Just had my very first professional presentation few days ago. Invited by the Alpha Lambda pledge class at UCD, I was asked to talk about how TIZ came about as well as some tips and future plans.
And so I did. 30+ minutes of it. Met lots of cool peeps, saw some familiar faces, and chatted with couple of aspiring entrepreneurs. Good times. (Thanks to Tim and Jim for all the photos for this post.)
↑Amy and Eden from Alpha Lambda pledge class! Professional attire.
↑ Kevin and I waiting to get started. I was chuggin water like a buffalo – I get especially thirsty when nervous. Wearing a suit sorta intensify that feeling.
↑ Part of the pledge class. Suit, check. Binder, check. Professionalism, check.
Brandon came out to support. He’ll graduating, soon. Congrats! 
Just moments before the presentation. 
I’m very glad that I was given the opportunity for this talk. Aside from training myself to talk in front of a crowd, I took this chance to sit down and look back at what TIZ’s gone through these couple of years since it all started.
I spent about 12 hours the week before the talk to filter down the context and refine each slide to make sure I optimize the every minute given to me. Eventually, I split the presentation into 3 main category: Passion, execution, and appreciation – reflect past, present, and future respectively. 
Seth Godin’s one of my biggest inspiration. 
..then I..
↑ No, really. I did. The audience just didn’t know it.
↑ People often ask me how I started, thought I use this chance to answer: I was lucky enough to have a screen printing class around me. After taking the class, I printed the shirts myself to eliminate inventory risk. With the advantage, I put out multiple different designs and printed the shirts on demand – I didn’t have to print shirts in bulk to meet professional printers’ minimum order.
As TIZ started to get noticed and with more orders coming in the door, I gradually outsource the printing to local screen printing businesses. So, instead of all day printing the shirts myself, I could spent it on design and improving the brand itself. Figuring the opportunity cost is important – it’s more than the monetary cost.
There’s no equation as to when you should start outsourcing the printing process and there is not a particular screen printing shop that we should all outsource to. It all depends on your progress, your location, and your budget. One thing, though, don’t try too hard to rush it. Patience a virtue.
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/ – A terrific forum that I go to when I needed any questions answered.
It explains different process of printing, different screen printing location..etc Bunch of useful info.
↑Thanks to SFA for noticing TIZ and given us a chance to showcase our T-shirts almost 3 years ago!
↑Thanks to all the dancers, models, MCs, sound engineers, musicians, friends that made every single one of our shows possible.
30 minutes felt much shorter when you start blabbering in front of people.
At the end, I got to talk some of people in person, woot. 
↑Alyson loved my lens cup.
↑Christine(woot woot, Canon ;]), Emily, and Priscilla(in the back)!
↑ Johnson dropped by, too. (I seriously can’t wait to see you put your ideas into videos, man!)
↑The Alpha Lambda Pledge Class! Thanks again, guys. It was very nice to meet you all. Can’t wait to see you guys do big things in the future 🙂
They noticed that I don’t drink coffee, so they brought me tea as a gift. Hell yea!
↑Super awesome packaging. Big ups to TAZO.
Phew, I’m glad no one fell asleep during the talk.
’til next time.
Benson|| Twitter || the movement|| The Imaginary Zebra website || Shop of Imagination ||
