Upcoming Rally conference sparking additional downtown gatherings

Elevate Ventures’ Rally innovation conference, a brand-new event which aims to draw up to 5,000 people to Indianapolis Aug. 29-31, is getting a lot of buzz—but it’s by no means the only event that week focused on entrepreneurs, investors and innovators.

At least seven other events are also taking place in and around downtown Indianapolis Aug. 28-30, all designed to take advantage of the momentum that organizers hope Rally will create.

Wisconsin-based Gener8tor, the Indiana Technology and Innovation Association and the not-for-profit Indy Women in Tech Inc., or IWiT, are all hosting their annual conferences this year in conjunction with Rally. And several other organizations are planning social and/or networking events that are explicitly tied to Rally.

IWiT had been planning to hold its annual summit at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Aug. 30. When the organization learned about Rally—a simultaneous event targeted at a similar group of attendees and similar sponsors—IWiT approached Elevate Ventures to propose a partnership.

As part of the partnership IWiT is holding its event Aug. 30 at the Indiana Convention Center—the same venue hosting Rally. And rather than selling separate tickets for its event, IWiT is allowing all Rally ticketholders to access its summit at no additional cost.

“If this works out well, maybe in years to come this could become a regular thing,” said Jessica Maginn, who handles IWiT’s marketing and communications.

Maginn said her organization is hoping to draw 400 to 500 attendees to its summit, but numbers this year are hard to predict. But she said IWiT will benefit from the increased exposure of being associated with Rally, which will draw not only Hoosiers but also people from other states and countries. “Honestly, just getting our name out there to that many people will be huge.”

Gener8tor’s event is a two-day free ag-tech conference that takes place Aug. 28-29. This is the third year for the event, which in previous years took place in Champaign, Illinois.

“It’s the first year we’re hosting in Indiana. We’re super excited,” said Gener8tor Assistant Director Gaby Novakovik.

The first day of the conference, at the Indiana Convention Center, features a startup showcase in which 100 or more startups will deliver five-minute pitches to investors. On the second day at the nearby Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, those investors will have the chance to meet one-on-one with the startups that caught their attention.

As part of a larger partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Gener8tor is receiving $200,000 a year for the next three years to host its ag-tech conference here. Separately Gener8tor also has several startup accelerators, and a manufacturing conference, which also take place in Indiana as part of the IEDC agreement.

A third existing event that’s teaming up with Rally this year is the ITIA’s annual conference, which takes place Aug. 29 at the convention center and will feature panels and speakers discussing tech-related policy issues. The ITIA is a trade group that represents the state’s tech industry to state legislators and policymakers.

“We’re excited to kind of piggyback,” said ITIA spokeswoman Molly Gillaspie.

Other Rally-related events around downtown include:

A host of events organized by Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Midwest House Aug. 29-30 at the CoHatch Coworking space at Circle Centre mall. Midwest House, which was born in 2015 at the SXSW festival in Austin, describes itself as “an experiential embassy of the Midwest.” In Indianapolis, Midwest House events will include workshops and talks as well as networking and social events, all for Rally ticketholders. You can find the full schedule here.

A happy hour from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 29 at the 16 Tech Innovation District, 1220 Waterway Blvd. 16 Tech will offer shuttle service to the event from the convention center. The happy hour is free but registration is required—find the link here.

A networking event from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis, 1 S. Capitol Ave. The gathering is organized by the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center. Register for the free event here.

A Rally the DJs music event from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 30 at the new Bicentennial Unity Plaza adjacent to Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Featured artists will be DJ Hope Flows and DJ Lockstar.