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.
Are you hosting an event relevant to Kansas City’s entrepreneurial community? Add it to the FWD/KC calendar for increased exposure. Once your event is submitted, it will quickly get reviewed and then published to the calendar.
Innovation Exchange: Real Estate and Entrepreneurship
When: March 21, 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Think Big Partners
Kansas City’s burgeoning entrepreneurial community is transforming the local real estate market.
As several huge coworking facilities come online, Think Big Partners and Startland News plan to explore how the entrepreneurial community has affected KC’s real estate development and how real estate trends are affecting entrepreneurs. From the cultural impact on the KC business community and KC’s ability to keep up, to the factors driving demand and design elements that are expected, there’s a lot to unpack with the coworking boom.
Come learn about what this surge means for the area from several experts, including:
– David Brain, Brown Cow Capital
– Bob Berkebile, Principal Emeritus of BNIM
– Matt Druten, co-founder of Edison Spaces
– Sarah Fustine, director of strategic partnerships at Think Big Partners
– Katy Sullivan, Project Lead at Contract Furnishings
– Adam Wacenske, general manager of WeWork’s southern region
LaunchCode Workshop #3: UX: Understanding the Magic
When: March 21, 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Where: Sprint Accelerator
When research, design and testing happen before a project goes into development, it means more accurate project estimates, reduced confusion for the dev team, and substantially less rework and bug fixes. Sound like magic? It’s called user-centered design. In this short introduction, we’ll discuss some of the benefits your team can gain by creating a good UX (user experience) for your customers. Sure, we say it’s all about users, but they’re not the only ones who will benefit from this new approach.
TOPICS:
* The 4-part process of user-centered design
* How a simple picture, a prototype, can solve problems before they even start
* Why your own ROI and job satisfaction will increase when you focus on users
ABOUT THE PRESENTER: AMY DEVIN
Amy is the Program Director at Pointworks Academy and is bent on educating individuals and companies about user-centered design wherever she goes. Whether teaching core concepts to individuals in a career transition or working with executives to discern improvement opportunities in their technology processes, she is talented at distilling complex concepts into understandable, relatable ideas.
NEXT ’17 Extended – Kansas City
When: March 21, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Where: Google Fiber Space
Join us on March 21st for another excellent meetup of your Kansas City Google Developer Group (GDG)!
Come for the food & drinks, stay for the awesome content and priceless networking opportunities!
Transit and parking info: Parking is limited and first come first serve at the Google Fiber Space – 1814 Westport Road. Street parking is available on nearby side streets (Bell St, Genessee St, Wyoming St) as well on Westport Road. We ask you do not park in the church lot to the east, adjacent lot to the Google Fiber parking space. Thanks!
Choosing a Retirement Solution for your Small Business
When: March 22, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Where: UMKC SBTDC Tickets
Who should attend this workshop?
Any small business that does not already offer a retirement plan to its employees, wants to know more about the plan they currently offer or may want to change retirement plans.
Discover some incentives and benefits to offering a retirement plan.
Did you know that:
A self-employed person can offer herself/himself a retirement plan even is s/he is the only employee?
The business does not have to operate at a profit to offer a retirement plan?
Contributions to the plan typically involve pre-tax dollars?
Cost to offer the plan can be quite low or nonexistent and the employer might not have to supplement employee contributions?
Seminar is co-sponsored and facilitated by staff from the US Department of Labor.
The Foundation Series: Idea to App – Building your Digital MVP with Kunjan Shah
When: March 22, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Village Square Coworking Studio
The Foundation Series addresses legal and operational issues commonly faced by startup founders, from the process of finding and working with co-founders to strategies to protect your intellectual property. This ECJC workshop series is presented in partnership with Village Square, Located in the heart of the Kansas City Startup Village, Village Square is a coworking space that offers entrepreneurs and startups a place to call home.
Simplifying IoT: Get your IoT ideas to market faster
When: March 22, 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Think Big Partners
Join the Verizon IoT Team for lunch at Think Big Coworking on Wednesday, March 22, and learn how to prototype, test, connect and get your IoT ideas to market faster.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming every aspect of our world. Innovation is happening in real time. Enterprises, start-ups, municipalities and individuals are looking for ways to manage, scale and monetize IoT solutions and applications in accelerated timeframes.
