Indigenous Business Coaching Needs Assessment
The Method Effect seeks to understand the specific needs and requirements for business coaching services tailored to Indigenous corporations, both existing and start-up. The project aims to identify key challenges and opportunities faced by these corporations in order to develop effective coaching strategies. Learners will conduct research on the unique cultural, economic, and operational contexts of Indigenous businesses. They will analyze existing literature, conduct interviews with stakeholders, and gather data to provide insights into the demand for business coaching services. The goal is to create a comprehensive report that outlines the current landscape and future potential for business coaching in this sector, enabling The Method Effect to tailor their services effectively. - Research the unique needs of Indigenous corporations for business coaching. - Analyze challenges and opportunities in the Indigenous business sector. - Conduct interviews and gather data from stakeholders. - Develop a comprehensive report on findings.
Co-workers, Colleagues, Job Satisfaction and Workplace Teamwork Study
We are interested in understanding what attributes and characteristics are most attractive in co-worker relationships. There has been exhaustive studies on workplace effectiveness, best management practices and how to be an effective team member. We are interested in understanding what co-workers think of each other, and what qualities they find attractive. Opinions abound. A google search will produce a multitude of sentiment, but there is very little hard, unbiased data. What we are proposing is a study that will provide data that is fact based on a set of 10 "ish" key characteristics, demographically indexed (generation or age based, geographic, industry type) and other measurements. This project should include engagement with workers, primarily in commercial or industrial sectors (non-government) along with analysis and opinion from the students. We have produced over 40 studies through this platform and have a strong understanding on how to work with your team, to ensure that they receive a strong learning opportunity.
Understanding Modern Learning Styles. Human Resources.
Historically it has been agreed that there are three key learning styles; kinesthetic (tactile), visual and auditory. However this categorization was first defined decades ago. We would like to present to our clients an updated perspective on this. What we are looking to discover is: a) whether or not there are subgroups within each style, b) if learning styles change as one ages (i.e.: born with one dominant style that changes through life), c) if this there has been a generational shift in this change with the shifts in parenting and/or the industrial age and d) with the proliferation of web based learning programs have learning styles changed?
What is the model for a high performance, high engagement /low turn-over company
The Method Effect provides consultative services to a broad spectrum of businesses, from manufacturing to service-based companies. Specific to manufacturing organizations, we would like to engage a study to determine what unique and common attributes exist, specific to corporate management and direction. We see this as two fold. First, uncovering the general reasons why people stay and work at peak performance such as wages, benefits and workplace comfort. Secondly, we would like to understand if there are unique and often non-apparent reasons why employees remain engaged and performing at a high level such as team events, learning events, workplace conditions, freedom of expression, etc. Add to this discovery the post covid workplace and we would like to understand if there are now state of the art needs that management needs to execute to ensure maximum productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.
Market assessment for size and first mover locations
We would like to understand the total market size for our innovative system. Fenoto has developed an electronic paper solution to replace small frame out of home advertising installations. Our target markets are Canada, USA, UK and EU. We would like to understand the entire market size, value, current cost to administer and which countries would represent the best first mover opportunities.
Market Feasibility Study for Home Party Business Strategy
Our Client is interested in understanding the feasibility of a home party-styled business to serve a previously untapped market. With the pandemic winding down, the concept of home parties will be returning in a robust nature. Additionally, society is becoming more engaged in activities that previously had been seen as off-limits or proscribed. Specific to sexually based activities, our client believes that interest in exploring non-conventional pursuits will increase and that there will be greater excitement in these activities, in a broader way. In 2022, Netflix produced a series called "How to Build A Sex Room", further indicating greater society acceptance. The main goal for the project would be to understand what the tolerance level might be for home party business similar to a Tupperware Party, focused on "spicing up" the bedroom, selling Dominatrix products. PLEASE NOTE: This is a market feasibility study only and will be held to high ethic and moral codes.
