We have all heard about the differences between Baby Boomers, Gen X-ers and the (infamous) Millennials. Yes, there are distinctions in the way each generation desires to live, work and play. But we all have something in common – we’ve chosen Wisconsin as our home. Thus, we need to work together to ensure our state stays competitive and attractive for future generations.

The YPSummit offers an opportunity for emerging and established leadership to build a united vision for their communities. This two-day symposium invites municipal, chamber of commerce, economic development and young professional leaders to work as a team on a collaborative action plan for talent attraction, development and retention strategies designed specifically to address each community’s assets and needs.

Program Overview: Day one of the summit focuses on national trends, best practices and success stories of Millennial civic engagement strategies and young professional programs. Team of municipal,chamber of commerce, economic development and young professional leaders are encouraged to spend the day learning together. Day two is an action planning session for community teams to practice the place-based talent strategies through the design of YPWeek Wisconsin 2017.

Learn more and register online.

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Join 1,000 business and community leaders for the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s 64th Annual Dinner.

Featured speakers include:

Federica Marchionni, CEO, Lands’ End

Federica Marchionni is widely recognized as a multi-talented, visionary business leader with the skills to navigate a highly competitive and evolving global environment. As CEO of Lands’ End, Federica is driving innovation and expansion, spearheading efforts to evolve an iconic Wisconsin company into a major global lifestyle brand. Lands’ End has annual revenue of $1.4 billion and approximately 6,000 employees.

Prior to joining Lands’ End, Federica served as President of Dolce&Gabbana USA Inc., where she greatly contributed to the company’s worldwide success by influencing the entire value chain. As chief of the brand at Ferrari, she developed strategic plans to advance the company’s mission and objectives. She has been a guest speaker at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit and the Women in Retail Summit and also serves as a board member of the Corporate Fund of Kennedy Center of Arts.

John Burke, President, Trek Bicycle Corp.

Forty years after it was founded in a red barn in Waterloo, Wis., Trek Bicycle has grown into a global brand that generates $1 billion in annual sales. Under John Burke’s leadership, Trek now employs 1,800 people and sells its products through 5,000 retail locations in more than 90 countries. John helped spearhead the formation of Trek’s public bike-sharing system Bcycle, which now operates in 29 U.S. cities and Santiago, Chile. Trek also invests in the DreamBikes program, which provides teens in disadvantaged neighborhoods with hands-on, paid job training refurbishing donated bicycles and recycling them back into the community.

In addition to working at Trek since 1984 and serving as its president since 1997, John served as chairman of President George W. Bush’s President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and is a founding member of People for Bikes. John is an avid cyclist, runner and a published author. His latest book, 12 Simple Solutions to Save America, was released in June 2016.

Learn more and register.

This interactive course presents the core components of a Business Retention & Expansion (BRE) program and why the concerns of local businesses need to be actively addressed. By building an understanding of business visitation techniques and survey methods, practitioners will be able to clearly gauge their community’s business climate. Learn the “red flags” that may indicate a company is looking to move elsewhere, and learn how to structure an effective technical assistance program to respond to business concerns. This course helps participants understand how a BRE program relates to attraction, workforce development, small business finance, technology transfer and many other economic development activities.

Course Highlights:

• Establishing, maintaining and upgrading a BRE program
• Creating effective models for business visitations and surveys
• Customer-Relationship Management (CRM) techniques
• Marketing a BRE program
• Establishing an early warning system
• Cluster and industry-focused BRE programs
• Tracking and analyzing customer feedback and response
• Quantitative and qualitative economic development metrics

Learn more and register by 9/1 for discounted registration.

International trade policy has become part of the election year campaign discussion. Join Madison International Trade Association for its September program focusing on US trade policy in an election year:

• Does trade cost jobs?
• Should the U.S. impose a 45% tariff  on Chinese imports?
• Should the U.S. ratify new trade  agreements with 11 Pacific Rim  countries, and another with the EU?

Two expert speakers separate rhetoric from reality, and discuss the possible consequences for US exporters.

• Andy Schutz, an attorney at Grunfeld Desiderio Lebowitz Silverman & Klestadt LLP in Washington, D.C. (Milwaukee office). He practices in the anti dumping and countervailing areas particularly, but follows the general  international trade discussion closely.
• Kurt Bauer, President of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

Learn more.

Possible changes being considered in Congress to the U.S. patent system and the potential effects on innovation, especially for tech-based businesses, will be the topic of an Aug. 23 meeting of the Tech Council’s Wisconsin Innovation Network in Madison. The event is being held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

Erik Iverson, managing director of WARF, will be joined by Laurie Self, vice president and counsel for government affairs at Qualcomm on behalf of the Innovation Alliance, as well as Scott Button, a managing director at Venture Investors LLC and a board member of three tech-based companies, including recently acquired NeuWave Medical.

“The next session of Congress is pivotal in terms of protecting the nation’s 225-year-old patent system, which has always driven innovation that keeps the U.S. economy strong,” said Tom Still, president of the Tech Council. “This discussion will cover topics such as speeding the processing of patent applications, drawing a sharp line between ‘patent trolls’ and legitimate licensing communications, and other process changes that will save companies time and money.”

Find out more and register online.