effectively. Mike brings the lessons of a 30-year career in sales, management and broadcasting to audiences in a unique style that combines humor, candor, and lessons that can be applied to all walks of life. Mike serves on the board of the Colorado chapter of the National Speakers Association, and is an industry arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He is an active member of the International Coach Federation, the Denver Coach Federation and the Colorado Human Resources Association. Mike writes Great Communication, a weekly email newsletter with more than 900 subscribers world-wide. More information about Mike can be found on his web site www.mikefaber.com.
INSTRUCTOR: Gordon Miller
Gordon Miller is a nationally recognized career coach and workplace expert and currently directs the Executive Leadership Strategies practice at Dovetail Solutions, a Denver-based PR and Marketing Communications firm). He has appeared in over 500 radio shows, national television (including CNN), and leading business publications such as: Wall St. Journal, Fortune, Harvard Business Reports, Washington Post, and Kiplinger. He is also a best-selling author (Random House/Doubleday). His first book, Quit Your Job Often, was on the business books best-sellers list at the Tattered Cover in Denver for 18 straight weeks. Numerous industry resources have quoted his second book, The Career Coach.
For the last 6 years, Gordon has appeared weekly on KWGN-TV in Denver as The Career Coach. Nationally, he has been a guest on CNN-TV numerous times, including one interview where he was referred to as America’s Career Coach.
Gordon has helped under-served people find rewarding careers via numerous Workforce Development Offices in Colorado, including disadvantaged teen girls and convicted felons entering the workforce. He provides training workshops and speaks to various schools, associations, and non-profits. He has been involved with local Boys Club, Rotary, School Partners, and other service organizations.
July 21, 2008

"The AeroGrow Story" ...an ingenious startup story with the power to transform your life
In 2002 Michael Bissonette created a company called AeroGrow in Boulder, with the dream of marketing and selling a revolutionary idea involving growing plants without soil. In fact, his idea is so unique that a new category of kitchen appliances had to be invented - kitchen crop appliances.
Mr Bissonette previously sold a voice-recognition based remote-control company and a wireless home-security company. After looking at many possible products, he became excited about the potential of a technology called aeroponics. Originally developed by NASA, aeroponics accelerates the speed at which plants grow by drizzling nutrients onto their roots, which dangle in the air instead of being planted in soil.
Driven by this ingenious new product, he hoped to create a whole new market generating billions of dollars in new revenue. He is now well on his way to succeeding.
AeroGrow’s products consistently occupy a number of the top ten slots among Amazon.com’s bestselling indoor plants. In the final quarter of 2007, AeroGrow’s revenues topped $14 million, three times its revenues from the last quarter of 2006. Mr Bissonette believes annual revenues for the aeroponics industry could eventually rise to $1.5 billion.
In addition to finding and selecting great products, Michael has an extraordinary talent for raising money and providing investors with huge returns on their investments.
Join us as we dive into this amazing story and hear from the chief architect of AeroGrow.
EVENT: Startup Junkie Underground DATE: Monday, July 21, 2008 TIMES: 6:15- 9:00 pm - COME EARLY AND NETWORK!
COST: Members - Free, Nonmembers - $25 REGISTER - Click HerePHONE: 303-666-4133 TOPIC: "The AeroGrow Story" SPEAKERS: Michael Bissonnette, Founder and Chairman of Aerogrow
SPEAKER: Michael Bissonnette has over 25 years of hands-on, battlefield-proven, entrepreneurial experience in the funding, development and marketing of revolutionary, technology-based consumer products. Michael has built three consumer product companies from conception into multi-million dollar businesses - two became sizeable national and international corporations. An experienced fundraiser, he has raised substantial sums of money for his ventures and clients - more than $25 million dollars both privately and publicly. In addition, he has taken two of his companies public, and has negotiated the multi-million dollar acquisition of a third. Mr. Bissonnette's extensive consumer marketing experience encompasses retail sales distribution and direct-to-the-consumer marketing, including direct mail, radio, television and long form infomercials. He brings hands-on skill in the use of broadcast media, having conceived, developed and produced his own extremely successful radio and television commercials.