Low Cost, Non-Social Media Marketing Strategy Research and Development
Social media marketing is the BUZZ word in effective advertising and lead generation, yet when we ask people if they are happy with the social media process, they generally are not. More often the issue is cost and the massive scope required to generate leads. We would like to arrange for a team to discover other non-social media methods of marketing and lead generation that are out there, and that are low - no cost and have high impact. For example, is speaking at public events and engagements still relevant and does it still work well? Is there a means of attending trade shows that can be hyper low cost, yet still impactful? A perfect deliverable for us would be a list of low-no cost options, ranked by overall value in marketing and lead generation based both on research and the students opinion.
Marketing Brand Building and Graphic Design
Fenoto Technologies is looking for a student with a passion for brand building and graphic design to help us create new graphic assets and collateral. This will include: · A full brand redesign including colour choices and branding guides and logo creation. · Development of the skeleton or full website using the new design assets. · Single page marketing materials including info sheets or brochures, business cards and handout materials. · Photographs and videos for social media utilization. Students may be using Adobe Suite, Wix, Wordpress or Squarespace. Due to the scope of this project it may be divided into smaller more management projects to be handled by multiple interns. Thank you!
Electrical Engineer Review of Technology for Start-Up
We are looking for an Electrical Engineering student who can review an established schematic and PCB design for power usage, ideal component selection, and general best practices. The ideal candidate should be at least 2 years into an EE degree, or have equivalent real-world experience. This project will contribute to the launch of a very interesting green technology. You can view our product at www.fenoto.ca.
Marketing Strategy for Fitness Studio Training Company
Authentic Instructor Training is a North American provider of boutique fitness studio training, located in Calgary Canada. Now having trained some 2000 instructors through 60 different studios, the company is re-setting itself for the future. This includes diversification into other services such as branded and custom branded merchandise, motivational training and coaching. We are seeking someone to build a marketing plan so that we may effectively use social media to market and attract studio owners and fitness class trainers to purchase our services. The ideal intern would have experience in the use of social media platforms such as Instagram, facebook, twitter and pintrest, along with skills to build and launch an effective marketing strategy.
Fitness Studio Sales Training Project
Fitness Studio Sales Training (FSST) is a division of The Method Effect, a management consultancy and training organization. The FSST program has been built out to utilize a modern individualized sales skills and behaviors assessment that is linked to an online debriefing program. The online program utilizes videos and learning modules that will take the user through a sales training journey, focused on the fitness space. Why is this cool? Studio owners and staff are often not trained or motivated to sell services. Rather they are typically excited by the offering but fail to ask the key questions to turn first time users into members, and members into long term clients. What else is cool? The post pandemic world is coming and studios are going to need to onboard as many new members as possible to ensure their survival. Additionally in-studio sales are equally important. Encouraging members to "buy the t-shirt, or water bottle, swag, prepared meals and refreshments" can triple the wallet share of the client and create an even "stickier" customer experience. We have extensive experience in this space and want to launch and grow this segment and would like to gain insight into the best ways to sell this online program. You can visit the site at www.fitnessstudiosalestraining.com
Boutique Hotel Market Research
Our client operates a small number of unique tourist focused hotels located in tourist corridors. Having mastered the concept of operating this sort of business, they are looking at expanding locations in North America, through acquisition. With this goal, our client is eager to gain information and market research regarding what are the future focused travel and tourism factors that would pinpoint the best possible targets for acquisition discussions. We believe the following considerations might be valid for consideration: Where are the most active tourist areas that reflect their current offering and tourism experience? What are the future trends in experiential tourism? Are there economic, geographic or other factors that dictate why one tourism corridor may outperform or outlast another? There are other factors as well, however due to confidentiality, they will be reveled at the start of the project. The second ask would be to prepare a list establishments inside of these parameters that would be reasonable targets for our client to approach. A third and final ask would be to have the students or interns to provide a modern view and opinion on their findings! Thank you and we look forward to discussing further.
After the pandemic, what changes will take place within the corporation?
As the pandemic winds down, the workplace will likely be different. We think it would be interesting to gain perspective on what will change. For example: What physical changes will take place? Will offices shrink or expand? What will be the willingness to return to a physical office or will people want to remain fully or partially remote? What technology changes will be required to support the new reality? How will customer and vendor journeys shift? There will be no right or wrong answer to these questions, moreover it will be interesting to understand real data and opinions and then have the students form a qualified and quantified outlook of the future state. If this is of interest please contact us to get started!
