American Inventor is a TV show that will soon open national casting calls for inventors of all ages to present their own inventions. This is an opportunity to make one million dollars in prizes for a wacky, techy or heart-warming, great invention having wide consumer appeal. Here's how to get on it.

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[edit] Steps

Invent something. You'd do this by first thinking of ten ideas or problems that you as a consumer would wish to solve.
Start your inventor’s journal using a spiral-bound notebook. Number every page and describe each idea, the problems, and the solutions in your own words.
Elaborate on your solutions. At this stage, you will gather a lot of information about various aspects of your ideas.
Decide on which information you should keep, discard, or which areas would need more work. This is called "filtering" the information. You may decide to build a prototype at this point.
Know your strengths and weaknesses; understand the inventing process; think like a true inventor; cultivate your learning methods; and create your own framework for inventing.
Out of those ideas listed in your journal, select one in which you could passionately spend time and energy. Your next goal is to transform this idea into a new and useful invention that appeals to consumers.
Become familiar with the show’s rules and understand the FAQs.
As your idea is transformed into an invention, use your inventor’s journal to create a succinct description of your invention. Include clear drawings having different views.
Keep in mind that the program is a “show” that casts inventors and their inventions for the “Wow! Why didn’t I think of that!” factor. Your next goal is to present your invention to impress the judges during your 2-minute presentation at audition.
When you are ready to be on the next American Inventor, go to read the instructions to register for the next casting call.

[edit] Tips

Assemble a team of friends who can give you feedback on whether or not the judges will like your invention, how to draw clearly and provide valuable insight on the number of consumers who might like the invention.
If you already have an invention, ask yourself if it is a “new” and useful invention; meaning that it has not been revealed to the public through newspapers, magazines and books, and that no more than 50,000 units were sold or offered for sale.