CO-HOSTS: Steve Baker and Allison Taylor are co-hosting the Startup Junkie Underground and as serial entrepreneurs, both will be on hand to help solve your startup related issues.
Allison Taylor is a Business Consultant specializing in relationship selling, referral marketing, customer and employee retention and non-traditional sales training. Through her business, Paravox, she offers innovative marketing and performance tactics to significantly improve business growth and profitability.
Steve Baker. As a founder of successful businesses and a business advisor, Steve Baker has taken companies from startup to millions of dollars in revenues in such diverse industries as international travel, financial software, casinos, manufacturing, cosmetic surgery, and ergonomics. Always the entrepreneur and Startup Junkie, Steve is now Vice President of Advanced Headache Intervention Inc., a new Colorado medical device company whose mission is to eliminate migraine headache pain for 28 million Americans. Steve is a well known speaker and author of the award winning book PUSHING WATER UPHILL With A Rake.
August 6, 2008
An Evening with Dr. Ben Bova
"How to win the war against terrorism, save the space program, and alienate all your friends"
In his various writings, Dr. Bova has predicted the Space Race of the 1960s, solar power satellites, the discovery of organic chemicals in interstellar space, virtual reality, human cloning, the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars), the discovery of life on Mars, the advent of international peacekeeping forces, the discovery of ice on the Moon, electronic book publishing and zero-gravity sex.
Dr. Bova has taught science fiction at Harvard University and at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, where he has also directed film courses. He received his doctorate in education in 1996 from California Coast University, a master of arts degree in communications from the State University of New York at Albany (1987) and a bachelor's degree in journalism from Temple University (1954).
He lectures regularly on topics dealing with the prospects for human immortality, the impact of science on politics (and vice versa), space exploration and development, the craft of writing, and the search for extraterrestrial life. He has worked with film makers and television producers such as Woody Allen, George Lucas, and Gene Roddenberry.
Join us as we spend a fascinating evening with the legendary Dr. Ben Bova. Please register early to reserve your seat.
EVENT: Night with a Futurist DATE: August 6, 2008 - Wednesday TIME: 6:30-9:00 pm WEBSITE: www.nightwithafuturist.com
LOCATION: CB & Potts, 1257 W 120th Ave, Westminster, CO 80234 DIRECTIONS: Click here
COST: Free for Members, all others $25 REGISTER: Click here PHONE: 303-666-4133
NOTE: Because of the popularity of this event and the limited amount of seating, we are asking people to register early to reserve a seat
TOPIC: "How to win the war against terrorism, save the space program, and alienate all your friends" SPEAKER: Ben Bova, World Renowned Science Fiction Author
SPEAKER: The author of more than 115 futuristic novels and nonfiction books, Dr. Ben Bova has been involved in science and high technology since the very beginnings of the space age. President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of Science Fiction Writers of America, Dr. Bova received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in 2005, “for fueling mankind’s imagination regarding the wonders of outer space.” His 2006 novel TITAN received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year.
At the Omegacon 2008 science fiction convention, Dr. Bova received the first annual Ben Bova Award “For Outstanding Achievement in Science Fiction Literature.”
Dr. Bova is a frequent commentator on radio and television and a widely-popular lecturer. Earlier, he was an award-winning editor and an executive in the aerospace industry.
