A good conference will serve the needs of multiple types of people, all at the same time. More than anything a conference represents an opportunity for people to connect. Importantly this isn’t just connecting people who need help to those that want it. A conference that does this is okay, but it can do more. A good conference helps foster growth by connecting people who want to hear from each other as equals.
The Innovate Summit is a conference which sets to do this with countless speakers, booths, and networking opportunities. It’s a conference made for business owners and educators, coaches and experts. Set from May 21st through 23rd in Owensboro, Kentucky, the event has a seemingly endless lineup of speakers.
Each of these speakers is essential to ensuring that everyone has the type of experience they’re looking for. For the business owner in attendance, there are several speakers offering their insight on fostering success. Jason Falls, for example, will have a talk on being reactive and proactive in business marketing. This can be a vital talk to tune into for any business with a great product but less than stellar marketing.
On the other side of the equation is a PR panel which will be hosted at Innovate. Public relations are an often neglected side of business, and it’s helpful to have several experts speaking on the issue. The focus here is on giving practical and usable advice to business owners across a range of industries.
Even more generally there are speakers like Tim Salau. Tim owns a company which is heavily involved in remote work training and onboarding. It’s experts like him that will really round the conference out with information on modern business practices like remote work. Questions like how should remote work be incorporated into modern businesses? How does training employees work in a remote versus physical setting? How does one hold themselves and their employees accountable? These are the types of things Tim, and other speakers, have expertise on.
These talks are vital because even though they average 30 minutes a speaker, the interactions don’t end there. Not only is there a lunch break but explicit networking events will be hosted throughout Innovate. This isn’t just a conference to sit down and listen. For any speaker that sticks out during Innovate, there’s an opportunity to connect and network with them.
And of course, Innovate will feature some notably dynamic and fun speakers alongside the informative. Herb “Flight Time” Lang, for example, is a former member of the Harlem GlobeTrotters who will be speaking at Innovate. Although defining him off of this alone would be doing him a disservice. His modern work as a speaker, even reaching the stage of TedX, makes his inclusion that much more exciting.
Beyond the speakers there will be a podcast lounge and trade show hosted at Innovate. The trade show offers opportunities for investors and startups to network extensively. Showing off an impressive product here could make a huge difference in the trajectory of a business. And better yet for investors there will be a concentration of businesses which are actively looking to work with others.
The podcast lounge, on the other hand, is just another great avenue for documentation and collaboration. The event has very little downtime, but the podcast lounge, available for the second and third days, is the exception. Here attendees can reflect and expand the impact of the conference beyond the convention center walls.
Finally, for all the opportunities from growth small business owners can experience here, just the same goes for large businesses. Already over a dozen businesses have partnered with Innovate, and the reasons why are clear. Companies that donate get to advertise at the trade show, are given exclusive time, and get consistent mentions.
These are just some of the ways that Innovate 2024 cements itself as a conference which helps its attendees grow. The question for someone attending Innovate isn’t if there’s something to get out of it. The question is how can one best optimize what they’re going to get out of the conference. There’s no shortage of attendees, speakers, and events, the challenge is taking advantage of it all.
