Science & Eng festival 101

I remember, all too painfully, in many of my high tech and life science start-ups, a common refrain from the scientists would be, "We got the device to work....it's just engineering from here." Then, invariably - millions of dollars later - I would learn (as the CEO): that's when the hard work really begins. It's one thing to get one device to work; it's another big thing to get the next hundred devices to all work. When I set out to start the "USA Science Festival" and received a phone call from Chuck Vest, the President of the National Academy of Engineering, suggesting that I should…

Tip 1: Capture the High Ground (Convene the best and brightest in the field) As the Science Festival movement grows, I am often asked about "best practices" in setting up a local Science Festival. So I decided to write a series of short blog posts about the know-how I have accumulated. Please take all of this advice with the knowledge that I have an experience base of only one and a quarter festivals. I invite comments and additional wisdom from others. Please post your best practices here if you are a fellow festival organizer. The typical first question I am asked is "How do we get…