Journalistic Video and Collateral for Break Out Company
Authentic Instructor Training Inc. (AIT) is a growth based speciality provider of training for fitness instructors who deliver indoor cycling programs. Although through COVID19 boutique studios have been closed, we are preparing for a re-opening and likely boom in the indoor cycling sector. During the shutdown, AIT pivoted and took training online, expanding it’s offering and engaging with people throughout North America. With the anticipated growth we would like to sharpen our story, marketing and commentary through the development of collateral such as short videos, journalistic stories, stronger social media presence, etc. Probably the best way to explain the AIT training programs is a combination of spin instructor tactical training, professional development and personal development. If you read our google reviews you will see over and over again participants talking about what an enlightening, confidence building and community experience was had. We think it would be crazy cool to have a short 2 – 3 minute video produced with statements made by the participants talking about their experiences along with some commentary from Tash, AIT’s founder and president. With that it would be great to get additional collateral as noted above. If this is of interest, please contact me, Chuck Bean here on Riipen to schedule a visit. Thanks!
What Bugs People at Work?
The Method Effect is a Canadian management consultancy specializing in strategy and training. With the massive change that is taking place within corporations as a result of the pandemic, we would like to gain insights into what past and new workplace behaviors create tension within working teams and organizations. We believe the best approach to this project would be based on understanding four factors: 1) what it was like, 2) what it is like now, 3) what has caused the change and 4) what needs to change going forward. The areas we would like to explore are: Organizational communication: Communication within working team Communication up within the corporation Communication down within the corporation Workplace relationships and human interaction Vendor relationships Customer relationships Productivity What has the impact been regarding online communication platforms The value of teamwork training and teambuilding events What are the preferred type of event: Technical learning that benefits my current job or builds capacity Personal development, personal leadership and learning that I can apply both within my job or away from work A non-educational event, that brings my team together to have fun Would there be a mix of fun, versus technical ratio that would make the best sense We would like to offer latitude to the students to consider other themes as well. Our goal is to come away with some sort of statement and data to use for future discussions with our clients and how we all can better communicate and relate with others do create a more effective team.
AI and ML support for new Software App
Our app, 2 years in development is now ready to include AI and further ML concepts to amplify it's capability. Not a CRM, Chronos is a pre-CRM application and to the best of our knowledge, a similar system does not exist. Considered a sales planning and to a lesser extent, forecasting app, the system requests that sales professionals enter key customer information based on the customer conversion opportunity, size, relationship status, key contacts, psychographic segmentation and more. We have established values for information inputted which will then produce information on which customers require what sort of effort and which sales professionals are best matched to specific clients. This will also greatly improve return on time invested (ROTI) for sales people. Poor ROTI is the number one energy sucker for sales teams. Using our system will greatly improve sales effectiveness.
Indoor Cycling Studio Training B2B Project
Authentic Instructor Training (AIT) is wanting to expand its footprint throughout Canada and to a lesser extent, the United States. Having trained approximately 60 studios and 1600 instructors, we feel the time is right to push expansion. The company has found great success in engaging with entrepreneurs who have an inclination towards owning an indoor cycling studio most often in smaller rural towns and settings. Often these small towns do not have a center of fitness activity, and by setting up a unique local boutique studio, it creates a "buzz" and a place where fitness enthusiasts can gather, create community and have a high-impact group fitness experience. We know that larger cities have larger populations to draw from, however, our experience has been that opening studios in metro areas can be cost-prohibitive, highly competitive due to national franchises and brands, and are challenging to the owners specific to profitability. Small towns have much lower costs, require less "flash" and the studios are generally profitable. Prior to Covid-19, AIT would engage with someone wanting to open a studio, provide insight into the operating methodology, set-up, and would provide live group training on-site prior to the studio launch. We also know those studio owners that already own and operate a gym or boutique studio are not good targets as they often have either a disinterest in adding indoor cycling or already have bad habits that are difficult to change. Through the pandemic, AIT has been using ZOOM to deliver studio group training along with open (individuals) group training with excellent results. We believe even after the pandemic, ZOOM will continue to be an effective platform, especially when reaching into remote, distant and cross-border locations. What we would like to learn is the following: 1) What are the best ways to connect with potential studio owners who have an interest in fitness and would like to bring indoor cycling classes to their towns or cities? Is there a wealth profile that would identify certain locations as being better than others ... ie: farming communities? 2) What information do these entrepreneurs want to help them make an informed decision to move forward? What are their unique needs and wants? 3) What are the best ways to connect with individuals who would like to be certified as an indoor cycle instructor and what would their key needs and wants be? 4) Is there potential to create a dealership model? It is important to note that AIT trains trainers and does not provide retail services. The business is a B2B operation.
