What Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Hollywood with Scott Kirsner

Make it a date night with your spouse or significant other at an exclusive movie theatre, presentation, short film and Hollywood style cocktail party for EO Boston on Wednesday, February 25^th 2009.

Entrepreneurs sometimes expect that new ideas and new technologies will be embraced by users with open arms. In reality, most innovations face hostility and indifference, and it can take a lengthy campaign to persuade organizations to change the way they work.

 In an illustrated spin through Hollywood history, journalist and author Scott Kirsner will demonstrate how innovators like Pixar, George Lucas, and Bing Crosby (yes, Mr. "White Christmas") have changed the movie industry while facing enormous resistance. He'll also describe the three kinds of people that exist in every organization, and some of the key reasons that people tend to rebel (or go into a shell) when confronted with a new piece of technology. Scott's talk is based on his new book, Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo, featured recently on NPR and as part of Google's "Authors@Google" series.

The evening will feature exclusive use of a private cinema at the newly-renovated Showcase Cinemas in Revere Ma,  

A cocktail party in their restaurant and lounge, Scott Kirsner’s exciting presentation and the showing of a short documentary entitled “Precious Images”.  So grab your significant other and friends and join us for this special evening.

5:30 – 7:00 pm Cocktail Party

7-8:30 pm Presentations

Scott Kirsner Bio

Scott Kirsner has been writing about innovation for more than a decade. His “Innovation Economy” column appears in the Globe every Sunday, and he also maintains a companion blog at http://www.innoeco.com. Scott’s writing has also appeared in BusinessWeek, Variety, Wired, Fast Company, Newsweek, CIO, Salon.com, the San Jose Mercury News and the New York Times.

 Scott is the author of the books Inventing the Movies and The Future of Web Video. He was the editor of The Convergence Guide: Life Sciences in New England and a contributing essayist to The Good City: Writers Explore 21^st Century Boston. He serves as the program chair for three regional events on innovation: the Nantucket Conference on Entrepreneurship & Innovation (held each May); Convergence: The Life Sciences Leaders Forum (held each June); and Future Forward (held each fall).

 Scott was part of the founding team of Boston.com from 1995 to 1997, as its lead content developer, working with software developers and designers. Prior to that he was the editorial director of Lochridge & Company, a management consulting firm. He is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication.