We’ve long been big fans of Kansas City (duh—we live here). But what makes us even more proud is that the city is getting quite the reputation as a tech and entrepreneurial hotbed—and during this weekend’s Compute Midwest conference, you’ll get an up close and personal look at some of the best tech minds and ideas in the country.
Billed as a two-day “convergence of tech: new people, new ideas and innovation in Kansas City,” Compute Midwest is hosted by Kansas City IT Professionals, a grassroots tech community spearheaded by the brilliant Mike Gelphman (who also created Compute Midwest). The event includes an all-day conference today with presentations from a number of speakers including Dan Levin, COO of Box; Zach Kaplan, CEO of Inventables; Scott Chacon, CIO of Github; Michelle Munson, CEO and co-founder of Aspera; and Ben Milne, CEO and co-founder of Dwolla, to name a few.
The rest of the weekend includes a 24-hour hackathon that, unfortunately, is already sold out. The good news? We’ll keep you posted on the winners! There’s likely to be some pretty amazing apps created during that time, and we’re excited to see the results.
So what the heck are you waiting for? The conference is happening now, so hop over to the Compute Midwest site to register and then get your rear over to the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts (2000 Grand Blvd., Kansas City) and prepare to soak up a whole lotta tech knowledge.
If you’re headed that way, feel free to pop back over and let us know what you thought of Compute Midwest. And in the meantime, kudos to Mike for creating and planning such a great event. We’re already looking forward to Compute Midwest 2013!
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
