There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you.
Weekly Events Preview
Focus on Yourself in the New Year: Expert Panel Discussion on Career Advancement for Marketing Communicators
When: Jan. 10, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Where: KU Edwards Campus, Regnier Hall
Start the year off by learning what the people who hire marketing professionals are looking for. We’re putting together a first-class panel of agency leaders and for-profit/non-profit corporate communications executives to get their takes on important questions like:
What skills do they look for in hiring candidates at their organizations?
What are the differences between working for a company or an agency?
What makes a good resume and what about other formats like an online portfolio?
How much do they value a master’s degree or a professional designation like the APR?
Is it acceptable for a recent graduate to submit samples of work from college?
How important are things like networking events, informational interviews and other ways to build your personal brand?
Come prepared to ask what you’ve always wanted to know and use the information to help you position yourself for further career growth. Networking opportunities with other participants (and the panel) will be available before and after. We’re partnering with the Integrated Marketing Communications master’s degree program at the KU Edwards Campus and the event will be at their convenient and comfortable facility in Overland Park.
Confirmed panelist include Liz Hawks, Sr. Vice President, Fleishman-Hillard; Lainie Decker, Director of Communications, New Directions Behavioral Health; Eric Morgenstern, CEO of Morningstar Communications (more panelists to be announced soon).
Second Fridays
When: Jan. 6, 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Where: Village Square Coworking
Come to Second Fridays at Village Square Coworking Studio!
Second Fridays is a casual, fun gathering for the startup community to connect on a monthly basis with no agenda except good times.
We’ll provide games & cards (bags if it’s nice). This event is BYOB with a twist – bring a 6-pack of your favorite beer to share and we’re going to have a “beer potluck” cooler. We’ll ice down everyone’s beer and have quite the selection to choose from!get to know someone over a brew!
We’d also encourage you to bring an instrument if you play. What better way to end your week than with a jam session?!
Feel free to stop by anytime after 4:30pm. We’ll hang out until everyone leaves (unless it gets ridiculous).
No RSVP necessary, just come on by!
Ongoing events
Don’t miss out on the events that happen every week at the same time, in the same place.
Code for KC Hack Night
Mondays from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Sprint Accelerator
Hammerspace Open House
Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at Hammerspace
1 Million Cups
Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at Kauffman Foundation, Lawrence and KC Live Stream
Looking ahead
Networking w/ Bloch School FTMBA Class
When: Jan. 18, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Torn Label Brewery
Join the current full-time MBA class at the Bloch School of Management for a networking opportunity at Torn Label Brewery. This is an opportunity for them to meet industry professionals while giving you a chance to meet some of Kansas City’s best and brightest upcoming talent!
Please email Erin Christensen at christensener@umkc.edu if interested.
January TechTalk
When: Jan. 18, 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Where: Google Fiber Space
Join Kansas City Women in Technology for drinks and to kick off a great year for women in tech! The Kansas City Women in Technology leadership team will present an overview of what we accomplished in 2016, our goals for 2017, and ways to get involved in the new year. Come to learn more about:
CoderDojoKC
Coding & Cupcakes
Coding & Cocktails
Django Girls KC 2017
Upcoming TechTalks
Community outreach initiatives
Volunteer, mentor, and leadership opportunities.
Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Employees: Simplified
When: Jan. 19, 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Where: Grid Collaborative Workspace
Most workers are classified as either exempt or non-exempt depending on their salary and the type of work they do. But classifying employees can become very complicated and confusing. Learn what makes your employees exempt or non-exempt, ask questions of our industry experts and enjoy complimentary breakfast.
KC Roundtable Breakfast
When: Jan. 19, 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Where: Eggtc.
KC Roundtable is in existence to provide 20 and 30-something Kansas City entrepreneurs with a group of peers to support and collaborate on each others’ businesses. Our mission is to: – Focus on relationship building; not lead generating – Facilitate collaboration, openness, transparency, learning and teaching – Establish an entrepreneurial network – Fill the void of not having the water cooler.
We meet for breakfast and various locations around the city. In addition to our morning meetings, KC Roundtable provides additional opportunities to network with young entrepreneurs such as events like small group Mastermind sessions & After Hour events.
Prospective members are self-motivated, curious, open to learning and currently starting a new business. Thanks for checking us out. We look forward to meeting you soon!
KCedu and Lean Lab Meetup
When: Jan. 19, 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Where: EduHub
January’s theme: Schools Need a Communication Upgrade: Breaking Down Silos in Communication between Schools, Parents, and Community
FEATURING GUEST / KEY SPEAKERS*:
Laura Gilchrist: Instructional Coach Turner HS | KCedu | ElevateEDU | KSDE Education Fellows | MOTOY finalist ’14. Mission: connect education & city to elevate youth.
*More guest speakers to be announced soon!*
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— 5:30-6:00 Sign In, Food and Drink, Networking/Happy Hour!
— 6:00-7:00 Edcamp/Unconference format. TALK TIME!
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Join #KCedu and the Lean Lab at EduHub, a co-working space for education and youth-related startups. Network with genius educators, business partners, and other interested folks as you eat and drink, learn and collide!
When you arrive, grab a snack and check out the whiteboard where participants create the schedule on the fly! Want to share something? Want to get feedback from others on a topic? In addition to the featured guests, as an attendee, you can throw your idea up in one of the squares for small group breakout conversations. For example:
Want to talk about technology in education, apps, gamificatoin or how to make it relevant to kids?
Want to talk family-community engagement in schools and in KC?
Want to plan a city-wide project to bring KC together, led by kids?
Looking for some interested parties to co-write a grant? EdHub has several offices for us to spread out and share/discuss.
After introductions of any featured guests at 6pm, we go into an Edcamp/Unconference format in two fast-paced, 20 minute breakout sessions. Stay in one group or sample more than one discussion. We come back together as a group at 7:00 for final announcements and then continue conversations at EduHub or at a nearby establishment.
This format is about active small group networking and relationship building, not passive listening. CHOICE and VOICE! You’ll be happy you plugged into KC’s vibrant educator network.
KC Amazon Web Services Meetup
When: Jan. 19, 6:00 p.m.
Where: Cerner Continuous Campus (Performance Conference Room)
This group is for all current (and potential) users of Amazon Web Services. We’ll talk about general cloud topics as they pertain to AWS such as security, scalability, architecture, etc.
We will be serving Pizza.
1/19 Agenda:
6:00-6:20 — Meet and Greet / Grab some pizza
6:20-6:30 — Introduction / Call to Order
6:30-7:15 — Speaker / Q&A
7:15 – Whenever — Open Forum
For the open forum I would like to spend at least a little time discussing what we would like to see at future meetups.
