5 Things You Should Know About Attending Dayton Startup Week

May 15, 2017

So you just went to http://dayton.startupweek.co to register for Dayton Startup Week and your first thought was, Wow! There is so much going on! How do I choose? Believe us–we get it. We organizers have been fighting over who gets to intro and moderate all of the amazing sessions from our startup community!

You’re in luck, though, because we’ve put together a cheat sheet to help guide you through the process.

First, let’s start with Sched.

Sched is Startup Week’s scheduling software. When you initially sign up, you’ll be asked for some info about yourself and your business. This info becomes your Attendee Profile. Be sure to complete your Attendee Profile, including uploading a picture, so others can connect with you during the event. Once you sign up, you’ll see all of the sessions in order, so you can pick and choose what fits your schedule. Sessions are sorted by time initially but there are other views, as well. For example, the “Grid” view allows you to see if there are any overlaps between the sessions you’d like to attend.

No, you do not have to attend everything.

The great thing about DSW is you can pick and choose sessions based on your interests and availability!

Want to attend a 10AM session and a 1PM workshop? Awesome! Stop by our coworking room in between sessions and get some work done.

Coming from out of town and have to pick only one day? Sure! That’s what quite a few members of the Dayton Startup Week community did last week at Columbus Startup Week.

Signed up? Great! Now what are these workshops?

Last year’s attendees asked for longer & more in-depth talks. So–like any good startup–we listened to our customer feedback. Workshops are 2-3 hours long and dive deeper into a subject in a smaller group setting.

Workshops are organized to follow a logical flow throughout the week:

Monday = Market validation + purpose

Tuesday = Branding

Wednesday = Funding & Finance

Thursday = Marketing

Friday = Pitching & Scaling

Let the Tracks be your guide!

We have 8-tracks (pun intended) to help your business during the week. These tracks are our little organizational buckets that give you a sense for the overarching theme for a session. You can find out more about each individual session by clicking on the session name!

Dayton’s Ecoystem = Get to know the resources available in Dayton to help get your business off the ground.

Founder Lessons sponsored by Henny Penny = Learn from the successes and mistakes of other entrepreneurs as they tell their story.

Funding & Finance = Find out how to obtain and properly spend money for your startup.

Marketing & Branding sponsored by Mitosis = You have a business–now get your name and product out there!

Social = Startup week is about bringing people together. Social events are the perfect opportunity to network with DSW speakers and attendees.

Starting up your Startup = Talks for first-time entrepreneurs who are just getting started. These sessions will provide the basic info needed for launching a business.

Talent & Culture = Businesses require people. And people want to work for great companies. Hear from some of the best in Dayton on how they maintain great people and a great atmosphere.

The Daily Grind = Sessions for those who are growing or have plans to grow.

And yes, there is a bonus track called Food–meaning we provide food all week!

PS We have to give a shout out to our amazing sponsors for helping make this event free and accessible to everyone! This year our Title Sponsors are The City of Fairborn, The Entrepreneurs Center, & Wright State Research Institute.

Your schedule is set. Now what?

1) Be sure to check back over the next month. Our speakers are primarily entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs are busy. Some sessions may get moved and we are still finalizing a couple more.

2) Help us promote the event by sharing the registration page or the Dayton Startup Week promo video on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Billboards, Busses, or wherever you can!

3) Count down the days until Dayton Startup Week!