BIF storytellers: Get engaged

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: Participants in the BIF-7 conference speak to John Cropper, founder of Futurlogic. He was one of the speakers at the two-day event, held at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence. / PHOTO COURTESY STEPHANIE EWENS
GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS: Participants in the BIF-7 conference speak to John Cropper, founder of Futurlogic. He was one of the speakers at the two-day event, held at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence. / PHOTO COURTESY STEPHANIE EWENS

Eva Timothy, a fine art photographer who grew up in Bulgaria, shared her story about learning English: “From the moment I woke up, I’d go and watch American movies and write down my new words.”
Matthew Moniz, a young alpinist who completed all U.S. high points by the age of 12, spoke about his friend whose medical condition makes every breath feel like climbing Mt. Everest.
And Angela Blanchard, the head of a community-development organization talked about work she did when victims of Hurricane Katrina flooded into Houston.
They were among the 30-odd storytellers at this year’s Business Innovation Factory conference, which took place at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence on Sept. 20 and 21.
In its seventh year, the conference has grown to include storytellers and attendees from Europe, Canada and about 30 U.S. states, said Saul Kaplan, BIF’s self-described “chief catalyst.”
The speakers ranged in so many tangible ways – age, culture, education, goals – one would be hard-pressed to find a common thread, except for their message: do better.
“It’s a group of innovation junkies that know that we can do better and we have to do better – whether it’s our education system or health care system or energy. We have to do better and we all know that we can do better,” said Kaplan, former executive director of the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.
Kaplan created BIF “to get people to think differently about our state – both the people that live here and the people who come here,” he told Providence Business News in a recent interview.
And, it appears to have worked.
“Every year, the level of engagement of the full audience has gone up,” he said. “Now, it’s at a fever pitch. You have an entire room full of people that know what to expect. When you fly to an event from the West Coast … you’re committed … you’re engaged.
“Hours and hours after the events, people are still talking to each other. I just sit back and watch it,” he said. Many of this year’s attendees were equally impressed.
“[The BIF summit] was incredibly engaging,” said Grant Hughes, a University of Michigan student who attended the conference on a scholarship. “You were being engaged by the storytellers but at the same time, you’re surrounded by these incredibly interesting people who have stories of their own.
“There’s an openness and a warmth in the community,” Hughes said. “You could walk up to anyone – whether it was a speaker or the person sitting next to you.”
Amy Robinson, another scholarship attendee, is the creative director for a startup in Huntsville, Ala. She said the conference’s “sort-of-small but not-too-small size encourages you to meet a lot of people and gives the opportunity to walk up to everybody and say ‘Hey, what do you think of this?’ ”
BIF, which is often described as “TED-esque,” referring to the well-known Technology, Entertainment and Design Conferences which began in 1984, is unique in that the speakers – who are unpaid – tell their personal stories, not the speech they are usually paid to give elsewhere.
“All of these people have canned presentations that they give all the time,” Kaplan said. “Many of [the BIF storytellers] are famous – you can look online to see things they’ve written, speeches they’ve given … just to hear them say the same thing again really isn’t inspiring.
“I ask them to share a personal story about how they are innovating, how they are transforming – themselves, their organizations … their community.”
Timothy, who now lives in Newbury, Mass., presented for the first time this year. She said “[having people tell their personal stories] is very smart. You’re opening up and telling something that is very precious to you and hope it will also touch other people.”
She told the audience how, “One of my most precious possessions was a black market copy of the Preamble of the [U.S.] Constitution. I decoded it – little by little – with my thick dictionary trying to find out what freedom was, since nobody taught me that in school since [the U.S.] was ‘bad.’ ” Dennis Littky is a Rhode Islander who presented for the third time this year. He talked about his College Unbound program, offering 19 to 50 year olds – who had some schooling but dropped out – the chance to earn a B.A. at Roger Williams University. The program had its first group of graduates this year and more than a dozen of the BIF participants offered their services to Littky as e-mentors.
BIF’s ever-widening geographic reach is great for the conference but its hometown presenters are an important staple for many attendees and participants.
“I love listening to the local people,” said Littky. “People that live a mile away from you but you never see.”
Rhode Island’s roster included the likes of Chris Van Allsburg, author, artist and screenwriter; Andy van Dam, Brown University professor in computer science; Angus Davis, Swipely founder; Littky, of The Met School/College Unbound; Sebastian Ruth, of Community Music Works; and Richard Saul Wurman, author and information architect.
Kaplan’s plans for BIF don’t include “bigger is better.” He likes the small size – 350 attended the event – and wants to keep it intimate. And he plans to stay on full-time for the foreseeable future.
BIF will focus on expanding its project side, the experience labs, in which it works with universities, companies or through grants to come up with new ideas in the health care, energy, entrepreneurship and education fields.
Excited to go back and alter their everyday lives by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or changing careers, many participants last week were still energized from their two days in Providence.
“How can you not come out inspired and ready to change the world for the better?” asked Timothy. •

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