Economic & Security Risks Associated With Flawed Physical Access Control Systems
Active Witness Corp. (AWC) is a Vancouver, Canada based company that is currently at a pre-commercial testing stage for an access control system. The company leadership is wanting to gain insight into what are both perceived and real - economic and security threats that various industries feel for having flawed access control systems. More and more industries are requiring entry points in their physical locations to have access control systems such as key cards, button pads, fobs and most recently facial recognition. AWC operates in the facial recognition space and holds pending patents for a unique feature that provides a significantly faster, more accurate and “difficult to falsify” user experience, based on multi-factor facial authentication. What we are hoping to gain is insight into what business leaders through either direct contact or researching past historic news or stories, see as direct (ex. theft) and indirect (ex. employees feeling at risk resulting in productivity loss) key risks/threats and the monetary value that can be attributed to them. We also like to provide latitude and would like the learners to provide their own ideas and opinions regarding their collected data on a predetermined data point spread.
Economic & Security Risks Associated With Flawed Physical Access Control Systems
Active Witness Corp. (AWC) is a Vancouver, Canada based company that is currently at a pre-commercial testing stage for an access control system. The company leadership is wanting to gain insight into what are both perceived and real - economic and security threats that various industries feel for having flawed access control systems. More and more industries are requiring entry points in their physical locations to have access control systems such as key cards, button pads, fobs and most recently facial recognition. AWC operates in the facial recognition space and holds pending patents for a unique feature that provides a significantly faster, more accurate and “difficult to falsify” user experience, based on multi-factor facial authentication. What we are hoping to gain is insight into what business leaders through either direct contact or researching past historic news or stories, see as direct (ex. theft) and indirect (ex. employees feeling at risk resulting in productivity loss) key risks/threats and the monetary value that can be attributed to them. We also like to provide latitude and would like the learners to provide their own ideas and opinions regarding their collected data on a predetermined data point spread.
What Bugs People at Work?
The Method Effect is a Canadian management consultancy specializing in strategy and training. With the massive change that is taking place within corporations as a result of the pandemic, we would like to gain insights into what past and new workplace behaviors create tension within working teams and organizations. We believe the best approach to this project would be based on understanding four factors: 1) what it was like, 2) what it is like now, 3) what has caused the change and 4) what needs to change going forward. The areas we would like to explore are: Organizational communication: Communication within working team Communication up within the corporation Communication down within the corporation Workplace relationships and human interaction Vendor relationships Customer relationships Productivity What has the impact been regarding online communication platforms The value of teamwork training and teambuilding events What are the preferred type of event: Technical learning that benefits my current job or builds capacity Personal development, personal leadership and learning that I can apply both within my job or away from work A non-educational event, that brings my team together to have fun Would there be a mix of fun, versus technical ratio that would make the best sense We would like to offer latitude to the students to consider other themes as well. Our goal is to come away with some sort of statement and data to use for future discussions with our clients and how we all can better communicate and relate with others do create a more effective team.
