Get On Stage at BIF-5 (No, we are not kidding!)

Posted by Melissa Withers on April 20, 2009

The BIF-5 Summit is doing something a little different this year to bring more great stories and more inspiring people to BIF's center stage. On each day of the Summit, three people will be selected from the audience to join BIF-5 co-host and bestselling author Bill Taylor to share their story about being "Practically Radical."  In all, six brave souls will venture from their seats to take the stage and (we hope) steal the show.

Drawing inspiration from Bill's new book, Practically Radical, we'll select six innovators from the BIF-5 audience who understand that you can't innovate by being "a little bit" better than everybody else. As Bill puts it, "in an era of hyper-competition and non-stop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something special. The most successful companies today don't just out-compete their rivals. They redefine the terms of competition by embracing one-of-a-kind ideas in a world filled with me-too thinking. That's an essential challenge for business leaders: What do you see that the competition doesn't see? Or, in the spirit of a phrase coined by that great business philosopher, George Carlin, can you develop a sense of "vuja dé?"

Is your company, non-profit or public service agency already living with "vuja de," the trick of looking at a familiar situation with fresh eyes and developing a new line of sight into the future?  Have you found the ticket to innovation by embracing the challenges and opportunities of true disruption?

This year we are excited to move more of the conversations that happen off-stage at BIF-5 to center stage, and include more members of the BIF-5 audience in live dialogue.

Here's how it works:

1. Register for the BIF-5 Summit.
2. Declare yourself Practically Radical by filling out the short application on the Summit registration form.
3. Show up on October 7-8 and be in the audience at the beginning of the Practically Radical sessions on day 1 and day 2 of the BIF-5 Summit
4. Have a Bob Barker moment when Bill Taylor invites you to join him on the stage.
5. Blow everyone away with your story and recruit new true believers to your cause.

When will I know if I have been selected?

When Bill Taylor invites you on stage. Seriously. Selectees will not receive advance notification that they have been selected. If you are selected but are not in the audience when Bill gives the shout out, your storyteller spot will be given to an alternate selectee who is present in the audience. We like adventure and hope you do too.

Selection Criteria:

The Summit team will select participants for the Practically Radical sessions based on the themes in Bill's book, including:

1. Your idea, innovation, or effort is actualized (and not just a good idea swimming in your head).
2. Do you see the opportunities that the competition doesn't see?
3. Are you the very best at delivering value, distinguishing yourself from the competition by being "the most" of whatever you are (the most accessible, the most elegant, the most disruptive, the most exciting, etc.)?
4. Do you offer a level of service that makes it hard for your users or customers to even think about living without you?
5. Do you have an eye for the hidden genius all around you?
6. Have you championed innovations that, at the onset, where unpopular?

Beyond the Stage

A select group of "Practically Radical" applicants who are not invited to speak on the BIF-5 stage will have an opportunity to share their stories on the BIFSpeak blog and be included in a special feature on our website.

Register here: http://www.businessinnovationfactory.com/bif-5