| THURSDAY, | SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 |
| 6:30 a.m. | Depart for the Inc. 500|5000 Golf Tournament |
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8 a.m. |
Inc. 500|5000 Golf Tournament (Lake Presidential Golf Club) Relax and enjoy a beautiful autumn day on the scenic 200-acre course at Lake Presidential Golf Club. Play with colleagues or join forces with fellow Inc. 500|5000 honorees. Fee of $175 per player includes breakfast, lunch, and transportation. |
| 9 a.m. | Inc. 500|5000 Day of Service The Richard England Boys and Girls Club of D.C. invites you to participate in a rewarding day of volunteerism with other business leaders and Inc. Magazine staff. The Club offers leadership development, sports, arts activities, and nutritional guidance to almost 200 children each day. Volunteers will help spruce up the facility and converse with those who are passionate about building and enhancing their own communities. |
| 10 a.m. | Registration Opens |
| 2 p.m. | Sightseeing Tour of Washington D.C. For newcomers and natives alike, this excursion around Washington, D.C. is an inspiring look at our nation's Capitol. This guided bus tour stops at such landmarks as the National Mall, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery. Fee of $85 includes refreshments. |
| 3:00 - 5:30 p.m. | Pre-Conference Session Creating a Great Workplace: How Employee Benefits Lead the Way! Presented by the Principal Financial Group® and moderated by Bo Burlingham. During this workshop, featured honorees of The Principal 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security program will share their insight on how you can create a great workplace by maximizing the impact of your employee benefits programs. Plus, get an update on how the economy is impacting your business from Principal Chief Global Economist, Bob Baur. And learn the latest on health care reform and what it means for your business. This 90-minute interactive educational session will be followed by a networking reception. *You must pre-register for this event on the registration page |
| 5:30 p.m. | Inc. 500|5000 Welcome Reception Join fellow attendees and honorees for the official opening of the Inc. 500|5000. After picking up your credentials, you can network over cocktails with the leaders of some of the country's most dynamic companies. |
| 7:00 p.m. | A 3-Round Debate: Which Comes First? People Or Profits? Competitors: Paul Spiegelman, founder of Beryl and George Cloutier, American Management Services Referee: Lewis Schiff, Executive Director of Inc. Business Owner's Council Judges: Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham Two successful entrepreneurs are taking the gloves off to answer a fundamental business question: are we in business for profits? Or for the people our businesses affect (employees, customers, the community, etc.). Cloutier, author of "Profits Aren't Everything, They're The Only Thing" believes that profits are the first responsibility of the company leadership. Spiegelman, author of "Why Is Everybody Smiling?" has grown his company by creating a "people first" culture. Which one of these warriors do you agree with? Come join this historic battle between these two business veterans. Audience participation is highly encouraged. |
| FRIDAY, | OCTOBER 1, 2010 |
| 7:30 a.m. | Registration Opens Continental Breakfast in the Inc. Marketplace |
| 8:30 a.m. | Good for the Earth: Good for Your Business Gary Hirshberg, chairman, founder and CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm Business can hasten the destruction of our planet or business can help save it. It’s an obvious choice for Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farm, an innovator in organic food production. Hirshberg presents his company’s sustainability playbook and urges companies in every industry to take a hard, data-driven look at their practices for sourcing, manufacturing, packaging and logistics. Increasingly, buying decisions are swayed by suppliers’ willingness to do the right thing by the environment. Hirshberg charts the sometimes-rocky path to what is swiftly becoming a necessary virtue. |
| 9:30 a.m. | Rethinking an Industry Kevin Surace, founder and CEO of Serious Materials Kevin Surace, Inc. Magazine's 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year, parlayed his engineering talents and fund-raising prowess into Serious Materials, producer of energy-conserving EcoRock. Today his products are transforming the stodgy construction industry while reaping accolades from VCs, environmental scientists, and even the White House. How can you transform your products? Hear Kevin's story and learn his lessons. |
