FutureMidwest, which was last week, brought business, marketing and technology people together to exchange ideas and foster entrepreneurship. There were many events planned all week, but I started with volunteering on Thursday and TechCocktail in the evening. The energy and networking at TechCocktail was unreal. People were excited to get together and celebrate what this region has to offer in terms of innovating for our future. The conference itself opened strong on Friday, with some notable speakers and presentations (more on those below). Did it live up to my hopes and expectations? Mostly.
By my count, there were 15 presentations (not counting the panel), some of which had multiple speakers. Judging by my notes, there were 7 that were particularly interesting (at least to me): Joe Jaffe, Tim Schaden, Blagica Bottigliero, Henry Balanon & Damian Rintelmann, Sam Valenti IV, Jay Adelson and Ken Burbary. This isn’t to say that the other presentations weren’t good, these 7 are just the ones that got me thinking (which was my major hope from the post last week). Seven out of 15 may not sound like a good average, but it’s probably on par with most conferences. I heard that many of the other business owner-types got good info out of more of the speeches.
What I’d like to see is more presenters creating speeches which are only used once, which bring up some new idea or come at a topic from a conference theme. There were a few speeches with content that I’d seen before from those speakers. As someone who also gives speeches, I know it can be hard to create new stuff – but I think that’s what a conference audience expects if they’re paying for something. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it’s pretty easy for anyone to get your previous speeches online. Think in terms of your audience as a whole – what do they already know? What have I said before? Obviously you can cover something more specifically over again if requested or if you’re addressing an audience that really hasn’t been in contact with you before.
Many of the business owners I spoke with were hoping for more concrete tactics they could take back and apply to their own business. Saturday’s workshops were supposed to be more interactive and applicable but 3 out of 4 turned out to be just 1 hour speeches (in my opinion). Ken Burbary’s workshop covering consumer insights and analysis was just brilliant and had so much information I need to go download the slides and start taking a closer look at tools he suggested.
The three other presentations that really stood out for me (out of the 7) were Joe Jaffe’s flipping the funnel talk (based on ideas in his new book). It may not have been a new speech, but it did get some new ideas flowing, which I always appreciate. Sam Valenti IV (@ghostly) gave a good talk on the idea of permeable brand – connecting with your customers, being transparent, and involving customers in how you build your brand (with good examples from ghostly.com). Jay Adelson’s speech got a lot of people talking (and some good press coverage), which was important in terms of letting people outside of the area know about the community here.
Honorable mentions to Tim Schaden for some insights on using ppc for consumer insights, Blagica Bottiliero for using stories to build community and Henry Balanon & Damian Rintelman for their entertaining format with great thoughts on some of the current trends in the digital space.
The energy, the networking, the innovation and the conversations around the conference and among its attendees was absolutely brilliant. There was a great deal of value just being able to meet new people and discuss the ideas presented during the conference. As a first start, FutureMidwest did an excellent job. There are a few areas in need of improvement (but that’s true of any conference) so my overall grade is a B to B-. I’m looking forward to future events and how it integrates into the landscape of the digital community we’re building here in Michigan.
Were you there? What did you think?