It was a Friday morning in July at the century-old downtown building housing The Austin Club when 15 sleepy-eyed business people sat around five round tables in an upstairs meeting room.

The gathering of the Technology Advisors Group featured a hot breakfast and plenty of coffee. But there was little need for caffeine because entrepreneur Gary Hoover was providing his own wake-up presentation to the group.

The perpetually energetic Austinite jolted the audience to attention as he outlined his latest business idea — a global network of innovation museums — during a 25-minute presentation without notes or PowerPoint images. Instead, Hoover relied on his memory and a machine-gun stream of facts to make the case for a venture that would focus on innovation in disciplines such as music, art, games, technology, health, food and medicine.