| 10:30 a.m. | The Power of Listening Tim Westergren, founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Pandora Pandora is no ordinary radio station--it also analyzes listeners' favorite songs and recommends other music they might enjoy. Since launching Pandora in 2000, Westergren has struggled with a business model that wouldn't gel, rejections from venture capitalists, a lawsuit by former employees, and changes to the system of music royalty payments that threatened to triple his costs. Come hear Westergren describe how an idea powerful enough to earn 48 million fans can still survive and thrive no matter what the world throws at it. |
| 11 a.m. | Morning break in the Inc. Marketplace Book signings in the Inc. Marketplace Bookstore Gary Hirshberg |
| 12 p.m. | Concurrent Sessions I. The Entrepreneurial Marriage (with Leigh Buchanan, Inc. editor-at-large, Meg Hirshberg, Inc. columnist, and Gary Hirshberg, Chairman, founder & CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm) II. Inside the Mind of an Investor (with Kevin Surace, founder and CEO of Serious Materials; Michael Connelly, CEO of Moscaica Education; and Jeff Bussgang, general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners) III. Culture as Competitive Edge (moderated by Jason Del Rey, Inc. senior reporter; with Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery; and Paul English, founder of Kayak.com) IV. How to Put Your Business on the Fast Track to the Future (moderated by David H. Freedman, Inc. contributing editor author of Wrong: Why Experts Keep Failing Us—And How to Know When Not to Trust Them; with Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com) V. Get the Most out of Mentoring (with Lexy Funk, founder of Brooklyn Industries; Susan Doban, founder of Doban Architechture; Richard Coraine, President of New Business, Union Square Hospitality Group; and Karl Franz Williams, founder of Cafe Society) |
| 1 p.m. | Inc. 500|5000 Networking Lunch Honorees and alumni of the Inc. 500|5000 will converge over lunch and dessert at the Inc. Marketplace. This is your chance to visit the booths of sponsors and meet and congratulate your peers. |
| 2 p.m. | Dessert in the Inc. Marketplace Book signings in the Inc. Marketplace Bookstore Meg & Gary Hirshberg, David Freedman, Jeffrey Bussgang |
| 2:30 p.m. | We Are All in the Hospitality Business Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group Every CEO wants to delight the customer. Danny Meyer pulls off such feats every day at his 11 critically acclaimed restaurants known for their legendary customer service including Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Café, and Shake Shack. Meyer explains how the application of constant, gentle pressure to his staff—and to the staff of any business--can prevent companies falling short of their ideal of excellence. |
| 3:30 p.m. | Maximizing Your Net Worth Jean Chatzky, author of The Difference and financial editor for NBC's Today It can be difficult to focus on growing your wealth during an unforgiving economic climate--a time when successes (and failures) may feel like nothing more than unbelievable luck. Jean Chatzky, award-winning journalist and financial editor for the Today show, wants to help you overcome that gnawing sense of powerlessness by providing you with the tools to take control of your financial future and prosper. Her firm, practical approach is structured around decades of experience analyzing and researching money management, with insight from the surprising nuances of brain chemistry and years of interviews with those who have made the leap to serious wealth. |
| 4:30 p.m. | Afternoon coffee break in the Inc. Marketplace Book signings in the Inc. Marketplace Bookstore Danny Meyer, Jeffrey Bussgang |
| 5 p.m. |
Concurrent Sessions |
| 6 p.m. | Book signings in the Inc. Marketplace Bookstore Bo Burlingham, Doug Tatum, Tom Searcy |
| 7 p.m. | Inc. Premiere party You’re invited to join Inc., Chase, and your fellow entrepreneurs for this year’s Inc. 500 Premiere Party. We’ll have something for everyone: a super chic nightclub, a hip DJ, and serious eats, like sliders and s’mores – the comfort food that’s all the rage. Join us for an evening of fun; great networking, and an opportunity get to know the visionary leaders of companies who are changing the face of business today. |
| SATURDAY, | OCTOBER 2, 2010 |
| 7:30 a.m. | Registration Opens Continental breakfast in the Inc. Marketplace |
| 8:30 a.m. | SBA Administrator Session |
