Tennessee Inventor's Association

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The Tennessee Inventor's Association (TIA) meets the third Saturday of every month from 10:00 am until 12 noon at the Technology 2020 Building at 1020 Commerce Park Drive located in the Oak Ridge Industrial Park. (MAP) Everyone is invited. Meetings usually begin with an introduction and acknowledgement of new visitors. This is followed by a guest speaker. The meeting closes with a "show and tell" segment by one of our members. If you need additional information, please feel free to contact us.

Tennessee Inventors Association Meeting

Saturday, October 20 , 2007
10 AM in the 2020 building
in the Oak Ridge Industrial Park

Nonmembers are always welcome.

Forthcoming Meeting

The Tennessee Inventors Association will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday, October 20 at 10 AM.  It will be held in Tech 2020 Building, Commerce Park, Oak Ridge

Richard Jenkins, a volunteer for SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives), will be speaking at the October 20 meeting of the Tennessee Inventors Association.  Richard will be speaking on the business aspects of profiting from ideas and inventions, including how to start a business and the things that a new businessperson should consider when starting a business. 

Last Meeting: Terry Brewster opened the meeting with a few announcements.  Terry noted that the local public television station (PBS) is running a show titled "CEO Exchange" that Terry suggested would be good to watch.   It was announced that the PBS show "Everyday Edisons" is being rerun on PBS (ETPTV-Digital ) every Saturday afternoon at 4pm.  Those that missed it the first time were advised to catch it in reruns. The CNN website <www.CNN.com> has an article titled "How to be Successful in 2007." 

Our first featured speaker, Joe Martin, is an inventor who has extensive engineering and marketing experience.  Joe is exploring ways to make his marketing experience and expertise available to the members of the TIA.   Joe's topic was "what to do after getting a patent."  Joe pointed out that everyone has skills and things that they are good at.  Because everyone is different and their skills are different, we all need to assist each other.   It is very important that people know that the invention and/or patent exist.  If no one knows about it, you cannot profit from your invention.  Joe said one way to get in front of people is at trade shows.  The right trade show should be filled with people who are looking for a product just like yours.   Another way of getting a product in front of people is through magazines.  Almost every product and industry has at least one magazine or trade journal that caters to that product and/or industry.  The first thing to do is to locate the appropriate magazines.  Advertising can be purchased in the magazines.  But that costs money.  Most magazines have a "new products" section and the editors want to know about new products so they can fill up their magazines.  Most magazines are desperate for articles.  Joe suggested writing an article for a magazine, which will give you name recognition.  It also makes the editors happy because they cannot sell magazines or advertising unless there is content.  In order to get this free advertising, Joe suggested getting to know the editors of the magazines.   Joe described a national magazine, "Dirt Late Model Magazine," in which his products appear.  The editors live in Fountain City.  And, of course, Joe knows them.  One way to introduce yourself to editors is to send them samples of your product.  Joe said editors like receiving products.  Send them to their house so that the editors can use the product.  If they are impressed, they may write a review of the product for an article.  At the very least, they would be receptive to adding the product to their new products page. Joe said it is very important to do something.  Inaction means failure!  Indecision is a decision.  It is a decision to do nothing, which is probably the worst thing to do (or not do).  Joe said that he would be happy to help anyone who does not know which way to turn. AJ Beal offered the adage "to be the first with the most." 

Our second featured speaker, Roger Olson, is an inventor who is working on a new invention.  Roger described his latest invention, the Water Tap.  He was all set to show everyone a slide presentation, but the room set up for slide shows was locked.  Even without the slide show, Roger did a good job painting verbal images of his presentation. Roger explained why he was making the presentation.  He said that he wanted feedback on his invention.  He was looking for a sanity check because he said that, as the inventor, he was too close to his project to be sure of spotting potential problems. Natural disasters and some man-made disasters result in interruption of the water supply.  Hurricanes, earthquakes, power outages.  Water was in very short supply after mso-spacerun: yes">  Many were still in their homes, but they had no access to water, so-spacerun: yes">  No one told the hurricane victims that their hot water tanks held 50 gallons or more oso-spacerun: yes">  That is enough drinking water for a family of four for almost two weeks. The Water Tap is a solutioso-spacerun: yes">  It is a device that connects to a residential hot water tank to allow recovery of the water stored in the tank when the water to the house has been cut off.  The Water Tap is a pressurized gas bottle with a regulator.  A flexible hose allows the regulator to be connected to the drain valve of the hot water tank.  Opening the shutoff valve of the Water Tap pressurizes the hot water tank and allows the water in the tank to be pushed through the cold water piping of the house. Roger described the marketing of the Water Tap.  He said that he was shopping for parts to do his own manufacturing of the Water Tap.   He was talking to a company about regulator valves when the company expressed an interest in his invention.  The company is in a position to manufacture, market, and distribute his product.  This effort is on going and Roger said that he is scheduled to meet with an executive of the company in the next few weeks.