Come meet the Verizon IoT team and learn about our ecosystem offering your company all the pieces of the puzzle you need for IoT success, including:
Network – Category M1 is part of Verizon’s strategy to make cellular network connectivity simple, reliable and economically viable as IoT adoption increases. Verizon’s Cat M1 deployment expected in early 2017 will make it the first wireless service provider in the U.S. to launch.
Hardware – We are working closely with industry-leading chipset, modules and device partners that include Altair, Sequans, U-Blox, Telit, Sierra Wireless, Gemalto, Nokia, and Ericsson to drive the ecosystem toward the next-generation of IoT use cases.
ThingSpace Platform – ThingSpace Manage is a self-service portal where you can manage the connectivity of IoT devices on the Verizon Wireless Network. ThingSpace Develop is a platform accelerating adoption of IoT by making it easier, faster and more accessible to develop IoT apps that benefit society.
Lunch will be provided. RSVP required.
1 Billion Bits – “The Rise of the Machines – Human Capabilites in Silicon”
When: March 22, 6:00 p.m.
Where: C2FO
Speakers for this 1BB are Vijaykant Nadadur, CEO and Co-Founder of Stride.ai and Joel Teply, Founder of Cambrian Tech.
Meeting Format:
30 Minutes – Social Refreshments
5 Minutes – Opening Remarks
10 Minutes – Announcements / Open Forum
40 Minutes – Local Speaker & Discussion
35 Minutes – Remote Speaker & Discussion
For more information visit 1BillionBits.com
The BIG Breakfast – Entrepreneurial Panel
When: March 23, 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Where: Kauffman Foundation Conference Center
Thinking Bigger will lead a panel discussion of KC Entrepreneurs sharing personal stories from their own companies and advice you can put to work in yours – all while enjoying the most important meal of the day.
1st Quarter Panelists:
Erlinda Tjhai-Aydulun // MindLift
Don Peterson // Infusion Express
Angela Hurt // Veracity
Christina Scott // Shamerrific
The Capital Series: Winning Federal Research Grants to Fund Your Startup with Sally Williams, UMKC SBTDC
When: March 23, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Enterprise Center in Johnson County
The Capital Series is offered for investors and entrepreneurs, allowing for detailed discussions of the due diligence process, term sheets, valuations and investor pitches during the equity investment process, as well as discussion of possible sources of debt financing. Lunch provided.
GUILDit Art/Biz Forums
When: March 23, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Kemper Museum
GuildIt is the 1 Million Cups inspired for artists. Come see and hear a variety of artists present their businesses. Be a part of an audience that is inspired by KC’s talent and learn as we further their growth by giving businesses ideas, resources and solutions.
Once a month we have artists present their business for 6 minutes, followed by 20 minutes of brainstorming on their challenges, goals, and needs. // Forums are 4th Thursdays, 12-1pm, at the Kemper Museum.
Each event is followed by networking.
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
Marketing to Women: Economic Powerhouses Your Brand May Be Overlooking
When: March 29, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Sprint Accelerator
As we wrap up Women’s Month, we wanted to take a moment to focus on women as consumers and how we go about marketing to the economic powerhouses that are women!
In the US, Women account for over 80% of all purchases and over $5 trillion in total sales. As consumers, women tend to consider nine different factors when deciding whether to make a purchase, whereas men tend to be more mission-oriented and consider only a third as many. This presentation on marketing to women will reveal the nature of women’s cross-category purchasing considerations and some of the key ways brands can drive more loyalty and build stronger relationships with this highly profitable audience. It will also share advertising and marketing examples of brands and companies that win with women every day.
Join us for Coworking Wednesday from 10am to 4:30 and enjoy this specific talk by Janie Curtis from 11 am to 12:30pm!
KC Roundtable Breakfast
When: March 30, 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!
