Techfest Louisville 2019 Featuring the Area’s Hot Entrepreneurs, a Biennial Event of TALK, the Area’s Tech Council, Will Be Held on Aug. 22^nd & Aug. 23^rd

By Dawn Yankeelov

Techfest Louisville 2019, is the 3^rd biennial event of TALK, the Technology Association of Louisville Kentucky and will be held on Aug. 22^nd and Aug. 23^rd for business professionals, with additional special youth STEAM events.

The conference’s key focus areas are:  blockchain, cybersecurity, internet of things, healthcare IT, and artificial intelligence. The event’s premiere sponsors are V-Soft Consulting and its V-Soft Labs.  Other key sponsors (to date) include:  Avertium (formerly Sword & Shield Security); Frost, Brown & Todd; Dean, Dorton, Allen & Ford; Tek Systems; Cybereason; Fletcher Data Consulting; Ice Miller Legal Counsel; Bytespeed, CloudNexus, and Aspectx. 

Area entrepreneurs presenting include:  GARY BOUCH, Founder, Oxinas Partners Wealth Management, “Investment Trends: What We Are Seeing in Tech;” BRYAN PERDUE, Founder, Ibex Software, “Low Code That Can Work for Multiple Applications: A Deep Dive on Example Sets;” DEMETRIUS GRAY, Founder, Weathercheck, “How We’ve Grown With a Tech Solution;”  ALEX DAY, Founder and CEO, Sheltowee Business Network, “A Midwest Model for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems;” and KAT KUZMESKAS, CEO and Co-Founder, Simplyvital Health. 

Keynotes Will Include: Konrad Konarski, Senior Practice Head – Artificial Intelligence & IoT, V-Soft Labs, “Roadmapping Artificial Intelligence for the Enterprise;” Mark Long, UF Innovate, Director of Incubation Services; “How to Build a Large-Scale Incubator/Accelerator Ecosystem: Lessons From UF Innovate;” And Gene Price, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Fleet Cyber Command --“CyberSecurity: Tales from the Front.”

All tech and business professionals are welcome to attend any or all of the event.  Day passes are sold online at www.techfestlou.com.  Type TECH2019 for a 35% discount.  Deeper discounts are available for corporate purchases over 5 employees. 

The main conference, which opens with a breakfast networking event at 8 AM, will be held on the 3^rd Floor at the 900 E. Main St. Entrepreneurial Center, with the tradeshow being held behind the building at nearby Akasha Brewery (909 E. Market St.).  The tradeshow at Akasha will begin officially each day at 10 AM with setup prior to that and conclude by 4 PM each day.

A special offsite Healthcare IT Techfest event will be in partnership with the University of Louisville at the new offices of the Trager Institute on Aug. 22^nd at 2 PM with a cocktail hour at 4 PM discussing “Aging Care and Related Innovations” via a panel of regional experts.

Key youth events include the TALK-Marwood Rad Science Skateboard Build to be held at the University of Louisville’s Engineering Garage for students at least 13 years of age and college-age students as well as interested faculty.  This fee-based course teaches the basic principles of engineering and all will complete their own skateboard to take home.  Registration is via Marwood Veneer, a TALK partner, via their phone at 812.288-8344 or jim@marwoodveneer.com.  Basic fee: $185 for 2 days of instruction and materials; optional Day 3 costs $40.

One of the new TechFest Louisville 2019 events this year will be youth tech-specific debates on the subject of privacy run by The League Pro of Kentucky.

All business and tech professionals are welcome to come and listen to these debates which will be held after-school hours at the Lincoln Elementary School building, directly adjacent to the main Techfest venue,with participation from middle and high schoolers. The title for this event is:  “Technological Privacy? That’s Debatable!”  This will be 4 to 7 PM each day of Techfest.  There is no fee to watch the debates; students have been preparing and were enrolled for the summer in debate teams via The League Pro of Kentucky.  The debate teams will be the finalists of the season.

For more of the agenda and how to buy tickets or sponsor, visit www.techfestlou.com and visit www.talklou.com.  TALK can also be found at the Technology Associaton of Louisville Kentucky inside Linked In and Facebook as well as on Twitter @talklou and @techfestlou. 

For additional questions, contact the event organizer, TALK’s Executive Director Dawn Yankeelov at dawny@talklou.com or any of the TALK board members listed on the TALK website. Ticket sales are online via www.techfestlou.com, beginning at $99.  The 35% discount is in effect through August 10^th – use code TECH2019.

#