Backstage at the Innovation Awards
I had the honor last night to be the keynote speaker at the Chicago Innovation Awards at the Goodman Theatre. It is the culmination of a wonderful competition that is sponsored by big name corporations like IBM, Wrigley and Microsoft to honor significant innovations. BusinessWeek announced the winners of the event which included PrepMe, Cleversafe, Zorch, Molex, Flashpoint Academy, and Abbott Labs.
This is one classy event. In a times of economic hardship, the event was totally free for any business person that wanted to attend (there were over 800 people there)- this included food and open bar! (Wow, let’s party likes it’s 1999!) Tom Kuczumarski and Dan Miller who founded the awards many years ago do a fantastic job as the emcees with videos and banter. I was backstage for most of the event and I was able to see all the costume changes and attention to details that these two men went through.
Congratulations to all the winners. We need true innovators during a recession more than ever. It is these people that drive new ideas and the execution of those ideas that keep the economy moving.
Awesome is the only way to describe the entire experience and I only wish I had “videographic” memory of your presentation to somehow play back to others Barry. I hope the event video is posted online and maybe next year I will be able to innovate fast enough to cover the 2009 Chicago Innovation Awards “live” online. All the best and continued success.