Retail Styled Personal Health and Wellness Research
We have been assisting a concept code named Purple Drip that is building out a retail health and wellness business. We are now at the stage that we would like granularity on a number of key items. 1) What are the persona's of the clients, and what would be the expectations of those persona's, 2) What would be the unique regulatory requirements to own, operate and run the business in the key markets ... all US states, all Canadian Provinces, the UK, EU and MEA, 3) other key requirements. As we are being protective of the retail concept, we will share it with those who find this project interesting along with more details and three other university studies that have validated the project for us. Especially important will be the students opinions and recommendations regarding persona's, requirements and any other interesting strategies that they may recommend. Please contact us to discuss further! Many thanks, Chuck
Indoor Cycling Instruction Global Marketing Strategy
Authentic Instructor Training (AIT) is wanting to expand its footprint in Canada, the US and EU/UK markets. Having trained approximately 60 studios and 1500 instructors, we feel the time is right to push expansion. There are five products: Indoor cycling instructor training provided in-person at a boutique studio location certifying new instructors in the AIT program Indoor cycling instructor training provided on-line via zoom as an open enrolment program and/or for a boutique studio for certification Indoor cycling instructor “amp-ups”, providing training in-person or via zoom to existing studio teams who are wanting to improve, upgrade or update their cycling program Branded studio and activewear clothing Studio start-up consulting and advisory As a result of this drive to grow and expand, we are seeking a marketing plan and strategy to guide us. Key objectives would be: What markets are the best first movers for our offering? How do we reach studio owners who are wanting to add indoor cycling to their current location? How do we reach prospective new studio owners who are interested in opening a new studio? What is the best means of attracting individuals to sign up for open enrolment programs and what is their persona and demographic? Which social media platforms are best to advertising and have the greatest reach into the fitness community and what would be an appropriate budget? What other means and methods are out there for marketing and advertising? Should we come at the market with a "package" rather than selling and marketing individual offerings? We would also like to provide latitude to the students and would encourage them to consider additional marketing questions, strategies and ideas that could compliment our own thoughts. We are not experts, so any and all help would be appreciated! Thank you.
Understanding the Needs of Northern Canada and Indigenous Relations
Northern Canada is a vast landscape with a widely spread and varying population base. The Method Effect and Convergx are jointly sponsoring an industry study to understand the needs of the North specifically the needs of the broad and wide-ranging Indigenous that live and work in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This project would require that students reach out to the various communities and community leaders to interview and assess their community priorities, specific to social and economic needs. These would include but not be limited to items such as: healthcare, telecommunication, energy storage, transportation, access to resources, commerce and more. Students would be asked to build a project charter, develop a baseline of desired information with the sponsor, present their findings, establish a priority of needs and make recommendations around solutions that industry, government and other bodies can provide to support and help develop the regions.
AI and Machine Learning
We are looking to partner with a top university to tackle a global problem. A problem that costs billions of dollars worldwide and one that we can all relate to. We need best in class programs looking at cutting edge technology specifically around machine learning and speech recognition. The output of the speech to text converter will need to be fed into an ML library, that will identify the context and group/form meaningful paragraphs for each section of the output document. It will need to understand the context of the meeting, and identify the summary, action items etc (potentially support multiple document types based on the meeting type & industry). The output of this will then be put into a document using Java. We will need to understand if there are any existing libraries that can be used/extended to achieve this functionality, or if an algorithm can be developed for the same. We’re excited about this potential partnership and we know with the right synergy we can tackle something huge. Let us know if you think this is a good fit and we look forward to hearing from you. Our team is located in Dubai, South Africa and Canada.
Marketing Strategy - Global
Chronos Works is an app that operates as a pre-crm planning system for sales teams and sales managers. We know that CRM's are good at tracking progress, but poor at planning and forecasting. Chronos Works uses old school basic planning concepts delivered in a modern application . Using Chronos Works allows sales teams to clearly define the best sales targets. We are a team of 5 people and our program is close to commercialization. Two of our team are development and AI/ML specialists and they are integrating smart science into the program so that our data will be valid and usable. We would now like to understand what might be our best approach to entering and penetrating the global market. The key sponsors of this project are a 40 year veteran of sales and marketing and a 20 year project management specialist. Our locations are Calgary Canada, London UK and Dubai UAE.
Retail franchise project post COVID19 strategy
W are working on a model for a health and wellness franchise… it would be a retail style kiosk (about 400 square feet) that would be placed in serviced (already available restrooms, security, etc) high traffic locations such as malls, downtown towers, large work places, transportation centers, tourist spots and other high traffic areas. Locations would be turn-key and follow the typical franchise strategy of having owner operators, with corporate oversight, branded products and services, corporate distribution of retail products, etc. Having successfully completed a market assessment, we are now looking to develop a business template including a marketing plan, effective franchise model and other key "next step" items. Project leads are Matt Clachar and Chuck Bean.
