83 Degrees Media's second "Not Your Average Speakers'' series event presents a community conversation featuring "Champions for Change'' in the Tampa Bay region.
The idea is to foster a community dialog about changing the narrative about the new economy in the Tampa Bay region, including how change happens in individual businesses, neighborhoods and communities. We'll discuss why building an environment for change matters, tips for success as a change agent and ideas for how to drive additional change, everything from when to say "go'' to when to say "whoa.''
The format will be relatively relaxed as in an informal conversation among four change agents seated in comfy chairs on a stage at the
Freefall Theatre in St. Petersburg, 6099 Central Ave.
Moderator Nathan Schwagler, creative-in-residence at USF St. Petersburg, will get the conversation started by giving panelists a few minutes to talk about their experiences and will ask questions about important or significant changes they're leading -- in building teams, nurturing a culture that encourages ideas and innovations, creating products, pursuing excellence, etc.
NYAS Thought Leaders
Here are our confirmed panelists for Nov. 17, 2011:
Sean Davis: Co-Founder & CEO of Red Hawk Interactive --
Davis is the organizer of
BarCamp Tampa Bay and a proponent of the ever growing start-up and entrepreneurial community that is developing in and around the Tampa Bay region. Started in mid-2011,
Red Hawk Interactive looks for more efficient ways to connect consumers with goods and services on disruptive platforms, specifically, Internet TV.
Stacie Blake: Executive Director at
Community Tampa Bay -- Blake works to fulfill the agency’s mission of promoting dialogue and respect among different cultures, religions and races and envisioning a community free from discrimination.
Tim Dutton: Executive Director of SCOPE -- Dutton heads up
SCOPE (Sarasota County Openly Plans For Excellence) and leads the
Institute for the Ages, an independent organization dedicated to researching and developing innovations to solve the challenges facing Sarasota and the rest of the U.S. as our population ages.
Tom McLain: CEO of Claro Scientific -- McLain is the immediate past chair of
BioFlorida, the statewide trade association for the bioscience industry, a role he held since 2005. At
Claro, he leads a team that develops technology to prepare, measure and analyze blood, tissue and other medical samples collected in hospital laboratories.
The goal is to introduce "doers'' in the community to each other as well as to
83 Degrees readers, encourage conversations, connections and collaborations where appropriate and often in areas no one has considered before, and generally to foster an intellectual engagement in Tampa Bay wherein success breeds success.
Panelists are encouraged to ask each other questions. And we encourage audience participation that may inspire and help lead to solutions for others.
We'll also ask the panelists to suggest opportunities for audience members to engage in their projects. After all, we're all in this economy together; how can we help each other?
The event is free and open to the public.
What's Next?
The overall purpose is to focus on "what's working'' in Tampa Bay, not on what's not working, which gets plenty of attention everywhere else. Let's learn from solutions and help shape what's next by encouraging a community dialog and vision for the future. Make sense?
Our presenting sponsor for the
Nov. 17 evening is
Tucker Hall, a Tampa-based public relations and public affairs firm that provides strategic counsel to senior-level managers in the U.S. and Latin America.
As part of its sponsorship, Tucker Hall will offer attendees the opportunity to drive the new electric car,
GM's Chevy Volt, for a week free of charge (no pun intended!). To enter the "Drive A GMC'' giveaway, bring to the speakers series event a canned good (or two or three!) (may we suggest green beans, corn, applesauce, cranberries, gravy?) to donate to families served by
Metropolitan Ministries during the upcoming holidays.
83 Degrees is also partnering and cross-promoting events with
Gazelle Lab in St. Petersburg, which will urge participants in its same day
Demo Day at
Mahaffey Theater, where Sean Davis is presenting, to attend the speakers series.
Coordination, creative and technical assistance for the "Not Your Average Speakers'' series is provided by
White Book Agency of Tampa, the
Freefall Theatre in St. Petersburg and
Mighty Fine Production in Tampa.
What's next? Mark your 2012 calendars for Jan. 19.
83 Degrees plans to present more opportunities to engage in a community conversation about important issues in the Tampa Bay region. Keep reading
83 Degrees for more details.
To sign up to receive the free publication in your inbox on Tuesdays,
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Diane Egner is publisher and managing editor of 83 Degrees Media. Comments? Suggest a topic or a panelist for a future event? Sponsor a future event? Contact 83 Degrees.