Last week I attended the FutureMidwest conference here in Detroit (at least on Thursday, Friday I was graduating from the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan — more on that later this week). FutureMidwest is now in its third year and features speakers from around the country giving their insights on “‘what’ [attendees] should expect to see in the coming years and ‘how’ to successfully capitalize on the trends with marketing and business strategies”. This year FutureMidwest was downtown Detroit hosted at the historic Eastern Market, which in itself was important, and gathered attendees from around the region.
Innovation is Happening!
One of the most important parts of FutureMidwest was the Funded by Night competition which brought together 25 companies to pitch their startups for the chance to win $100,000. While not all of the startups were from Michigan, a good number of them were, and there was some really interesting products and business models (more on those in future posts). It was great to see innovation from the area highlighted so we could see what other entrepreneurs are doing. We hear so much negativity about the brain drain from the area, that it’s refreshing to see some of the great ideas that are happening here promoted.
A lot of young people and entrepreneurs feel like they have to move to one of the coasts to have a chance, but I think there’s a lot of benefits to staying here, one of which is the great community support and the other is how much easier it is to get some attention (be a bigger fish in a smaller pond versus a small fish in a giant ocean). Not to mention all the great things like cost of living, quality of life, etc.
Rethink
Many of the sessions focused on using new media or new business models to find success. I think that there are a lot of opportunities available for businesses and startups to provide new solutions to old problems or to new problems. We hardly have everything solved, so looking at problems in a different way can lead to business profitability. Unfortunately there was a lot of talk about blowing up business models (current models). I don’t think we need to think in terms of destruction, but instead on new ways to create.
Connect
Whatever your thoughts on FutureMidwest, the opportunity to reconnect and expand your network was certainly worth the cost of admission. There were a lot of new faces in the audience, not just young technologically-hip, but also more experienced business people. If you took the time to talk with people, there were a lot of interesting ideas and opinions.
Additionally…
Eastern Market was a nice place to have the conference because it really is a historic landmark in downtown Detroit. Unfortunately it was a bit chilly, which makes people uncomfortable (especially when you’re sitting for long periods). It was also a bit echo-y, which made distractions more obvious. And the wireless connectivity was pretty non-existant for most of the first day. No matter how great your content or your speakers, if people are uncomfortable, it’s going to be difficult for them to remember the good stuff (and get the most out of the audience). I think most people who attended were pretty good natured about it all, but certainly some things could be improved for next year….
Overall, FutureMidwest 2011 (at least the first day) was a good event in my opinion.
What do you think?