I really hated elementary school.
I was deeply and utterly bullied. At my first school I got bullied and beaten so much that I got hospitalized for 4 days. So when I was 17 years old I almost got thrown out of high school because of absence, but luckily I got the last chance and ended up taking a year as a foreign exchange student in California at Nevada Union High School.
One of the first days at school we were given a ballot with over a hundred classes.
Everything from horse riding to psychology, and I came across a class i didn’t understand. It was called “Speech”. I asked: “What is Speech?“. The lady at the desk answered: “You learn how to talk”. Confused, I replied, “I know how to talk”. And she said firmly: “No, you learn how to talk from a stage.”.
This captivated me, and I immediately signed up.
Educator and expert in public speaking and storytelling with over 25 years of experience. Currently helping professionals, politicians (MPs), scientists, and tech people improve their public speaking and get their message across from the stage in an engaging and effective way.
During my second semester at medical school, I experienced a different kind of professor.
This professor changed the way I looked at scientific presentations.
For the first time, I saw a person in academia that mastered their communication. A person in academia that mastered their rhetoric. A person that could tell a story. A person that could speak about the most difficult of topics within pathology, whilst keeping hundreds of students engaged, only because of his ability to tell stories.
One of the biggest problems I have encountered amongst scientists, academics, and people from tech, is the problem of presenting and pitching their projects. They know that their research/product can make a difference. They know they have something to offer. But how do you present it, so people will listen?
In my role, I support an ambitious, agile and fast-paced product-based delivery organization through iterative design with strategic fit in a secure and standardized manner. We balance a legacy enterprise with cutting edge technology across multiple countries with various cultures and legal requirements to add to our complexity of new and old estate.
Theodore Zographos is a highly skilled software engineer and systems analyst with substantial experience in LOB software applications development, systems integration, and hardware programming driven by his love for technical challenges and data-driven decisions.
In the past, he has worked for companies where he developed Telecommunications and GIS software applications for major Greek telecom providers. Currently, he is working as a Software Architect in Kaizen Gaming and is the founder of Z-Logic, a software development enterprise, which creates telemetry and telematic applications for major private highways in Greece as well as for major companies in Greece and Cyprus.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the National University of Athens, and he is in the process of receiving his Ph.D. in Computer Science in Autonomous Vehicle Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems from the Harokopion University of Athens.
My undergraduate degree is from Luther College in Iowa and my master’s is in human resources/Industrial Relations from Loyola University in Chicago. I began my work life as an auditor with an accounting firm. I was asked to assist them in their recruiting efforts and after one recruiting season, they felt I had the skills they were looking for and asked if I would stay in HR and build my career there, first in recruiting, then training, then in the scheduling function. I left public accounting and joined a national real estate development/management firm, with properties located in over 15 cities in US and Canada. I was their first professional HR executive, and I had the opportunity to create and mature a sophisticated HR service delivery model with them. I then joined a global financial services and real estate firm. I oversaw the daily HR issues in the Americas and helped develop several key programs in the talent management, HRIS, employee relations and staffing areas. In addition, I was a part of several mergers they completed, from the due diligence phase to the cultural integration stages. Next, I became the Vice President of Human Resources for a major casino/hospitality company in Las Vegas. Most recently, I joined a family-owned agricultural company in the NW. I also have taught at several graduate level programs, including courses at Benedictine University and Keller Graduate School of Business. All these experiences have helped shape me as a professional and provided the skills needed to be an effective career coach and podcaster.
Ricardo Carvalho is a Portuguese entrepreneur and programmer. An IT graduate from the University of Lisboa, with a Masters in Computer Science.
He is known for being one of the founders of Bloq.it, a Portuguese based startup that is providing the worlds leading smart locker solution. One of their main goals is solving last-mile and enabling everyone to participate in e-commerce, across the EU, MENA, LatAm, and the US regions.
Bloq.it has been on the top 10 list for startups to watch coming out of Portugal for the past 3 years by EU-Startups, the former recipients of the Most Innovative award by Web Summit in 2019, and has recently won Scaleup of the Year at this years edition of Global Conference, by Startup Grind, in San Francisco.
Join Ricardo at Tech Jobs fair to hear more about being a young entrepreneur in Lisbon, the challenges of being a CTO and what the future holds for Bloq.it
Tal is a prominent figure in the global innovation ecosystem. Founded 19 startup accelerators worldwide since 2012, has rendered him a Guru on building accelerators, hubs and startup ecosystems. Over the years Tal conducted 70 cohorts, graduating over 1,000 startups in his accelerators.
Tal is also a busy Keynote Speaker in major international conferences as well as a TEDx, on tech startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship, sharing his professional toolbox to mentor, motivate and inspire entrepreneurs around the globe.
these day Tal is preparing to launch a 2nd cohort in CanAx Accelerator under his management, offering professional mentoring, international network and funding of up to $1M.
Don’t Hesitate, Accelerate!!!
