Overview

Each year the Carolinas PDMA Chapter holds a one day innovation conference, to highlight innovation best practices and local innovation practitioners.  The 11th Annual Innovate Carolina conference will be held Thursday April 23, 2020 at UNCC Center City Campus in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We are issuing a “call for speakers”.  The Innovate Carolina team has drafted a theme and identified some of the key factors or components that we want to focus on for the event.  Any corporate practitioner, consultant, software provider, academic institution or other organization is invited to submit a request to speak at the event.  Our conference theme is:  Diversity and Innovation.  Please read the detailed information about the conference theme below.

Conference Theme

Our theme for the 11th Annual Innovate Carolina conference is Diversity and Innovation, and during our day long innovation conference on April 23, 2020 we’ll focus on why diversity of perspective, thought, experience, risk profiles and more play such an important role in innovation.

We are intentionally defining “diversity” broadly, to include traditional definitions of diversity – race and gender – but to also include other definitions of diversity that are proven to drive more creative thought and better ideas:

·        Diversity of experiences

·        Diversity of education

·        Diversity of risk profiles or risk appetites

·        Diversity of cultural perspectives

We believe that in general, more diverse teams with more experience and perspectives will often lead to better ideas and better outcomes where innovation is concerned.  The historical evidence proves this.

Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory was intentionally a diverse setting, combining different technologies (railroad technology, mining technology, emerging electronics and so on) with people who had vastly different skills and experiences (college educated scientists, machinists, artists, patent attorneys).

Key ideas/themes

We seek speakers who can address any of the following topics:

1.       How diversity of thought, perspective, experience or other diversity increased the ability and capacity of innovation teams

2.       How teams recruited participants to ensure more diversity of thought or opinion

3.       Helping a diverse team form and norm to perform effectively

4.       Examples of successful work or outcomes with highly diverse teams

5.       How to overcome issues or objections to achieve more diverse thinking on teams

6.       Other examples of building and leading diverse teams and the impacts the diversity generated

7.       Best practices or lessons learned from past projects or activities

We are open to other topics that support or reinforce the idea that diversity on an innovation team creates more value and generates better ideas and outcomes.

How speaking requests will be evaluated

Speaking submissions will be evaluated by a team of Carolinas PDMA members who are active in the definition and development of the conference.  Special emphasis will be given to corporate practitioners who are interested in presenting their company’s successes or case studies.  Special emphasis will be given to companies or consultants who operate in the Southeast US (Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia).

We will evaluate speaking submissions based on their alignment to the conference theme, their expected benefit to attendees, and the expected educational or informational value.  All submissions will receive a response from a Carolinas PDMA reviewer.

Speaking / Sponsorship Expectations

The Innovate Carolinas Conference is run by the Carolinas PDMA chapter, a non-profit organization and is run completely by volunteers.  The conference is funded by conference fees paid by attendees and by sponsoring companies.  Corporate practitioners are not required to sponsor the event in order to speak.

We do ask that consultants and software firms who wish to speak also sponsor the event.  If selected to speak you will be contacted about a potential sponsorship.  These sponsorships typically cost approximately $1000 and include the option of branding and a table or booth in our networking area. These sponsorships lower the cost of attendance for many attendees and help the Carolinas PDMA cover the cost of the event.

Questions / Speaking Submissions

You are welcome to contact Jeffrey Phillips, Innovate Carolinas Content Chair, if you have questions about speaking opportunities or if you’d like to discuss your topics and ensure that the topic is relevant.  You can reach Jeffrey at innovateonpurpose@gmail.com.

Speaking submissions are welcomed any time after November 15 and spots will be filled as we identify speakers that meet our needs and achieve a balance between the topics we’ve identified, and a balance between corporate and commercial speakers.