Madison Magnet and CONNECT Madison want you to know there’s more to this state than supper clubs, old-fashioneds, and aged cheddar. In fact, in many ways, this is no longer your grandfather’s Wisconsin.
Not that young people are ready to reject those comforting — and abiding — cultural staples, but there’s plenty for young professionals to do in the Badger state that involves neither brown liquor nor candy-red maraschino cherries.
Many of those modern activities will be on full display from April 11 to 18 during the statewide YPWeek (Young Professionals Week), which builds off Milwaukee’s own successful YPWeek. Originally launched by NEWaukee, a Milwaukee-area young professionals group, the event is going statewide for the first time this year, featuring events in Madison, Green Bay, the Fox Cities, Kenosha, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, and Wausau. It attracted more than 4,000 professionals last year while it was still located exclusively in Milwaukee, and this year it will feature more than 90 activities spread throughout the state.
| “YPWeek is all about attracting young professionals to Wisconsin, retaining them after they graduate from college so they don’t move to Chicago or Minneapolis.” — Erin Ladwig, CONNECT Madison |
Both Magnet and CONNECT Madison, which were formed in part to stanch the outward flow of young talent in Dane County, are getting in on the action, with a full slate of activities for the week. The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Middleton Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of Greater Madison, United Way of Dane County, and the Madison chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network are also among the local participating organizations.
CONNECT Madison’s signature event, “Connect Socially, Eat Locally,” helps close out the week on Friday, April 17, and it goes well beyond simply reimagining the supper club fish fry. Co-sponsored by CONNECT Madison and REAP Food Group, the event will feature music, views of the Capitol from Boardman & Clark’s terrace in the U.S. Bank building at 1 S. Pinckney St., and food and beverages from Batch Bakehouse, Emmi Roth, Next Door Brewing, MobCraft Beer, Landmark Creamery, and celebrated local chef Tory Miller’s soon-to-be-unveiled tapas restaurant, Estrellón.
“It’s going to be really exciting,” said Erin Ladwig, events chair for CONNECT Madison. “A lot of foodies are going to be there so they can try out a lot of these restaurants, and especially [Miller’s] new restaurant.”
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But while food, drink, and modern gemütlichkeit may be the hook for the networking event, CONNECT Madison is hoping to drive home an important message as well.
“Ian [Gurfield] from Ian’s pizza is going to be talking for a couple minutes about how Madison is a great place to be an entrepreneur and to start your business, especially in a food market,” said Ladwig. “It’s a networking event, but it’s going to be a fun event, and YPWeek is all about attracting young professionals to Wisconsin, retaining them after they graduate from college so they don’t move to Chicago or Minneapolis, so they stay here in Wisconsin — and not only stay here, but realize it’s a destination for people from other states that want to start their careers in Wisconsin.”
Staying young
One of the event’s major sponsors and supporters, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., saw the growth and levels of engagement NEWaukee’s annual event achieved and thought a statewide version would be an ideal way to boost Wisconsin’s economy.
“One of the things that we’ve looked at from an economic development perspective is, what are our demographic challenges that will be facing us in the future?” said Rebecca Deschane, legislative liaison for the WEDC. “One of those things that has risen to the top is that we lose quite a few individuals in the 18 to 30 age category, specifically with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and that’s going to impact our ability going forward to fill jobs, to create businesses, and to create more jobs and fill the gaps when baby boomers are retiring.
“So from an economic development perspective, this is something we’re looking at. What are ways that we can engage with different organizations to help support efforts to retain the young professionals that we have here, and maybe attract additional ones as well?”
To Deschane, events like YPWeek offer the WEDC a chance to be a national leader when it comes to sharing best practices on millennial engagement. She notes that the agency has already received inquiries from officials in Lincoln, Neb., and Orlando, Fla., who are interested in replicating YPWeek in their own states.
“We see this as an opportunity to play a supporting role for organizations that already exist in Wisconsin,” said Deschane. “There are a number of professional organizations throughout the state that are doing fantastic work on the ground within their local communities and providing valuable professional development opportunities and social engagement opportunities throughout the state.
“We see our role as helping to bring those organizations together so they can collaborate with one another and share best practices together.”
Locally, YPWeek will also take a glimpse into the future. Every employer and young employee knows that the office environment is evolving as millennials continue to replace baby boomers in the workforce, and an April 17 keynote address by Madison futurist Rebecca Ryan (sponsored by Magnet) will focus on 12 trends that will affect Wisconsin in the next five to 15 years as millennials begin to take on leadership roles.
According to Corinn Ploessl, Magnet’s board president, there’s clearly a hunger among young professionals for such events.
“What we were really surprised by is how quickly the engagement grew each year for the group in Milwaukee,” said Ploessl. “They started out with a few events that first year to bumping it up to 20 to 30 events the second year, just because it seemed that young professionals were really looking for something like that — a whole series of events dedicated to emerging leaders in the city.
“So we definitely saw that, and we see it in Madison. Magnet in particular puts on several events all year, and this was really a good year to showcase exactly what we’re doing in Madison.”
For a full list of Madison-area YPWeek events, click on the names of the sponsoring organizations below:
- Magnet
- CONNECT Madison
- Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce
- Middleton Chamber of Commerce
- Urban League of Greater Madison
- United Way of Dane County Rosenberry Society
- Young Nonprofit Professionals Network
- Emerging Leadership Board
- American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
To view the full statewide calendar, click here.
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