Day Two at the Expo begins with the Corporate Growth Summit
Panelists Mary Isbister, Mike Malatesta, Sue Marks and Craig Schiefelbein shared their secrets for middle market growth. As outsiders who moved to Milwaukee from the East, Isbister and Malatesta praised Wisconsin as a great place to do business.
Opening remarks were provided by Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce president Tim Sheehy.
The Expo will continue with the presentation of the Bravo! Entrepreneur and IQ Awards over lunch.
Recap from Day One at the Expo
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele were among the attendees on the first day of the BizTech Conference & Expo Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Cynthia LaConte of the Dohmen company, received the first annual BizTimes Woman Executive of the Year.
View some photographs from the first day of the Expo here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150176476480807.300579.117985320806&l=e6edecf0b7.
To view some web video footage of the first day, click here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sim-test.
Thursday’s agenda begins with the BizTimes Corporate Growth Summit. MMAC president Tim Sheehy provides opening remarks. The BizTimes Bravo! Entrepreneur and IQ Awards will be presented over the lunch hour.
Breaking news from the Expo floor: Wisconsin Secretary of Workforce Development resigns.
http://www.biztimes.com/daily/2011/5/11/perez-resigns-as-secretary-of-workforce-development
Linkner kicks off BizTech with a challenge for executives
The seventh annual BizTech Conference and Expo kicked off this morning with a keynote presentation from Josh Linkner, serial entrepreneur and author of the New York Times, bestselling book “Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity.”
Linkner spoke about ways to utilize creativity to generate innovative ideas and foster a culture of new product innovation and unorthodox problem solving. In preparation for his book, Linker spoke with hundreds of presidents and CEO’s from companies around the world. He challenged executives in attendance this morning to take five percent of their traditional work week and spend it doing ‘something creative.’
“Go for a walk, doodle, just get those creative juices flowing,” Linkner said. In a traditional 40-hour work week, five percent equates to about two hours.
According to Linkner, of the people he has challenged, not one person has experienced a loss of productivity, and most reported they felt more rejuvenated and more able to come up with innovative ideas.
Linkner is the founder, chairman and former CEO of ePrize, the largest interactive promotion agency in the world. Over the past 12 years, ePrize has grown to have more than 1,200 employees and provides digital marketing services for 74 of the top 100 brands in the world. By age 30, Linkner had started four companies and sold three of them. Linkner recently launched his fifth company, Detroit Venture Partners, a venture capital firm. Along with business partners Dan Gilbert and Brian Hermelin, Linkner is actively investing in early-stage technology companies looking to help rebuild the Detroit region through entrepreneurship.
To learn more about Linkner’s creativity mission, read his blog at www.JoshLinkner.com. Stay tuned for more updates from BizTech Conference and Expo and check out Smart Interactive Media’s live streaming video.
Move-in Day
Dozens of businesses are setting up their exhibition booths at the BizTech Conference & Expo to be held at Wisconsin State Fair on Wednesday and Thursday, May 11-12.
Here is a list of Expo exhibitors: http://expo.biztimes.com/exhibitor-list.cfm.
Best-selling author Josh Linkner will kick off the Expo Wednesday morning at the Executive Strategies Breakfast.
You can still register to attend the Expo, but you’ll have to print out this form and bring it to the event first:
http://www.biztimes.com/biztimes/BizTech_Free_Registration.pdf
BizTimes staff will be updating this blog about events at the BizTech Conference & Expo over the next two days..
