ueda annual summit 2014 - awards of excellence - leadership and collaboration - entrefest
DESCRIPTION
Understanding that small business owners benefit and learn best from interacting with their like-minded peers; a collaborative group of Iowa service providers joined forces in 2007 to plan what would become EntreFest – a venue for Iowa small businesses to come together to learn, share, and celebrate being an entrepreneur in America’s heartland. EntreFest has been held annually since February 2008, and moves to different locations throughout the state, so that all small businesses will have the opportunity to attend a conference close to ‘their back yard”. What began as a small gathering of main street business owners has expanded to become something so much more. In 2013 UNI entered into a public-private partnership with a small socially minded startup called Seed Here Studio to help our team re-envision what EntreFest could be. The goal from the start was exceedingly lofty; to attract entrepreneurs from every segment of the entrepreneurial stack- from micro-enterprises, small business owners, innovators, and even a venture company wanna-be (or two) and to maintain our pull with our public sector partners that we had attracted to the event in previous years. Billed as Iowa’s most comprehensive entrepreneur event, EntreFEST would redefine the way that conferences for entrepreneurs could be held. This reimagined model can be implemented in other communities, regardless of size, entrepreneur composition, or willingness of public sector partners to participate, primarily because when an event is entrepreneurially driven, business owners and the public sector will respond. View the full case study at: http://universityeda.org/value-to-members/best-practice-sharing/awards-of-excellence/2014-awards-of-excellence/awards-of-excellence-2014-finalists/entrefest/TRANSCRIPT
UNIVERSITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
ROB WILLIAMS | PATRICK LUENSMANN
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA – REGIONAL BUSINESS CENTER
No Conference -> Let’s Make One!
Timeline
Idea Planted by UNI Team in 2007 after seeing a gap
Roundtable Engaged & Planning Committee Formed
First Conference Held in 2008
EntreFest! Matures
Leadership & Collaboration
Partnerships Formed Every Year with City, Chamber, Main Street Orgs, etc
Expanded Planning Committee
Over 1,000 Iowa small business owners touched
Iowa Service Provider Smorgasboard
Successful Five Year Run
Inspiration & Innovation
Traveling- highlighting five entrepreneur communities
Surprise and Delight
Informational Sessions on Emerging Technologies, Social Media, Guerilla Marketing
Inspiring Speakers Recruited
Eschewing the Conference Model
Entrepreneurs Leading New Models
BarCamp
1 Million Cups
Startup Weekend
Our Approach:
Listen, Imagine, Collaborate, Evaluate
We need entrepreneur partners...
A New Collaboration Begins
Public/Private Partnership Formed
Reimagined “EntreFEST”
New Conference Born
Collaboration at Work
Speakers
Venue
Content
Impact and Outcomes
Attendance Records Broken, and Unprecedented
New Relationships Forged in Entire Entrepreneur Stack
Several Startups Launched
Major Media Coverage of Innovation in Iowa
Sustainability
Shared Ownership
Constant Relevance
Broad Audience
Institutional Support
Scalability & Replicability
Open Sourced EntreFEST
Multi-State Attraction
Shared Ownership and Resources
Universities Best Positioned to Lead or Support
Come to EntreFEST 2015!
May 20-22, 2015
Iowa City, IA
http://www.EntreFEST.com
Join us at EntreFEST 2015