Past Speakers
Past Events
| May 17, 2008 |
Communication Strategy Boot Camp |
| April 19, 2008 |
Making Money Online Boot Camp |
| March 29, 2008 |
Professional Speaking Boot Camp |
| March 1, 2008 |
Make Your Message Count! |
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November 15, 2007 |
Colorado Inventor Showcase 2007 |
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September 29, 2007 |
Website Optimization Boot Camp |
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August 18, 2007 |
Second Life Boot Camp |
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July 14, 2007 |
Buying a Business Boot Camp |
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June 23, 2007 |
Empire of One Boot Camp |
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May 19, 2007 |
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| April 14, 2007 |
Relationship Selling Boot Camp |
| March 31, 2007 |
Flight School: Piloting a Profitable Growth Business |
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March 27, 2007 |
Movers & Shakers - "Future of Education" |
| February 17, 2007 |
Creating Website Content Boot Camp
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| January 27, 2007 |
The Flight School: Taking Off with Sales |
| January 20, 2007 |
Headhunter Boot Camp |
| November 14, 2006 |
Colorado Inventor Showcase 2006 |
| October 28, 2006 |
Online Guerrilla Marketing Boot Camp |
| September 19, 2006 |
Movers & Shakers |
| September 16, 2006 |
Managing Millennials Boot Camp |
| August 19, 2006 |
MySpace Boot Camp |
| July 21, 2006 |
Movers & Shakers - "Reinventing Work" |
| July 15, 2006 |
Seed Capital Boot Camp |
| June 10, 2006 |
Public Relations Boot Camp |
| May 16, 2006 |
Movers & Shakers |
| April 8, 2006 |
Nanotechnology Boot Camp |
| March 25, 2006 |
Future of Advertising Boot Camp |
| March 24, 2006 |
Movers & Shakers |
| March 11, 2006 |
Employee & Customer Retention Boot Camp |
| February 25, 2006 |
Inventor Boot Camp |
| February 11, 2006 |
Referral Marketing Boot Camp |
| January 21, 2006 |
Business Energetics Boot Camp |
| January 14, 2006 |
Online Auction Boot Camp |
| November 11, 2005 |
Night with the Visionaries featuring the Colorado Inventor Showcase |
| November 5, 2005 |
Google Boot Camp |
| October 24, 2005 |
SBIR Boot Camp |
| September 27, 2005 |
Rebuilding New Orleans Boot Camp |
| September 17, 2005 |
Effective Website Strategies Boot Camp |
| August 27, 2005 |
Blogger Boot Camp |
| August 11, 2005 |
Branding Boot Camp |
| July 21, 2005 |
Podcasting Boot Camp |
| June 23, 2005 |
Provisional Patent Workshop |
| June 9, 2005 |
Movers & Shakers |
| May 26, 2005 |
Create Your Own Sales Engine Boot Camp |
| May 7, 2005 |
Doing Business in China Boot Camp - Weekend Crash Course |
| April 9, 2005 |
Doing Business with the Government Boot Camp - Weekend Crash Course |
| March 19, 2005 |
Planning Succesful Products - Weekend Crash Course |
| March 12, 2005 |
Freelance Boot Camp - Weekend Crash Course |
| February 26, 2005 |
Creating Effective Web Sites - Weekend Crash Course |
| February 12, 2005 |
Inventor Bootcamp - Weekend Crash Course |
| January 22, 2005 |
Networking Skills 101 - Weekend Crash Course |
| January 15, 2005 |
Blogger Boot Camp - Weekend Crash Course |
| November 10, 2004 |
Night with the Visionaries |
| October 28, 2004 |
Movers & Shakers |
| October 23, 2004 |
Starting Ventures - Weekend Crash Course |
| September 23-24, 2004 |
Colorado Innovation Summit |
| March 6, 2004 |
Stanford Entrepreneurial Summit |
| December 20, 2003 |
Inventor Boot Camp for Kids |
| July 18, 2003 |
Colorado Innovation Summit |
| May 9, 2003 |
Women Angel Summit |
| February 22, 2003 |
Stanford Entrepreneurial Summit |
| November 16, 2002 |
Bootstrap Boot Camp |
| October 22, 2002 |
Inventor Bootcamp |
| September 28, 2002 |
Freelancer Boot Camp |
| July 25, 2002 |
Angel Bootcamp |
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