Events Preview: How to pitch to the Sandbox, KU Big Data workshop

There are a plethora of entrepreneurial events hosted in Kansas City on a weekly basis. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, supporter, or curious community member — we recommend these upcoming events for you.

Are you hosting a relevant community event? Add it to the KCSourceLink Calendar for increased exposure. Email info@kcsourcelink.com for assistance.

Bloch Ideation Day
When: Sept. 26, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Bloch Venture Hub
Have an idea for a business or product? Maybe you’re only halfway to one?
We’re here to help you develop it the rest of the way!
Join our instructors and fellow entrepreneurs at the Bloch Venture Hub at 4328 Madison Ave. on Tuesday, September 26th from 4-6pm and we will help you develop and focus your idea, and show you how to determine and even enhance it’s feasibility and marketability. We can then show you some next steps to take, with our help or on your own.
Don’t let your good idea (or even part of one) go to waste!

Enterprise University: Are You Hiring With Purpose? Or, Are You Simply Putting Butts in Chairs?
When: Sept. 27, 8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Where: Training Umbrella
Taught by Amy Leslie:
When it comes to successfully attracting, selecting, and onboarding the best-fitting candidates, we seem to double down on the same old selection and interview techniques that are not working for us. Learn how to stop hiring with the hopes of it working out, and begin hiring with purpose!

• Key takeaways:
  • An understanding of various hiring practices.
  • The failure rates of hiring predictability and what can we do to improve our odds
  • Practical ways we can do a better job in defining job requirements, and select candidates who will be most happy and successful doing that job

The Founder Series: Lean Growth
When: Sept. 27, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Village Square Coworking
The Founder Series addresses legal and operational issues commonly faced by startup founders, from the process of finding and working with co-founders to strategies to protect your intellectual property.
This ECJC workshop series is presented in partnership with Village Square, Located in the heart of the Kansas City Startup Village, Village Square is a coworking space that offers entrepreneurs and startups a place to call home.

How to Pitch to the Sandbox
When: Sept. 27, 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Where: UMKC Innovation Center
Jeff Shackelford, director of Digital Sandbox KC, will walk you through the process of applying for and pitching to the Sandbox decision makers. After this session, you’ll know how to make the most effective presentation for funding support from Digital Sandbox KC and increase your chance for funding approval.
Admission is FREE but registration is required.

The R&D Tax Credit – A First Time Opportunity for Early Stage Companies
When: Sept. 28, 11:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Where: Enterprise Center in Johnson County

KU Big Data Workshop
When: Sept. 29, 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 b.m.
Where: KU Edwards Campus
In response to the Kansas City workforce’s development needs, more Big Data programming from KU is coming to the metro area. In September and October 2017, KUPCE is offering the third three-part Big Data for Managers and Decision Makers workshop, designed for mid-level managers with little-to-no data science expertise.
You’ll learn the basics of Big Data in order to make key organizational decisions, assess whether you need a data management team—and, if you do, how get the most out of it—and much more.
Presenter: Piero Ferrante

  The Intersection of Data Science and Big Data

• The data science lifecycle.
• Vertical case studies in business outcomes.
• Hypothesis testing and iterative exploration with Big Data.
• Signal detection with unstructured data sets.
• Monetizing data: zero to insights.

  Constraints and Limitations of Big Data

• Pitfalls of analytics and Big Data.
• Challenges and Barriers: technical and adaptive.

Group rates available for organizations interested in enrolling 2 or more staff in this workshop. Contact ProfessionalPrograms@ku.edu to inquire about getting the group rate.

Ongoing events

Don’t miss out on the events that happen every week at the same time, in the same place.

Code for KC Hack Night
Mondays from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at Sprint Accelerator

Hammerspace Open House
Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at Hammerspace

1 Million Cups
Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. at Kauffman Foundation, Lawrence and KC Live Stream

Coworking Wednesdays
Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at Sprint Accelerator

Looking ahead

Regnier Institute First Wednesday
When: Oct. 3, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Where: UMKC Bloch Executive Hall Room 218
The First Wednesdays Speaker Series & Networking Event takes place every first Wednesday of the month during the academic year. Hosted at UMKC Bloch Executive Hall, Room 218 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
October’s event will feature the “Ventures Gaining Traction” panel. Come to learn from past and present Entrepreneurship Scholars who have found their footing.

• Presenters: Panelists from Integrated Roadways, By Grace Designs and Strange Days Brewery

The events are free, open to the public and end in pizza and networking.

Startup Rewind
When: Oct. 4, 7: 45 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Where: Deer Creek Country Club
Startup Rewind gives local entrepreneurs a venue to pitch their idea followed by questions and feedback from the audience. This valuable feedback will help encourage and grow their ideas and in turn build a better community through business and entrepreneurship. Come join us for some great ideas and out of the box thinking. The goal is to get the word out about new companies and ideas, while gaining feedback from the community of business leaders and other entrepreneurs. This format will help foster business networking and encourage those entrepreneurs who are creating tomorrows big ideas. The Startup Rewind takes presentations made at other entrepreneurial events from the Startup scene in Kansas City and replays them again. This gives them another chance to get themselves in front of more people who may have missed it the first time around, thus the name Startup Rewind. Startup Rewind meets once monthly on the first Wednesday of the month at Deer Creek Country Club from 7:15am to 8:30am. The event is hosted and sponsored by the Overland Park South Rotary Club.

The Marketing Series Workshops: Brand Positioning with Grant Gooding
When: Oct. 4, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Where: Sprint Accelerator
The Marketing Series takes an in-depth look at the science and analytics behind marketing campaigns–from the basics of growth hacking to ins-and-outs of content marketing.

WeWork Corrigan Station Grand Opening Party
When: Oct. 6, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Where: WeWork Corrigan Station
Don’t miss live art curated by local artists, the ultimate in craft cocktails and local breweries, bites provided by incredible culinary experts,  live music & more. Trust us, this is one stop at First Fridays you won’t want to miss.