Gigabit Workday
When: March 30, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Google Fiber Space
Throughout this year, KC Digital Drive is building and launching two gigabit apps as part of the Smart Gigabit Communities grant.
Gigabit Workdays are part of a year-long event series designed to help us navigate the app lifecycle process, from initial ideation to deployment. During quarterly Gigabit Workday workshops, attendees and stakeholders will have structured time to work on app ideas in five target areas: transportation, public safety, energy and advanced manufacturing.
The Gigabit Workday will kick off with reverse pitches—project proposals detailed by a stakeholder from that project’s industry and shared with app developers for implementation consideration. The workshop will also include time to provide project updates and share other relevant info.
We’re looking for app developers and entrepreneurs interested in helping us move these Gigabit Apps projects forward during the Gigabit Workday workshop. If that’s you, please RSVP and make plans to join us.
#Winning at Sales: Nobody eats until Somebody sells something
When: April 3, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: UMKC SBTDC
Five sessions: April 3, April 24, May 15, June 5 and June 26
Do you want to jump out front and be #WINNING in sales? Our series will allow you to increase profits through sales growth via accountability.
In these sessions, you will:
Network with other small businesses.
Learn tactical, applicable sales information from experts.
Hold yourself and your peers accountable for your sales goals, plans, and follow through.
Sales management is an integral part of your daily business success.
Learn to fill your sales funnel and become accountable to drive your BEST sales performance!
Apply today to be a member of this non-competitive, one per industry peer-to-peer sales accountability roundtable.
Winning Federal Research Grants: SBIR/STTR Workshop
When: April 4, 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Where: UMKC SBTDC
Have a technology business but don’t know where to find funding or the best way to acquire it? Then this workshop is for you!
This introductory seminar explains how to win SBIR (Small Business Initiative Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer Research) grants from federal programs that provide Research and Development (R&D) funds for small businesses. You will learn how to find grants, how to apply, and the best strategies to gain funding for your growing technology business.
Lunch is included.
TechHire KC – Tech Sector Meetup at Think Big
When: April 5, 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Where: Think Big Partners
RSVP: www.techhirekc.eventbrite.com
Find out how the TechHire initiative can impact your organization, how you can participate with subsidized placements, and discover how you can influence programming, training and curriculum to better meet your workforce needs. During these meetups, we will explore those topics and dive deeper into the region’s 5-year outlook, sector best practices, labor trends, and curriculum/instructional design in I.T. in Kansas City.
April 5, 2017
May 10, 2017
This meetup is for tech-sector employers looking to hire or shape the workforce pipeline. All events take place from 12-1:30 (lunch provided) at Think Big Partners, 1712 Main Street, 2nd Floor, Meeting Rooms B-C-D.
Think Big Partners serves as the Tech Sector Intermediary on behalf of FEC and the TechHire initiative in Kansas City.
About TechHire
TechHire is recoding the American economy by helping employers find outstanding tech talent, and overlooked job seekers get the training and connections they need to start successful technical careers.
TechHire Kansas City
In one of the original communities to join the President’s TechHire initiative, the Full Employment Council’s Greater Kansas City Technology Career Collaboration (GKCTCC) will help train 2,000 participants, including young adults facing barriers to employment such as disabilities and criminal records and workers currently in low-wage jobs. Training will focus on four high-growth industries: (1) IT, (2) healthcare, (3) advanced manufacturing, and (4) financial services. Working with Think Big, Full Employment Council, the National Machining and Tooling Association, and Missouri/Kansas Hospital Association, GKCTCC will identify the skills to succeed in each industry and work with training providers to customize curricula to help prepare participants for well-paying jobs.
KC Design Week
When: April 6-13
Where: Kansas City
An 8-day wake-up call to the eye-opening presence of design in all our lives. Parties, talks, workshops, exhibits, etc. celebrating design in KC. See link for tickets & join us April 6-13, 2017!
The Sales Series: Setting and Managing Sales Goals with Elizabeth Usovicz, White Space Consulting
When: April 6, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Enterprise Center in Johnson County
The Sales Series teaches entrepreneurs the basics of building scalable sales systems, attracting and compensating top-performing sales staff and customer retention.
