Events Preview: Writing a business plan, Code for KC

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? Feel free to add it to the FWD/KC calendar for increased exposure. Once your event is submitted, it will quickly get reviewed and then published to the calendar. [divide]

The First Steps to Starting a Business
When: July 24, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Where: Small Business & Technology Development Center
Are you looking for the basics of starting a new business? This three-hour class provides a quick overview of the critical first steps needed to start a business.
Participants learn to assess their strengths and weaknesses in terms of business ownership, and the importance of planning, meeting legal and regulatory requirements and identifying sources of financing.
Topics Include:

• Basics of business ownership and planning
• Forms of business ownership and other regulatory issues
• Marketing and financing
• Business resources and training opportunities
• Determining if business ownership is for you

The Basics of Writing a Business Plan
When: July 26, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Small Business & Technology Development Center
Start your business planning, or ramp up your game plan, with this three-hour class on Basics of Writing a Business Plan. Designed for current and aspiring business owners, this class is perfect for entrepreneurs who need to create a business plan, but have little or no knowledge of how to get started. Learn the key elements of a basic plan and how it can be a useful management tool.
Participants will get tips and guidelines on writing styles and formats that produce polished, professional plans. Business counselors will facilitate class discussions to help participants consider individual situations, opportunities and additional valuable resources. Discussions are facilitated by business counselors who will help you examine your individual situation, explore opportunities and discover new ideas. You’ll learn from other participants and have a host of valuable resources available to you.

2017 POWER of Diversity Breakfast
When: July 16, 7:30 a.mm. — 9:30 a.m.
Where: Muehlebach Hotel
The KC Chamber’s POWER of Diversity Breakfast is the region’s premier celebration of the metro area’s culturally diverse business community, recognizing diverse workforce members and corporations that have demonstrated a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The Greater Kansas City Chamber values and promotes diversity because it enhances the business community and the economic development of the region through: increasing regional and global business development; expanded educational opportunities; and creating a robust community infrastructure that encourages all community members to make contributions using their special talents, expertise and knowledge. This year’s POWER of Diversity Celebration will feature the results of the first Regional Diversity and Inclusion Best Practices Survey. The KC Chamber will also present ACE Awards to mid-to-senior level diverse manager who are having a positive impact on their company’s profitability and increasing their diversity efforts in the workplace. New in 2017, a Supplier Diversity ACE Award will go to a mid-to-senior level diverse manager who is accomplishing dramatic growth in increasing supplier diversity.

Fiduciary duties for retirement plans
When: July 26, 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Where: UMKC SBTDC
This seminar will provide you with the information you need to stay in compliance with your defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. It will focus on steps for avoiding the most common problems with the EBSA.
Workshop is co-sponsored and facilitated by staff from the US Department of Labor.[divide]

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

Looking ahead

Why a Gigabit City Summit?
When: Aug. 1 – 3
Where: Plexpod Westport Commons
The population of colonial America at the time of the Revolutionary War was between 2 and 3 million people—roughly the size of metro Kansas City today. Outside of New York and Los Angeles, the rest of the top 100 US metro areas by population are in the range of a half million to less than 10 million people—six- and seven-figure populations. Those numbers are remarkably modest compared to the nine- and ten-figure populations that the world’s national governments are charged with managing and protecting.
It is hard to talk about the importance of cities these days without sounding trite or slipping into cliché. We’ve all heard that 70% of people will be living in cities by 2050, that cities draw the “creative class” and house “innovation hubs” that foster collision density and serendipitous connections. We lament the growing financial burden cities bear, while lauding local as the place where “things get done” and innovation is alive.
The dialogue around and exploration of these issues facing the city of today and the city of tomorrow is an important one. The invocation of the American revolution is not so much intended to recall conflict and tyranny, but the opportunity for fundamental definition of principles—of what a society believes, of what the people stand for, and of how they create the rules and institutions to realize a polis based on those beliefs.
Such is the opportunity for today’s cities, and it is called into stark relief by the digitization of infrastructure. Whether through fiber deployments to expand capacity for connectivity and data traffic or the application of sensors and real-time computing to the roads, buildings, pipes, and wires that enable modern life, cities (and the communities in between) are in the midst of a fundamental transformation. Unlike much of the consumer software revolution, these infrastructure projects deploy slowly and at great collective expense.  The magnitude of the investment and the long infrastructure life cycles create an opportunity and an imperative—the opportunity for fundamental redesign and improvement and the imperative that they be well-considered and executed.
Over the past several years, the conversation around smart cities has evolved to include and even prioritize the role of actual human beings in the smart city loop. To those new to that conversation or unfamiliar with the history of “smart cities,” it may come as a surprise that such an evolution was even necessary. The idea that technology projects need to focus on meeting the needs of actual people ought to be obvious of course, but the challenges in making that a reality are more complex than might be imagined at first blush. These are precisely the challenges that our first gigabit cities have found themselves faced with—not simply how we build new infrastructure and deploy new technology, but how do we build the systems to apply those assets in the right way.
While this is an issue of national import, it’s one that cities and communities, with population sizes that operate at a human scale, networking down to schools and neighborhoods and homes and individuals, are uniquely able to address. This is the challenge that the Gigabit City Summit is designed to help address.

First Wednesdays (Regnier Institute)
When: Aug. 2, 5:00 p.m. – 6:30  p.m.
Where: UMKC Bloch Executive Hall
On the first Wednesday of each month during the academic year, The Regnier Institute hosts special events designed to bring students and community members together and to inspire Bloch students to launch new ventures. These special events include inspirational stories from inductees of the Entrepreneur Hall of Fame and at the end of each semester culminate in a student venture feasibility plan and pitch competition. The evenings end in pizza and networking.

August TechTalk: KCDC Diversity Kickoff
When: Aug. 2, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Where: TBD
For Networking: You’re not alone. There just aren’t enough women in technology, and being the only one can get lonely. Break out of your silo and meet women who do what you do. Share stories, exchange advice, talk tech, and be yourself. You can come to network, to cowork, or just to chat.
For growth: Learn from the best. TechTalks were created to be not only a networking event, but an opportunity for continuous learning for skills that must constantly evolve to keep up with the market. These talks will cover a wide variety of topics including:

• How to be effective in different technology roles
• Value assessment and determining appropriate compensation
• APIs
• Resumes and Interviews
• Careers: How to Have It All
• Technical sessions for javascript, .NET, java, and more

SMCKC August Breakfast: How to Incorporate Social Media into Your Real-Life
When: Aug. 4, 7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Where: Grand Street Cafe
Building an audience on your social channels isn’t the only goal you should have for your social media efforts. Learn how you can integrate your social media posts into your existing marketing campaigns so that you can provide better support your sales team and drive more inbound leads to your funnel. You’ll learn:

• How to use social ads to warm up the sales pipeline
• What kinds of content to create—and where to post it—to generate potential leads on social channels
• How to incorporate social posts into an integrated marketing campaign—what, who, where, and why. 

$10 Admission/ $15 Admission+Breakfast. Refunds/Cancellations: We know that issues come up and sometimes you cannot attend our events after you have registered. Please let us know if you cannot attend immediately as we are financially responsible for accurate guest, food and drink counts. No refunds can be offered if you cancel less than five (5) days prior to an event. Thank you