Camp Cyber reboots conference format with top-security KC Tech Council retreat
July 30, 2018 | Austin Barnes
From cyberspace to the great outdoors, the KC Tech Council is using past success to develop a one-of-a-kind professional development experience: Camp Cyber.

Traditional conferencing rebooted, the two-day retreat is expected to provide Kansas City’s top information security leaders with exclusive access to industry insiders, said Ryan Weber, KC Tech Council president.
Camp Cyber – set for Sept. 12-13 – aims to break through the mundane with an outside-the-box approach to professional development and networking, he said. It offers participants a resort-style retreat at the secluded Maple Ranch south of Kansas City, rather than stale bagels and cold coffee in a corporate conference room.
“Besides, camp is always fun,” Weber quipped.
Development opportunities like Camp Cyber could be the wave of the future, he said.
“As the role of CISO [chief information security officer] becomes more central to our organizations, it became apparent to us there was a need to connect this leadership group and provide them relevant programming and relationship-building in an exclusive yet relaxed setting,” Weber said.
Downloading an interest in attending Camp Cyber? Beware the firewall.
Participants are required to hold the highest cyber security rank within their company — a decision Weber defined as critical to the inner workings of Camp Cyber.
Major Kansas City companies such as Cerner, Garmin, and AMC Theatres have thrown their support behind the tech council’s latest endeavor. The three companies are among a select group that rounds out the Camp Cyber steering committee.
“The content is derived from a steering committee comprised of our core audience. Therefore, content will be focused on the audience,” he said as he offered an overview of Camp Cyber’s objectives.
“We rely on industry leaders to drive content for our events,” Weber explained. “That’s why we’ve created a steering committee to ensure we are delivering a high-value event that is relevant to our audience, comprised of their industry peers.”
Click here to learn more about Camp Cyber or register for the event.

2018 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
WIRED together: How mentorship led 22 women to a million-dollar investment
Collaboration among like-minded women forms a dangerous advantage, said Sheryl Vickers and Audrey Navarro. The duo helped found WIRED — Women in Real Estate Development — to foster mentorship and investment among women in the male-dominated and individualistic commercial real estate world. “We believe we have a leg up in the industry because that siloed,…
Founder facing gender bias: Don’t call me a victim; call me investors
It’s like pulling teeth to get key investors and resource organizations to help push female entrepreneurs forward, said Carlanda McKinney, citing implicit bias and a lack of effective support mechanisms. “I don’t think it’s intentional at all. I think it’s a byproduct,” said McKinney, co-founder of Raaxo, an online tech platform used to design and…
Even gatekeepers struggle to bring KC’s women-led companies in from the cold
Female entrepreneurs are falling behind as a new generation of highly-scalable startups rises in the Kansas City, said Darcy Howe, reporting too few women-led firms even approaching KCRise Fund for investment. “My experience with those ‘Hey, I hear you have money’ calls that I do get [from female entrepreneurs] — many of them are not…
ScaleUP! KC reveals new 15-member cohort of growing businesses; touts alumni successes
Entrepreneurs joining the latest ScaleUP! Kansas City cohort represent ventures from such varied business sectors as photography, construction, design, counseling, film and engineering, said Jill Meyer. An ability to scale knows no single industry, emphasized Meyer, program director of ScaleUP! KC. “This program has shown us, time and time again, that not only can you…
