• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Losing focus

Published: Wednesday, 30 January 2013

From an organisational point of view, it's better to focus on doing a small number of things right, than a large number of things wrong.

In September 2009, I held a Guinness World Record attempt for the Largest Robot Dance.  About 350 people attended.  In September 2010, I held the Robots Are Coming robotics art exhibition in the middle of Wynyard Park.  Over 100,000 people saw the exhibition during the course of that week.

Both these events were followed by 3-day conferences that I organised and ran.  That was tiring.

In October 2010, I was exhausted, and I decided I would not hold an event like that again.  I decided Robogals Global would focus on running robotics workshops very well and to only run large projects that directly achieved our aim of getting girls interested in engineering.  Instead, we would encourage Robogals chapters to hold community events like the Robot Dance and Robotic Art Exhibition if they were interested in doing so in their communities.

By doing that, Robogals is able to develop up a core number of programs, while Robogals chapters around the world are given the freedom and support to do amazing things around the world, such as Robogals Caltech consulting with Disney Pixar on a movie about "Tinkerbell:  the engineer", tea parties held by Robogals Western Australia, Robogals Girls in Robotics Days by Robogals University of Queensland, and Robogals London's collaborations with the London Science Museum holding themed robotics holiday workshops.

Focus on getting a small number of things right, and it will enable you to grow into doing a larger number of things right.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Robogals 10-Year Anniversary Gala

    On 14 July 2008, I founded Robogals. At the Robogals 10-year anniversary gala in Melbourne, I gave a speech alongside Mark Parncutt, co-founder of...

  • Are you a champion?

    Do you take a bold stand in how things are going to turn out? Do you take responsibility for your actions? Do you have an empowering context for...

  • Obviously successful

    "We would have bought your company." "You just got lucky because it was the right time for that kind of thing." "All the elements in the industry were...

  • Aipoly launches!

    We launched Aipoly two days before CES 2016, where we were given a booth for free, as one of five winners of the first CEA Foundation "Technology...

  • Daily plan

    My most productive days, the days I enjoy the most, and the ones that inspire me the most are the days where I have an extensive pre-written to-do...

  • Wow! I'm Young Australian of the Year!

    Wow!  What a huge honour!  I flew overseas in the wee hours of 27 January, and so the whole experience of being named Young Australian of the Year is...

  • SBS Small Business Secrets

    SBS came and filmed a short segment at the 2Mar Robotics office for their SBS Small Business Secrets program.  It aired on 23 October. Watch the...

  • Make a wish!

    Go. Do it. Make a wish. Be wild! Be wise! Be audacious! How much does your wish cost? Can you afford it? Then pay and do it. You can’t? Calculate how...

  • KOOKIE, Fantastic Failures, Young Heroes, Entrepreneurs and Total Girl

    I featured in some magazine articles, books and on the tv recently. Here are some of them! This was KOOKIE magazine, where I was interviewed by...

  • A regularly pleasant airport experience

    One day, as if overnight, all the airport check-in people and desks disappeared.  In their place appeared computerised self-tagging stations.  Across the...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top