New West Festival: The Rise of the Rockies
Thursday Evening, May 5th
6 PM – 8 PM – Opening Cocktail Party/Reception at the Missoula Art Museum
This festive evening features a short talk by one of the lead architects for the rennovation and remodeling of the Museum. Warren Hampton will discuss the vision of the project and the inspiration for the design, which seamlessly blends the new modern addition with the older historical Carnegie Library building. The caters will emphasize local foods, and the museum will be filled with area artists, who will talk about their work. Attendees will get to participate in a “citizen juried” art show as part of the evening’s fun. A local jazz trio, Triple Sec, is providing the musical backdrop for the evening.
Friday, May 6th
8 AM – 9 AM – Registration and Continental Breakfast
9 AM – 9:15 – Opening Remarks, Lynn Ingham, CEO of New West, and Brad Turner, Editor
9:15 – 10:15 – Climate Change, Alison Gannett - Be Green, Save Green
Learn Alison’s four-step framework to calculate and reduce your personal, business, or government’s carbon footprint, while saving money and reducing foreign energy dependence at the same time. Discover Alison’s quest to walk the talk and her work with the sustainability successes and failures of companies (Walmart, Patagonia, KEEN, Home Depot, Osprey, McDonalds, UPS, Tropicana) around the world.
10:15 – 10:30 – Coffee Break/Networking
10:30 – 11:30 – Digital Branding, Jim Nichols - More Carrot, Less Stick
Move over Mr. Whipple. Today’s marketing environment requires ears and eyes and rewards and responsiveness, not demos and sledge hammer ads. It’s a new media world. One that requires marketers to change their thinking – about the field, our consumers, and ourselves. But succeeding in digital can be easier if you remember just one idea: more carrot, less stick. Bring your intuition, your consumer empathy, and a kerplunk sense of humor. And Baby Boomers…you can rejoice! There’ll be trivia questions, and if you know who Rhoda and Ginger and Jethrine and Bert the Turtle were, then you’re all set.
11:45 – 1 PM – Lunch
Lunch will provide a peek into Mayor John Engen’s Best Place Project. The focus of the Best Place Project is on smart, managed and sustainable growth through 21st Century jobs and industries that fit the Missoula community.
1:15 – 2 PM – Food and Agriculture, Ken Meter - The Role of “Local Food” in Economic Development
Ken will discuss his findings in a recently completed Western Montana Local Farm and Food Economy Study which covers Flathead, Lake, Missoula, Ravalli and Sanders Counties, and he will contrast and compare with other similar studies in the region.
2 PM – 3:30 – What Does It All Mean?
Courtney Lowery will lead a panel discussion followup to Ken’s talk, and both she and Ken will entertain questions from the audience.
3:30 – 3:45 – Coffee Break/Networking
3:45 – 5 PM – Entrepreneurism, Trevor Loy - The Entrepreneurial Rise of the Rockies
Trevor will talk about the nature of entrepreneurism in the Rocky Mountains in the year 2011. He will also recap the day’s “VC practice pitch” sessions to highlight our budding entrepreneurs.
5 PM – Closing Remarks