Chad's da Man!

My Husband is awesome.

I feel like that goes without saying, anyone that knows him knows that, but today, he deserves a post on the family blog, exclusively for him and his greatness!

 Chad spontaneously tried out to be apart of a competition on campus for inventors and entrepreneurs. He found out about it about an hour before the audition so he shaved, suited up and made a brief presentation on an invention his father made years and years ago that never took off. He did a few practice presentations and cut it down to 90 seconds and went up there and did his thing! They contacted him after the auditions and asked him to attend a call back of sorts. He along with 9 others (out of 80+ original contestants) were asked to attend the final competition on Thursday (two days later). 

He was ecstatic!

All Wednesday and Thursday we practiced his presentation which had to be 90 seconds or less in order to win (a lot harder than it sounds). We made a brief power point and got him all ready. Thursday evening came and I posted on Facebook to get as many friends as possible in the audience because the second place winner ( or the winner for the audience popular vote) would get an Ipad mini! Chad didn't care about that, we was so focused on getting the grand prize, not because he wanted the Ipad but because he wanted the judges choice award. It's more credible and would get him further with his invention. 

   The competition was tough, lots of great ideas... and a few duds. I wont get specific but a competition of ten turned into a stiff competition on five. One of the competitors was very well prepared, he was practically in charge of the event and knew all the judges and 1/2 of the crowd was there for him. SO we knew the second place prize was out of the questions, it was judges choice or bust. Chad came in with the disadvantage of not being a member of the business and communication college like all the other students, they had prepared for this, they judges were teachers and students from those majors and recognized the other contestants. Chad was an engineer, he just found out about this competition and had never presented this information  (besides two days earlier). 

   He was the second to last presenter so the whole time, Chad and i took note of good and bad presenting manner, we decided he would not use the microphone (too over powering for a small audience), he would stick to the note cards because we knew they were a little less than 90 seconds and i would run the slides to help him keep his pace. As we listened to the questions that the judges and audience asked, we took note of them and tried answering them in context of our presentation.

   Finally it was Chads turn.... he nailed it. It started a little rough but after the first ten seconds, perfection! he finished right on time and covered all his info. The questions were hard but Chad answered them with great confidence and not pauses. He was smiling, well-mannered and  very informative. he used great examples that anyone could relate to made the idea so tangible and real, unlike many of the other presentation that seemed like a underdeveloped idea.

   Chad did so good, no matter what happened, it was a great experience an he was happy with what he did. the judges left and immediately all of the contestants gathered around Chad, asking him question about his idea. he had a great time talking with all of them. the judges came back in to announce the winners. 

" The grand prize winner, who will meet with the CEO of Shark Tank and receive

the Ipad is... Chad Merrell!" I was so proud and chad was elated! We got his prize, the second prize winner was the contestant who recruited all his friends, he also had a great idea and we congratulate him on his idea and presentation. 

    Chad did so well, under so much pressure and with less preparation than he would have prefered! We are so excited to meet the the CEO on the 15th!

 Chad thanks for working so hard and doing all you can to achieve your goals. I'm glad our kids will have you to look to as a role model for hard work, perseverance and courage! You're amazing!

XOXOXOX