Inventor Meeting

GENERAL MEETING INFORMATION:

We meet monthly, usually on the first Saturday of every month from 10:30am to 12:30pm (unless it conflicts with a holiday weekend or some other significant event where we may push it to the second Saturday). Meetings alternate between open industry-speaker presentations with networking, and quarterly closed NDA-covered member workshops.

Meeting location varies, often at the NEC (National Entrepreneur Center) in Central Orlando, Maitland Public Library, or Familab makerspace. Meetings apart from workshops are also hybrid over Zoom.

Cost: Open meetings are free. Workshops require $30 annual dues.

NEXT MEETING IS A: WORKSHOP

Date & Time: Saturday, October 3, 2026, 10:30am – 12:30pm EST

Location: Familab Makerspace – Suite 152, 400 North St., Longwood, FL 32750

Meeting type: Workshop

Audience: Paid annual members with signed non-disclosure agreements

Bring your inventions and your problems to this Workshop. Here, other inventors will listen to your invention problems and help you get over the latest bumps in the road. This meeting is completely private. There is no Zoom element. All attendees must have current paid annual dues ($30) and have a signed non-disclosure agreement on file with us.

Donate (membership or other) here:

Image of Workshop meeting — We work together to solve your invention problems.

NEXT MEETING IS AN: OPEN MEETING

Join Meeting by Zoom

Date & Time: Saturday November 14, 2026, 10:30am – 12:30pm EST

Location: Seminole County Library, Casselberry – 215 N Oxford Rd, Casselberry, FL 32707

Meeting type: Open Meeting

Speaker: Rebecca Murphey – Patent Searching

Audience: All are welcome

Presentation (in person) Patent Searching Workshop

Rebecca Murphey of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center at UCF will give us a “hands-on” tutorial on the basics of patent searching. Bring your laptops and follow along as she guides us through today’s tools for patent searching. You can’t afford to miss this one since she will be taking the mystery out of those cryptic buttons on the patent searching websites while opening your eyes to the tools used in professional searches.

Created by AI with this prompt: Create an over the shoulder image of a middle aged man working at a computer with multiple screens showing patent search websites. The desk should have numerous design sketches, note pad, and pencil on it in addition to the keyboard. The background should be that of a densely stocked library.

NEXT MEETING IS AN: OPEN MEETING

Join Meeting by Zoom

Date & Time: Saturday September 5, 2026, 10:30am – 12:30pm EST

Location: Maitland Public Library – 501 South Maitland Avenue, Maitland, Florida 32751

Meeting type: Open Meeting

Speaker: Julie Austin – The creator of Swiggie, the arm mount water bottle

Audience: All are welcome

Maitland Public Library — Parking is across street

Presentation (via Zoom) Making a Million, 100 Swiggies At A Time

Passed out on the pavement, Julie Austin was inspired to create an easy way to carry water while running and came up with the Swiggie. Although broke she developed it on her own and overcame numerous roadblocks. They scoffed at her for obtaining a design patent. Now she sells them by the hundreds and thousands while fighting off infringers. One of her best tools is “trade dress” that stems from her design patent. She will be sharing her journey and explaining how “trade dress” can work for you.

Julie Austin is known for her patented product Swiggies—a NASDAQ Product of the Year semi-finalist now sold in 25 countries—Julie Austin Creativity Keynote Speaker & Inventor (Woman Inventor Keynote Speaker) become a globally recognized thought leader in innovation.

Julie Burried in Swiggies — AI helped fill the box with Swiggies and Julie.

NEXT MEETING IS AN: OPEN MEETING

Join Meeting by Zoom

Date & Time: Saturday August 1, 2026, 10:30am – 12:30pm EST

Location: National Entrepreneur Center, 3201 E. Colonial Drive Suite A-20, Orlando FL 32803

Meeting type: Open Meeting

Speaker: Inventor Forum, Open Q&A

Audience: All are welcome

Presentation (in person) Inventor Forum, Open Q&A – This is your chance to ask anything (about inventing) of any of us. Everyone is an expert in some field. At this meeting we will be ready and willing to answer the burning questions. If you have questions or answers, this is your opportunity to make them known. This meeting is open to the public and is not subject to a non-disclosure agreement, so please keep the details of your invention to yourself. If you want to talk specific invention details join our workshop coming in October.