Forward Festival to Connect Thousands of Entrepreneurs

Posted on by Taylor Kennedy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 8, 2018

Contact:
Molly Walsh
608-616-0840
molly@forwardfest.org

Forward Festival to Connect Thousands of Entrepreneurs

(MADISON, Wis.)— Entrepreneurs of all backgrounds will be collaborating and sharing advice during the ninth-annual Forward Festival, which features more than 50 events, 30 of which are new, taking place Aug. 16-23 throughout the city, organizers announced today.

“With this being the ninth Forward Festival, we are seeing how it’s become an agent for success in bringing all types of entrepreneurs together,” Laura Strong, festival committee member and president of Propagate Health, said. “Not only is this evident in the 30 new events happening this year, but also through the entrepreneurs who are creating new startups and opportunities through the connections they make while they attend the festival.”

As in other years, the festival’s main event is the Forward Technology Conference, which takes place Aug. 21 at the Wisconsin Union. John Zeratsky, co-creator of Google Ventures’ “Design Sprint” business process, will be the keynote speaker. New this year will be three “pop-up” preschools during FTC for children ages 4-10 and programming for older kids.

Forward Festival also will feature numerous meet-ups for people with a specific technical interest, including IoT (Aug. 16), Intro to Blockchain Panel (Aug. 20), Giving Design a Seat at the Lean Table (Aug. 20) and Madison Tech and Social Impact (Aug. 22).

Other highlights of the festival include the Social Good Summit (Aug. 16), the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s neXXpo and Pressure Chamber (Aug. 16) and the Badger Startup Summit (Aug. 22 featuring Gregg Fargus from 4Catalyzer). In addition, several events will be held at the recently opened StartingBlock Madison.

Forward Festival is sponsored by American Family Insurance, MG&E, Neider & Boucher, WEDC, Urban Land Interests, M3 Insurance, Boardman Clark, Safety Net, Swink and the Wisconsin Union.

For a detailed listing of events taking place during the Forward Festival, please visit www.forwardfest.org.

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