How to Have Safe and Effective Confidential Business Conversations

Handle your next conversation with confidence and focus on building the relationship rather than on negotiating the confidentiality contract!

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Who Is this Course For?
Any businessperson who signs or reviews CDAs and wonders "What exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Or executives who don't know precisely what to tell their attorney about it and ask them to do. This course also will help attorneys and business development professionals "up their game" and build business relationships more effectively.
The Course Curriculum Below Tells You What You Need to Do!
This "Confidential Conversations" course will answer those questions and more. After completing the course, you will be able to focus on the conversation - not the confidentiality agreement. And you will have new skills for building potentially great new business relationships!

What Comes With This Course?
This course provides 14 lessons with 82 minutes of video instruction. It also has three detailed analyses of actual CDAs with guidance about what's good and what should be improved - almost 90 minutes of additional commentary. You'll also get a checklist to remind you what business provisions are important to get right. The course also provides a recommended CDA that you can compare with the ones you need to review and use to improve your own preferred template. If you've spent time online looking for model agreements and guidance in using them, then this CDA alone will be worth the price of the course!
Why this Course Is Worth Your Time
It will improve your knowledge about a common business activity -- negotiating and participating in confidential conversations. And it will increase your confidence and comfort level reviewing and negotiating CDAs. You'll save time, work more efficiently and maybe even save you money spent on attorney fees. And you'll pick up some key tips about building solid relationships from the start!
Most people receive a CDA by email for find a template form online and then let the form drive the interaction rather than their own requirements. Most of those templates are not going to be in your favor. You can do better!
Develop Understanding and Competence
This course will provide the information you need to make insightful business decisions that involve interactions with others. It will help you understand and manage the risks that arise both from giving and receiving information and will save you time in negotiating confidentiality agreements.
What You Learn May Be Essential for Your Business
It’s important for you to know what confidential information you are willing to provide and what you are willing to accept. The goal of a CDA is to give your business new opportunities and to manage the risks of having the conversation. And a good CDA will put some limits on the subject matter you need to protect by keeping it secret. Also, you are building a potential relationship throughout the entire conversation and there are some optimal ways to do so.


"I highly recommend Reid as an instructor. He has taught in my former biotechnology master’s degree program at Johns Hopkins University since 2011 and his courses have included strategic planning, managing innovation, legal aspects of biotechnology and technology transfer. What makes him so effective is he really cares about his students and helping them achieve the course learning outcomes. His courses are consistently some of the most highly ranked and best in the program."

Lynn Johnson Langer, Executive Dean, Academic Programs, Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) at the National Institutes of Health

"So often confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements (CDAs and NDAs) are considered forms to be signed before getting down to business. Drawing from his experience and sharing his insights Reid Adler goes beyond the “forms” and shows how CDAs and NDAs can be used as strategic business tools to protect your company, facilitate conversation and build relationships. Learning from Reid, CDAs and NDAs cease to be hurdles and become on-ramps."

Jeff Lindeman, Founder, J.A. Lindeman & Co, PLLC

"Great courses offer mastery of a subject and make complex topics easy to understand. That's what Innovation Matters delivers in its CDA and Confidential Conversations training. Anybody can sign a form CDA, but how do you define the right scope and term? How do you set the right tone for a business negotiation? How do you follow up with the other party the right way, after the negotiation is concluded? This course gives business people the right guidance and framework to put course teachings to work with "point and click" ease. Invest your time in this very lucid, professional and oh-so-human approach. What a great resource!"

Jill Sorensen, Director, Entrepreneurial Programs and SC Launch, Inc. Executive Director, SCRA (South Carolina Research Authority)

"My law partner Reid Adler has put together a practical and effective on-line course for one of the basic tools entrepreneurs need: CDA’s to guide their confidential discussions with prospective business partners. Reid’s module approach and his deconstructing of actual CDA’s provides clear guidance so entrepreneurs can understand how to use CDA’s to achieve their business objectives."

Rich Meyer, Partner, Capital Technology Law Group

 
 

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    Course Curriculum


      Lessons
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      Special Modules
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      Let's Deconstruct Some Actual CDAs
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      Let's Have a Look at Our Recommended CDA
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      Course PDFs
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    Why You Can Trust What I Teach You About This Topic

    You won't ask "what exactly am I supposed to do with this?" again!


    Your Instructor


    Reid Adler
    Reid Adler
    I am an attorney, innovation management adviser and educator, located in the Washington, DC area. I have supported life science related businesses and nonprofits for 30+ years, helping them translate great ideas through the research and development phase into successful products in a cost-effective and intentional manner. Serving as in-house or outside counsel, I have focused on collaborations, business development, intellectual property and risk management strategies. I have advised private and public businesses as well as major academic institutions and not-for-profit biomedical research institutes in the U.S. as well as in Europe and Asia.
    Also, I have negotiated a wide variety of sophisticated technology transactions. Clients and employers have included several major biopharmaceutical companies, the J. Craig Venter Institute, Allen Institute and many others. Negotiation “adversaries” have included many of the big names in the life sciences field. Also, I was the founding director of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer during its early implementation of the Federal Technology Transfer Act. At NIH and later, I have been deeply involved with policy development related to research integrity, access to research materials and data, and the sharing of benefit from collaborations and intellectual property. I was one of the principal architects of the “Uniform Biomedical Material Transfer Agreement” (UBMTA). Additionally, I have developed innovation management programs and related policies for various clients as well as a variety of template agreements and in-house procedures.
    I’m an adjunct instructor for the Biotechnology Master’s program at Johns Hopkins University. For Hopkins, I teach courses in “Managing Innovation in the Life Sciences,” “Legal Aspects of Biotechnology” and “Technology Transfer”. Recently, I founded my own site called “InnovationMatters.co” to help others learn from my experience managing innovation.

    Frequently Asked Questions


    When does the course start and finish?
    The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
    How long do I have access to the course?
    How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
    What if I am unhappy with the course?
    We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.
    Is this legal advice because the instructor is an attorney?
    No, this course does not provide legal advice! And taking this course doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Although Reid is an attorney, this course only provides insights from the business and negotiation perspectives. You should talk to your own attorney about the legal implications of any CDA or other contract for which you have questions or concerns.

    Reid is available for business consulting on matters relating to innovation management, technology transfer and strategic planning. He teaches continuing education classes and can provide online or onsite training for your team. Contact Reid for a no-cost consultation at his "Innovation Matters" site.


    Get started now!