Qubits Toy Company

2011-03-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

CONGRATULATIONS!

That is how the British Airways Executive Vice President Americas -- Simon Talling-Smith begins his NY speech. - @BritishAirways

The warmth of his words were echoed over and over again by the British Airways staff who helped us during our journey. It didn't matter if they knew we were one of the winners, they were always there to smile and congratulate everyone flying on their airline.

There is no way that I can fully convey the overwhelming sense of accomplishment after winning a seat on the British Airways Face-2-Face contest. Never did I imagine an airline could be this generous. It is a dream come true for a select group of entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Think of it this way, British Airways basically awarded 250 businesses with (1) free trip to anywhere in the world. Period. Now think where you would like to go?

Then when you are done daydreaming, add to it a full day of professional workshops ( see the Video on Demand Link ) and (1) free night at the Sheraton Hotel in NY plus another free night in Hotel Sofitel near Heathrow Airport - London.

PLUS! a european expert panel presentation in London, plus great food, plus entertainment and drinks. The hospitality never stopped!

If you are like me and you have never flown with British Airways, you are in for a great experience. For example earlier today I noticed on TV that Continental is no longer providing FREE SNACKS - no snacks !?! Crikey!-- with British Airways they provide food, snacks, movies, comfort kit, blanket, pillow.... and drinks - no charge - as oft as you need. There is always a smile right behind the hospitality.

The amount of confidence that British Airways gave to this group of entrepreneurs is staggering! We were told by British Airways that we CAN do it! Then they told us we WILL do it and from what I have seen and heard from the winners is that they DID do it!

Business connections, networking and straight-up deals have been negotiated between dozens of US companies and foreign companies all across the globe. Different businesses flew to Dubai, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, the list goes on and on for all 250 people. Then those business people travelled from the airports via, cars, other planes, trains, etc. Their schedule was their own, no rush to get back on the return flight (which of course is free too) they were free to stay for weeks if needed.
I N C R E D I B L E !!!!

Thank You British Airways!

Now, what did the Qubits Toy Company do with this opportunity?? Good Question! and during the next few week I will add posts illustrating the adventures and excitement of the Qubits Toy Company's trip to the Nürnberg Toy Show - the largest business oriented toy show in the world. Located in the ancient German town that practically gave birth to the toy industry back in the 1800's. It was a whirlwind trip that uncovered many interesting aspects of foreign travel. Stay tuned to our twitter account at: http://twitter.com/qubits_toy

Twitter in the Shark Tank

2010-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

With a new series of 5 Shark Tank shows coming up Jan. 8th at 9:00 PM & Saturday at 5:00PM, perhaps now is a good time for the Tweets and Tweeps who are fans of Mark Burnett's hit show on ABC to gel as an organized group on Twitter. Twitter is a huge platform for reaching out to millions of new viewers and writers. The semi-direct nature of Twitter messages gives you the chance to engage one of the hundreds of television stars who frequent the Twitterverse. For example the 5 shark investors who swim in the Shark Tank each week, they make it a point to sometimes tweet several times a day. You can follow and interact with them easily. So how do you accomplish this quickly? What is the best way to maximize your tweets so they promote the ABC television show? Hopefully this little blog post will help all of us organize ourselves just a little.

#1 - Trending Topics - There is no better way to promote a topic on Twitter than #Hashtags. Established early in the Tweets of @TheSharkDaymond was the hashtag #sharktank . This is a word that should be inserted in the sentence of a #sharktank tweet or as a tag at the end of a tweet. It is best to insert it within the tweet so that it does not use up the precious 140 characters allowed in each tweet. Second thing you should do immediately is go to your HOME page on Twitter and insert the word #sharktank in the SEARCH dialog box located on the right hand side of the page. Then SAVE the search. Now you have a handy Saved Search that you can click on when you want to follow the discussion about the television show Shark Tank. Try very hard to avoid typing the separated words, SHARK TANK in your tweets, because now your discussion will be mixed with the pre-existing discussion from the fans of the San Jose Sharks NHL team. Lets show a little Twitter etiquette while at the same time focusing our tweets to just the hashtag #sharktank. The only way we as a group can hope to get Twitter to recognize the ABC television show as a Trending Topic is to constantly and frequently use a single word, the best word would be the hashtag #sharktank -- remember the # symbol makes it a special search term. Other hashtags of special interest are #TV #ABC

#2 - Lists - This is Twitters newest special feature. This is a new function built into Twitter and it is an excellent way to organize a list that will allow you to keep track of ALL the sharks and any of the #sharktank participants in one easy to access spot. Just CREATE a LIST the function is located below the LISTS header on the right hand side of your home page. It is labeled NEW LIST. After you create the list you can see the List Manager when viewing some ones Twitter page. Click on the List Manager and select the list you want them to appear in. After a while everyone will have their own lists and you can follow another person's list as a shortcut.

#3 - The Sharks - Everyone who is a fan of this show, probably at one time or another wants to "Tweet" directly to the Sharks of Shark Tank. They might be looking for additional information about their decision during the show, or perhaps they want their special product or company to become known to the sharks. To do this it is common on Twitter to include the profile name of the celebrity in their tweet. Such as -- @robertherjavec how are you today? When you do this the celeb Robert Herjavec can see the tweet in his Home page under @robertherjavec Mentions Tab. --- However, the rest of the #sharktank hashtag followers cannot "see" the tweet unless the specific additional word #sharktank is included in the tweet. So, if you really want to propel the ABC show shark tank further up the ranks in Twitter, just add the word at the end of your tweet. Realize the DM - Direct Messages to the stars of Shark Tank as well as any highly followed personality on Twitter will generally be ignored, because the personality needs to be following you back in order for it to be seen. A followback does not normally happen with celebs. Instead just use their full profile name in your tweet and allow everyone to become engaged with your question and/or comment.

#4 - Re-tweet - Each one of the followers of the Shark Tank related tweets has a significant number of followers themselves. Don't be afraid to Re-tweet a message to your personal group of followers. We all realize it will load up the #sharktank hashtag log file with duplicate information, but that is the goal of Twitter -- spread the messages as far as possible using second and third generation RT's. The result will be more people becoming aware of the show, celebs and participants. Also that is how subject matter becomes a Trending Topic. Leave room at the end of your tweet so that the RT is not cut off by the 140 character limit. Don't wait to be asked to ReTweet like...[pls RT] - the request just uses up precious characters. Everybody on Twitter appreciates a retweet so go ahead and spread the word!

#5 - Contribute - Please contribute to the comments section below this blog post, it will allow us to update and improve this short lesson on Twitter in the Shark Tank.

If you ever feel limited by Twitters features, you can extend your abilities by downloading and installing http://www.tweetdeck.com/

We hope this answered a few questions and perhaps generated many more, above all enjoy the show and spread news about it as far as you can - that is the best way to get the show back for a second season.

Qubits® Toy at Sony Studios

2009-12-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

It was a hot July 11, 2009 at Sony Studios when architect Mark Burginger spent 3 minutes making a pitch to a group of investors, whom he hoped would take interest in his invention.

The ruthless Sharks will came face-to-face with a simple children's toy.

Burginger's invention, Qubits, is an educational construction toy the user can build into various designs and geometric shapes. An architect by trade, Burginger, 52, came up with the idea when he was 17 but didn't build the first model until late 2007.

In January 2009 a representative from “Shark Tank” contacted Burginger, inquiring if he was interested in appearing on the show. They talked via e-mail for a few months, and eventually Burginger went to California to shoot the episode.

See and learn more about this toy at: http://www.Qubits.com

Contact Mark or Lisa