Good sports galore at 2018 IB Expo

Jon Konarske,

From the pages of In Business magazine.

Assuming you’re a sports fan like me, you already know that we are heading into the best time of year! Football season is upon us, baseball is heading into its home stretch, and basketball and hockey seasons will start soon.

If you’ve followed our expo promotions, you’ve noticed that IB also is heading into its very own sports season, as we have a sports theme for this year’s IB Expo & Conference. I encourage you to read the Expo Preview on page 56 of this issue for all of the details on this year’s show, but I wanted to call your attention to a couple of exciting events that we have planned and a very special offer for anyone reading this column.

We’ll kick off the expo with a keynote presentation from Steve Battista, former senior VP of brand for Under Armour. Steve was the 19th employee for this startup company back in 2000, and is best known as the builder of the Under Armour brand, an amazing success story of a company that became the $5 billion global behemoth. Steve will share how we can sidestep the usual marketing strategies to win the hearts and minds of customers, while sharing real-life experiences from this time at Under Armour.

Over the lunch hour, we’ve invited executives from some of the state’s biggest sports franchises and organizations for a panel discussion on the “Business of Wisconsin Sports.” They will share some of the current challenges and opportunities in their respective sports and leagues. Included on this panel discussion are:

  • Barry Alvarez, director of athletics, University of Wisconsin
  • Jason Hartlund, chief revenue officer, Milwaukee Brewers
  • Alex Lasry, senior VP, Milwaukee Bucks
  • Dirk Willis, group director of golf for Kohler Co. (leading preparations for the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits).

This promises to be a fascinating look at the business side of these iconic Wisconsin sports organizations. To top it off, Matt Lepay, the “Voice of the Wisconsin Badgers,” will moderate this discussion.

If you’re interested in attending both of these events, there is a special, discount ticket offer. Go to MadisonBusinessExpo.com/attend, click on the “enter promotional code” link near the top, then type in LEADINGOFF. Once you apply this discount code, a hidden ticket called “Expo Day Pass” will appear that includes a 20% ticket discount for both events.

Sports fanatic or not, these are two events that you won’t want to miss!

Click here to sign up for the free IB ezine — your twice-weekly resource for local business news, analysis, voices, and the names you need to know. If you are not already a subscriber to In Business magazine, be sure to sign up for our monthly print edition here.

This article appears in the September 2018 issue of In Business Madison.

Related