It was a jam-packed, wall-to-wall blast at our last Gathering! We featured THREE amazing organizations and at the same time even hosted Missouri Botanical Garden’s Green Business Challenge! If you weren’t there, you would’ve definitely missed out, that’s why I’m here to make sure that you feel like you were right there in the middle of the action! Let’s get into what you might’ve missed at our Community Activations Gathering!

As I had mentioned, we hosted Missouri Botanical Garden’s Green Business Challenge, this amazing initiative led by Jean Ponzi, Green Resources Manager at Botanical Gardens brought in over 15 different businesses to showcase how each of them is changing our ecosystem in actionable ways that contribute to sustainability. Each business tackled a different sustainability effort and it was amazing to see in person all the work that is being done in our city to make it a better and more green city./

While that already incredible programming was happening we had Frank Kallal, PR Director for ArchReactor join us for their ArchReactor Demo in which they showed off the workshop’s laser engraving and 3D printing capabilities! Right alongside him was Alex Stallings with Nine PBS & David Gordon with 4Sight Studios, as they hosted DrawnIn: Innovation of Illustration. David blessed up with his talent for art as he did personalized caricatures for each attendee, and Alex led our new Calming Corner activity as she helped community members connect with their inner child through coloring! Lastly, James Heidlebaugh of UtopiaVR joined us for his UtopiaVR showcase as he displayed the next-generation technology behind VR and the metaverse. As you can see our three featured activations were enough to bring the house down but, guess what? That wasn’t all!

Demonstrations were aplenty alongside our panels and discussions! The aforementioned Jean Ponzi helped moderate our Tips To Leading A Dynamic Green Team Panel, filled with all-stars in the sustainability sector of St. Louis as they discuss what it’s like to create and direct a team dedicated to more organic solutions for their companies. Following her, we had Joe Abernathy, who is currently the Stadium Consultant for the brand-new St. Louis City SC! Joe spoke to the progressive actions that The City is taking to keep a sustainable environment thriving in the new stadium! Lastly, our good friend Emily Hemingway of TechSTL rounded out our night with a panel by Founders Unplugged, a fire-side style chat with Founders, Sekhar Prabhakar, CEO of CEdge Inc., and Steven Ley, CEO of BuzzBold. Both of these men spoke through the panel as they discussed their experiences, challenges, and gratitudes about becoming founders and leading their own companies.

As you can tell we were definitely stacked to the BRIM with amazing content, demonstrations and experienced here at Venture Cafe and it’s only March! Keep on the lookout for future events on our website or social media, with that said, i’ll see you all Next Thursday for COLLIDE: Expanded Reality! Till then VenCaf Community!