| 9:15 a.m. | The Virtual Company Inc. contributing writer and 2011 Harvard Neiman Fellow, Michael Fitzgerald, will guide a conversation with Steven Felice, president of Small and Medium Business at Dell, and Megan Duckett, founder of Sew What. Ten years ago, technology made virtual companies possible. Today, advances in everything from virtualization to cloud computing will change not just where business is done but also how. Steven Felice, the Dell executive whose organization serves 10 million small and medium-sized businesses, will explain how entrepreneurs are ideally positioned to extend their reach and effectiveness while creating new offerings for customers around the world. Company founders including Megan Duckett of Sew What and Zorik Gordon of ReachLocal will provide concrete examples of how technology contributes to business success. |
| 10:00 a.m. |
Decoding the New Consumer Consumer spending famously accounts for more than 70% of U.S. gross domestic product. But people aren’t spending like they used to—and the longer demand is suppressed the less likely it is to spring back. To succeed, companies must rethink their products, services and marketing messages to reflect changing consumer values, including new emphasis on optimism, resiliency, character, community, and thrift. John Gezerma, chief insights officer for Young & Rubicam and co-author of “Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell and Live,” presides over the world’s largest database of consumer attitudes about brands. Recently, he’s been traveling the country interviewing entrepreneurs, major marketers and consumers about changing customer behaviors. In this session, he explains how to sell to this challenging market. |
| 11 a.m. | Concurrent Sessions I. Norm Brodsky Unleashed (with Norm Brodsky, Inc. columnist, founder of CitiStorage, Perfect Courier, and U.S. Document Security, and co-author of The Knack) II. Zingerman's 12 Natural Laws for Building a Great Business (with Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingermans) III. Breaking the Barriers to Growth (with Jim Schleckser, CEO of Inc. CEO Project, Kirk Aubry, managing partner of Inc. CEO Project) IV. Building the Killer Sales Force (with Lewis Schiff, Executive Director of the Inc. Business Owners Council, Dan Epstein, CEO of ReSource Pro, Richard D. Haig Jr., President & CEO of Haig Service Corporation, and Bruce Eckfeldt, CEO, managing director, and co-founder of Cyrus Innovation) V. The New Inc. Navigator: Your Secret Weapon to Succeed in 2011 (Doug Tatum, former CEO of Tatum Partners and author of No Man's Land: A Survival Manual for Growing Mid-Size Companies) |
| 12 p.m. | Delivering Happiness Tony Hsieh, #1 NY Times Bestselling Author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com, Inc. Zappos founder Tony Hsieh has made the “science of happiness” the foundation of his company's culture. He makes sure his employees treat customers with such consideration and empathy that they turn shoppers into dedicated fans. And now that he's sold Zappos to Amazon, he is practicing in a much larger laboratory. Hear Hsieh talk about his systematic approach to creating one of the most dynamic and committed workforces, and arguably the happiest. |
| 1 p.m. | Inc. 500|5000 Networking Lunch Another opportunity to meet fellow honorees and talk with speakers, sponsors, and members of Inc. Magazine's staff. |
| 2 p.m. |
Dessert in the Inc. Marketplace Book signings in the Inc. Marketplace Bookstore |
| 2:30 p.m. | Money and the Meaning of Life (Norm Brodsky, Inc. columnist, founder of CitiStorage, Perfect Courier, and U.S. Document Security, and co-author of The Knack) During his 31 years as an entrepreneur, Norm Brodsky has learned many lessons about business, most of them the hard way. He has been through all the ups and downs of building a great company and experienced all the highs and lows. In the process, he became a very wealthy man. But while he'd be the first to acknowledge that money is nice, he will also tell you that meaning is far more important. What's the ultimate point of it all? In his dramatic closing keynote, Norm will talk about the meaning he has found in his entrepreneurial journey and that you can find in yours. |
| 6 p.m. | Champagne Reception |
| 7 p.m. | Inc. 500|5000 Black-Tie Gala & Awards Ceremony (Ballroom) The ceremony honoring the year's fastest growing companies is typically the apex of the conference. It begins with a champagne reception followed by a four-course meal. Presentation of the awards is followed by opportunities for photographs; and the night culminates on the dance floor. |