Gene Poor Corporate Speaker from Bowling Green, OH

Dr. Poor is currently the Scott Hamilton Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration at Bowling Green State University. His teaching evaluations are typically one of the highest in the College and he has received recognition as a Master Teacher by the University (considered the highest teaching honor on campus). Dr. Gene Poor's career has been a combination of university teaching, administration, research, and program development coupled with intense entrepreneurial innovation, product creation, and training/consultation within the private sector. He is part technologist, part artist, part educator, part entertainer, and part entrepreneur with a common denominator of creativity and innovation. Dr Poor has written numerous articles and authored/co-authored eight books on technology, business, and creativity/innovation. He has excellent platform speaking skills that inspire, educate, and change lives. He has made hundreds of presentations throughout the United States as well as in Europe and in the Middle East. His list of consultations includes dozens of Fortune 100 and 500 companies including 3M, Honeywell, Honda, Marathon Oil, Owens Corning, IBM, Sherwin Williams, and Kellogg. Dr Poor has been involved in numerous entrepreneurial start-ups over a thirty year period that include designing and building media control systems, restaurant design and fabrication, residential and commercial construction, train-the-trainer instruction, creativity/innovation consulting, display and exhibit design, interactive game development, simulation creation, themed attraction design, and all forms of media design and production. His entrepreneurial activities have generated well over 100 million dollars worth of products and services. He recently won the Northwest Ohio Entrepreneur Award from Ernst and Young, was inducted into the Toledo Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and most recently, BGSU's College of Business Administration's Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame – where former University President Cartwright referred to him as a living legend on BGSU's campus. But Dr. Poor's most exciting collaborative activity involved synthesizing his various entrepreneurial activities into an ongoing three-dimensional animatronics company called LifeFormations . It has evolved into an employee-owned organization that is the preeminent manufacturer of static and animated characters for theme parks, museums, trade shows, and retail operations. The employees not only conceptualize, design and fabricate the animatronic characters, but they also produce the award-winning marketing media for the company. Millions of people have experienced and enjoyed LifeFormations' products at such venues as The Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, Dickens's World, Museum of African American History, The Great Wolf Lodges, Cabelas, Europa Park, American Girl Place, and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. SAMPLE PRESENTATIONS Searching for the AHA – A Journey In Creative Thinking. This is a presentation that is meant to help adults rediscover their hidden creative ability no matter who they are. It begins by looking at that universal creative quality that all children have in their youth, but progressively lose it over time. Here's the good news: It's possible to get it back, but first, they have to want it! Secondly, they have to accept the notion that with its arrival comes risk and failure. With the rediscovery of creativity, comes an exciting dimension to their life, a true sense of adventure that can reinvigorate both their personal and professional life! The Entrepreneurial Mindset – I'll Find a Way! This presentation looks at the qualities of an entrepreneur that go beyond the typical dictionary definition of a "person who starts a business with risk". This presentation focuses on the entrepreneurial mindset of "I'll find a way". Entrepreneurs are dreamers. They look beyond the moment and consider alternatives that are better, more efficient and effective. Entrepreneurs are problem solvers and take ownership of challenges that others run from. It's about a perspective, a mindset, a way of looking at something in a very unique way. “Good Enough” – A Question of Quality This presentation is an irreverent look at the notion of quality. It discloses the fact that nothing is ever perfect. Everything has a “good enough” factor. As this presentation unfolds, it takes on a very personal message of "what's your personal 'good enough' factor for your life?" What are you settling for? Remember, YOU live the life you choose! No more blaming, no more excuses. “Good enough” is a choice you make everyday about everything! Do YOU want to fix it?