CONNECTED. IMMERSED. INSPIRED.

•  CONNECTED: Expand your horizons. Collaborate with fellow gigabit city colleagues to gather insight and create a plan for your community.

• IMMERSED: Go behind the scenes of a full-scale fiber build-out. Learn from those on the front lines how gigabit technology is powering the new economy.

• INSPIRED: Learn from today's leading gigabit business and smart city innovators. Bring home insights for your community and your mission.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 12

4-10 pm: Early Arrivals Lounge & City Connection Dinners

Join us Monday before the conference for a cocktail hour at the Intercontinental Hotel, then break into dinner groups with people who share a similar discipline or job title.

Attn: Mayors, City Managers, Economic Development Officials, IT Managers, Urban Planners, etc.

TUESDAY,  JANUARY 13

Location: UMKC Henry W. Bloch Executive Hall for Entrepreneurship & Innovation

7:30-8:30 am: Conference Check In and Continental Breakfast at Bloch Executive Hall

8:30-8:45 am: Stories of Success

Community Testimonials on the transformative power of the gigabit.

8:45-9:15 am: Mayors’ Welcome 

Mayor Sly James (City of Kansas City, Missouri)

and Mayor Mark Holland (City of Kansas City, Kansas).

9:15-10:00 am: The Early Adopter’s Dilemma

Keynote: Blair Levin (Communications & Society Fellow, The Aspen Institute) 

10:15-11:15 am: Laying a Community Foundation

Moderator: Alan Fitzpatrick (Charlotte Heats Gigabit) Panelists: Mike Brown (Brainzooming),

Herb Sih (Think Big Partners), Margaret May (Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council)

11:15 am-12:15 pm: Moving from Checklist to Playbook

Moderator: Yiaway Yeh (CIO of Nashville) Panelists: Mike Burke, Ray Daniels (KC Mayors Bistate Innovations Team), David Warm (Mid-America Regional Council), David Sandel (Sandel & Associates)

12:15 - 1:45 pm: Lunch and Inspiration Theater / Connection Lounge

Grab lunch and learn from some of the most innovative companies providing services in the gigabit space.

1:45-2:35 pm: Metro Area Workshop Breakout Session

Meet up with your metro or assigned delegation to start laying the groundwork for your community plan. 

Facilitator: The Brainzooming Group

2:35-3:05 pm: Google Fiber’s Checklist and You

Sponsored by Google Fiber

3:05-3:45 pm: The Red Tape: Where and How to Cut

Rick Usher (City of Kansas City, MO)

Rondella Hawkins (City of Austin, TX), 

3:45-4:45: City Case Studies (Breakout Session)

Meet one-on-one with delegates from cities who have experienced fiber builds or reached an agreement with a provider.

4:45-5:30 pm: From Gigabit City to Smart City

Keynote: Boyd Cohen (Professor and Urban Strategist, Universidad del Desarrollo)

5:30-7:30 pm: Opening Reception at Bloch Executive Hall

6:15-6:45 pm: Why the Gigabit Matters

Keynote: Joe Reardon (McAnany, VanCleave & Phillips, former mayor of Kansas City, KS)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14

Location: Kauffman Foundation

8-9:00 am: Breakfast at Kauffman Foundation

9:00-10:30 am: 1 Million Cups

Enjoy Pitches by Entrepreneurs Using the Gigabit

10:30-11:15 am: Scaling Networks Across the U.S.

Panelists: Catherine Bracy (Code for America), Chris Lawrence (Mozilla), Bill Wallace (US Ignite)

11:15 am-12:00 pm: Connecting Networks within Our Cities

Panel: Ken Hays (The Enterprise Center - Chattanooga, TN), Bradley Holt (FoundLine Burlington, VT), Aaron Deacon (KC Digital Drive)

12:00-1:30 pm: Lunch and Kauffman Foundation Workshop

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem