NYU Reynolds R.E.A.L. Workshop Series:
Realistic Entrepreneurial Actionable Learning

Responding to the demand for greater access to social entrepreneurial related content, the NYU Reynolds Program is pleased to continue the NYU Reynolds R.E.A.L Workshop Series: programming designed to support social entrepreneurs and changemakers with practical skills and knowledge bases critical to success in the field. The series is open to the public and to students and changemakers from across the entire NYU and greater NYC communities. Sessions are specifically targeted to different groups, including undergraduates, graduates and the executive and professional communities. Space is limited and an RSVP is required for each event.

This series digs deep into the NYU Reynolds network of social entrepreneurship professionals to feature a diverse collection of leaders who have honed their know-how through practice. Each presenter will share their knowledge and breadth of experience, leaving participants with a tangible skill or lesson learned to apply to their own projects and changemaking trajectories. All you need to bring is an open mind!

See below for the current schedule of upcoming workshops and click here to see our past workshops.

Spring 2013 Workshops (PDF)

1. The Story of You: How to understand it and communicate it to gain support for your changemaking vision

   Presented by: Linda Kay Klein, Director, Echoing Green's Work on Purpose Program, and NYU Reynolds Fellow Alumnus
   Date: February 7, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Mulberry Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is designed for all levels of graduate and undergraduate students.

   Who are you? Really? And how do you communicate the inevitably messy answer to that question to others? Say, on LinkedIn, or during your 2-minute self-introduction on a panel? In this session, we’ll explore how you make sense of your past, your present and your hopes for the future, and how you can most successfully tell the story of you to others. When you leave this session you will have a better understanding of who you are, how you got to where you are now, and where you want to go tomorrow. What's more, you will have developed core language to communicate this story to others and gain their support for your changemaking vision.

   Click here to RSVP

2. The Numbers Don’t Lie – A Roadmap to Averting Financial Disasters at your Social Entrepreneurial Organization

   Presented by: Raj Thakkar, Founder and CEO, Charter School Business Management (CSBM), and John Wood-NYU Reynolds Fellow in Scalability
   Date: February 26, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Mulberry Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is designed for graduate students and professionals, particularly those in leadership roles.

   Interested in predicting the future financially and recognizing financial disasters from a mile away? Ever wonder what level of detail your financial reports should contain to ensure organizational viability? Being on top of your finances can enhance your organization’s ability to deliver on your mission and program. Take your financial reporting to a new level by learning what information Boards and Executive Directors should be asking for from their Finance Directors and how to interpret them. This “hands on” interactive session will review the many paths to financial disasters, including what created them and how to prevent these situations in the first place. Participants will be given the opportunity to work with an overly simplified spreadsheet that demonstrates the benefits of forecasting and improves your ability to interpret the story that your financial reports are telling you.

   Click here to RSVP

3. Telling the Story of “Why”

   Presented by: Michael Marantz, Principal / Founder - Already Alive
   Date: March 4, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Mulberry Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience:This workshop is designed for undergrad, graduate students and professionals, particularly those in marketing and leadership roles.

   People want to believe in something, they don't just want to buy a product or service, or blindly support a social change effort. How do modern companies and social change organizations stand out? By fostering a deep emotional connection with the consumer or supporters. You need to effectively tell the story of why — not just what your product or service is or how it works but why your company or organization exists. The best brands are becoming content producers to achieve this (Apple, Nike, Red Bull) and this class will be an introduction on how to start thinking this way. Every student will walk away understanding how some of the biggest brands have such a loyal following, an understanding of the power of answering the question of “why,” and a deep look into new marketing/advertising trends and examples of great campaigns to reference.

   Click here to RSVP

4. Expanding the Philanthropy Footprint: Part Deux

   Presented by: Richard Marker, Co-Principal, Wise Philanthropy; Founder, NYU Academy for Grantmaking & Funder Education
   Date: March 6, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Mulberry Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is reserved for graduate students and professionals.

   This will be Richard Marker's return engagement with the R.E.A.L. Workshop Series, examining "Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy: Do We Have It Right Yet?" This session will be interactive, utilizing case scenarios to explore the elasticity, the limits, the potential, and the challenge of the many newer models to solve the major issues of our time.

   Click here to RSVP

5. The Minimum Viable Product: Tools for fast, low-cost, and data-driven market testing

   Presented by: Bob Filbin, Chief Data Scientist, Crisis Text Line
   Date: April 1, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Rudin/Murphy Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is reserved for graduate students and professionals.

   Is there demand for your product or service? Will your venture succeed? Answering these questions should not require a bank-breaking investment. Using the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) framework and specific tools like the smoke test and cohort analysis, you’ll learn how to test the core value your product offers while investing as few resources as possible. We’ll ground our work in a number of case studies (e.g., Zappos, Votizen, Dropbox), then focus on learning the tools of MVP testing, which can be applied to any entrepreneurial venture.

   Click here to RSVP

6. Building Social Entrepreneurship that Works, It’s about the HOW: Everything practitioners need to know (and don’t) in 59 minutes

   Presented by: Greg van Kirk, Co-Founder, Community Enterprise Solutions and Social Entrepreneur Corps
   Date: April 10, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Rudin Forum
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is designed for all levels of graduate and undergraduate students.

   From his experience starting a micro consignment innovation in one Guatemalan village to building an effective organization with global impact, Greg will share the keys to creating high-impact and resilient social entrepreneurial models. Using practical and hands-on lessons learned, he will help participants gain unique insights into how to create their own social entrepreneurial models. He will take participants through a comprehensive framework of tools, from the beginning of your process— how to identify the real problem(s) to address, how to stay true to yourself and your mission, how to discover the thing that makes your model “tick,” how to define your desired outcome—to measuring your results—how to measure success in the short, medium and long term, how to build high-impact value chains, and how to scale success.

   Click here to RSVP

7. Teams vs Tin Cups: How I Learned to Think Differently About Fundraising

   Presented by: Nick Ehrmann, Founder & CEO, Blue Engine
   Date: April 11, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Mulberry Conference Room
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is reserved for graduate students and professionals.

   In this session, Nick will explore why learning how to get out of the way is fundamental to successful fundraising. He'll guide attendees through the art of framing a solid pitch and why "team generosity" always wins, using his experiences as CEO to present best practices and common pitfalls he experienced in New York. Takeaways will include: successful frameworks, choosing the right language, and the power of a time-bound campaign.

   Click here to RSVP

8. Do Good/Look Good: A Smart Approach to Sustainable Social Impact

   Presented by: Michael Mossoba, CEO, Design Observer
   Date: April 17, 2013
   Location: 295 Lafayette St, 2nd Floor, Rudin Forum
   Time: 12:30 - 2:00pm
   Intended Audience: This workshop is reserved for graduate students and professionals, particularly those in leadership roles.

   There are so many ways to do good! How can a company choose? In this session, we'll explore a framework called "Dynamic Cause Value" to systematically assess the value of a cause to a brand. Audiences that could benefit include: executives looking for ways to improve their corporate citizenship programs, non-profit leaders trying to craft the right corporate partnerships, and social entrepreneurs seeking to integrate social impact into the DNA of their brand.

   Click here to RSVP