UX Design Project
Fenoto is looking for a UX Designer or Design Team to design a software user interface and user experience to meet the specific for our system. The individual or team will combine interfaces and workflows to enhance user experience. This project requires an analytical and creative designer or team that is able to grasp user needs, web capabilities, and business requirements. The ability to develop a workflow hypothesis, design mockups, digest customer interviews, and repeat is essential. We believe some experience as a UI Designer, and experience in HTML5, CSS3, and related "web glue" frameworks is required. You will be working with a seasoned IT and systems professional on our side to help guide and provide support. If this is a fit, please let us know and we can arrange a meeting to dig into the details.
Retail franchise project post COVID19 strategy
We are working on a model for a health and wellness franchise… it would be a retail style kiosk (about 400 square feet) that would be placed in serviced (already available restrooms, security, etc) high traffic locations such as malls, downtown towers, large work places, transportation centers, tourist spots and other high traffic areas. Locations would be turn-key and follow the typical franchise strategy of having owner operators, with corporate oversight, branded products and services, corporate distribution of retail products, etc. What we are wanting to do is: establish market potential define market acceptance understand the current competitive landscape which is highly fractured and early stage at the moment gauge interest with potential franchisee targets (which are very specific) grasp pricing ranges for services and likely a few other items. This would an absolute start-up… we have a concept that we are wanting to explore.
Chronos Works Inc. pre-CRM sales territory planning and management app.
Presently, CRM’s are primarily used for tracking activities, but lack a comprehensive planning component. Our system has been used for 20 years in a pens and paper/workshop format, which we are converting into a software application. We are a Calgary based Canadian Corporation start-up with founders in Calgary, London UK and Dubia. We have 15,000 lines of code completed on a business application and are looking to gain assistance as we continue to add features. Our statement is as follows: "Chronos Works is a multi-page web app following the MVC pattern, built on a PostgreSQL database, using node as the back end language with the express framework. Interactions with the database are performed by utilising Sequelize, an ORM that allows us to focus on writing pure Javascript leveraging next gen (ES6+) features. We use next gen features heavily, including the use of Promises, object destructuring, spread operators and arrow functions. On the front end we use Bootstrap for styling, generate and serve HTML dynamically from the server using ejs, and invoke back end functions, where necessary, via the Fetch API. Our version control is handled using git and GitHub." We are currently building our list of additional features and students will be working with a world class Dev Opps Director located in the UK, whose qualifications include a doctorate Theoretical Physics and an Astrophysics Degree. Additional mentorship is available from all founders who have extensive backgrounds in strategy, project management and app design. If this resonates with you, please shoot me a note and I can arrange a time for you and our CTO to discuss. Many thanks and cheers, Chuck
Electrical Engineering, PCB Design for IOT / wifi / celullar
Caliper is a tablet-like device that does one thing very well: join all your Google, Outlook, and Yahoo calendars into one consistent view. Using ePaper, the system is extremely low energy and follows the Calm Technology philosophy -- it displays calendars for your work, office, or family, just like a traditional paper calendar. Its battery life lasts many months, keeping a watchful eye on all your calendar personas. Pop-poster is the missing link between paper signage and digital signage. Using ePaper technology, this tablet-like device allows for the readability of paper signage, with the ability to auto-refresh on a set schedule or interval. Link Pop-poster into your existing CMS, allow for instant updates of content anywhere it's placed. Pop-poster is a replacement for the current paper and frame out of home(OOH) advertising methods often seen in public spaces and/or private commercial locations. Pop-Poster can show any static content, from high-contrast text, to full-colour images. Our company Fenoto requires engineering talent to assist us in the design and development of a PCB designed to drive an IOT epaper application. Prototype schematics have been created that describe the MCU, GPU, and PMU, but several cost and power efficiencies still need to be identified. The prototype was designed using the Espressif ESP32 MCU and a GPU driven by a custom IT8957 chipset, connected via SPI. The device requires wifi and cellular capability, and alternative MCUs can be considered. The firmware for the MCU will require OTA update capabilities, additionally the display is temperature dependent, so an internal sensor (i.e., TMP100) is also required. We are looking for a team what would like to take on this project.