The Pitch

SpeedGeek Learning is a platform to answer questions through collaboration.

The best kinds of collaboration allow people to present their ideas in context, with meaning, for perspective.

Using a media-rich collaborative environment SpeedGeek Learning will transform the way in which we create community, organize ideas, and create value.

The Promo/Intro Videos:

(the second one is an .mov file, so please be patient while it loads)

SpeedGeek Learning is people presenting ideas.

This is as simple as it gets. The passion that people have for their own ideas knows no bounds. Speedgeek Learning is about giving that passion to others. It is about putting in front of everyone a well organized argument, a creative solution, or just a powerful story. SpeedGeek Learning is about giving people the platform to voice something into being; A platform robust enough to allow people to debate their ideas and make them better.

Speedgeek Learning is "the network" made real.

A network is made of people. But, the infinite status updates that go out to everyone devalues each individual contribution. The obscure connections of friends 14 times removed eliminates the true connection possible. When entities can engage as "contacts", the word becomes meaningless. SpeedGeek Learning is about making the network tangible, about showing the connections between ideas and allowing for true interaction between consumer and producer. It is about collecting value and adding to it, constantly.

Speedgeek Learning is everyone's story

We learn through stories and without access to everyone's story, we are missing out on lots of learning. SpeedGeek Learning is about taking full advantage of stories no matter where they exist, whether that is Youtube, Vimeo or on Speedgeek Learning itself. We want conversation to happen in a single place, but not for the stories to be all the same. That is why the most engaging learning happens when differences come to the forefront and the true drama of discourse can begin.

SpeedGeek Learning is a destination for passionate and authentic learning.

SpeedGeek Learning is a forum for ideas, a marketplace where the currency is engagement.

The SpeedGeek Pitch Planning:

  • Create a speedgeeking pitch out of a speedgeeking session
    • How to do unconferences with SpeedGeek Learning
    • How to do Focus Groups with SpeedGeek Learning
    • How to do SpeedGeek Learning Booths at conferences
    • How SpeedGeek Learning fits into Web 2.0
    • How SpeedGeek Learning uses Agile development
    • How SpeedGeek Learning is different than other Startups
    • How SpeedGeek Learning will Market to others as well as use Marketing on the site itself
    • How SpeedGeek Learning will be profitable

The Problem that SpeedGeek Learning Solves (in terms of education): The world of Web 2.0 has made many things easy that were formerly hard. It has made sharing content, creating community, and even recording and editing video easy. All three of which, were beyond the reach of even the luckiest teachers and districts less than 10 years ago. The things that Web 2.0 has not made easy are creating context, finding perspective on complex issues and making meaning. And yet, these three things are the very ones that allow students and adults to learn.

We teach students from a very young age that reading is the process of making meaning. We teach students to put themselves in another persons shoes and to be empathetic in order to really understand the world around them. We teach them that through research and finding a greater context they will write, speak and learn better. Yet, many of us are still caught up in what cool tool will let us create a podcast from beginning to ending by pushing a few buttons. This cool-hunting removes the context, loses the perspective, and fakes the meaning that we so desperately need to achieve in our schools.

What we need is a platform that helps schools to fix their gaze on true meaning, context and perspective. We need a protocol that allows for a rigorous examination of what a student knows and can demonstrate to others.

Enter SpeedGeek Learning. This is a protocol and platform for learning and teaching that aims directly at these three attributes. First and foremost, SpeedGeek Learning is a protocol that asks any stakeholder to create a 3, 5 or 6 minute presentation on a topic that they are passionate about and would require a response from someone else. The formats that they can choose from are Ignite (20 Presentation slides, auto-advancing at 15 seconds a piece), Pecha Kucha (20 images, 20 seconds a piece), or Micro-Lecture (3-5 minutes without slides). The presentation will delve deeply into creating all of these formats as a student, teacher, or admin.

The platform itself is a website that allows for all stakeholders to create a context for their presentation as well as see other SpeedGeek sessions within context. They are able to watch videos in a carousel and have conversation about the topic as well as individual videos within a chat. The platform creates the backchannel for complex collaboration on educational and inspirational topics that usually get left in the classroom or within the hallways of a conference. This presentation will focus on highlighting how to do SpeedGeek Learning most effectively no matter whether you are a presenter or simply an observer and collaborator.

Concrete reasons why this service is needed:

    • Youtube and other video sharing sites have too many videos and no true organizing strucutre
      • Crafting a message over many videos is all but impossible.
    • Creating a virtual conference is too hard
    • Conversation about videos as a collection is very hard to manage
    • Interfaces for watching multiple videos in a row are not simple
    • There is no real-time participation available about watching user-generated videos (pre-recorded content)

Pitch Soundbytes:

    • "The pressure to be innovative is so high, but the platforms for innovation are so lacking that you must be truly exceptional in order to convince someone of your innovation. I am tring to lower the level of entry for disruptive innovation. Unwrap it and put it into the light so that everyone can see just what innovation looks like, feels like, and behaves like."
    • Any business that claims to have an innovative spirit better be looking toward the least likely successors to their success. They should be distilling the most outrageous of their ideas into 5 minute presentations or pitches and then spinning them off on whomever is most engaged.