Event Information:

• Wed

  25

  Jan

  2023

  Date Change: December Meeting - "Data in Kansas City" – In-Person & Virtual Course

  1:00 pmIn-Person & Virtual – Zoom link will be sent after you RSVP

  KC-DAMA is excited to bring 5 sensational speakers to you to discuss everything from the technology outlook in Kansas City to how to collect emotional data, from how to handle IT burnout to how data helps with local human trafficking, plus using how data helps to transform society. Our speakers are all using data in creative ways in KC!

  Speaker: Kara Lowe, President and CEO of KC Tech Council

  

  Kara Lowe

  Kara Lowe serves as President & CEO of KC Tech Council, a member-driven organization that serves as the shared voice of Kansas City’s tech industry. With nearly 200 member companies spanning from startup to enterprise, KC Tech Council advocates for public policy that helps the tech industry grow, champions meaningful workforce development programs to create a competitive tech talent pipeline, and brings the leaders of the tech industry together to achieve its mission of creating the Midwest’s most competitive tech hub.

  Before being named President & CEO in May of 2022, she served for five and a half years as the organization’s COO. Her career prior to that largely focused on leading marketing and promotions efforts for some of Kansas City’s treasured assets and events, like the Country Club Plaza. Currently, she serves on the Workforce Development board for KU Edwards Campus and is a Public Director for the board of the American Institute of Architects. Kara is a native Kansas Citian, a proud Kansas Jayhawk alum, and lives in Brookside with her husband and two children.

  • Topic: KC Tech Specs v5
    • In KC Tech Specs, the KC Tech Council presents a state of the tech industry in our region. Using workforce and economic data, the report weaves together a story of how KC’s tech industry is growing, how it stacks up against other regions, and what opportunities exist for us to maintain this growth. The KC Tech Council releases KC Tech Specs annually with support from RSM.

  Speaker: Grant Gooding, CEO of Proof

  

  Grant Gooding

   

  Grant got his professional start in mergers and acquisitions working first on the legal side then buy-side analysis, valuations and

  transition management. After roughly a decade of analyzing, valuing and transitioning hundreds of small and mid-market businesses, Grant became infatuated with market research, something that he had to work with every day. Grant determined that while valuable, almost all market research failed to address one simple, yet critical question that he needed to answer for his clients: Why are people buying this product or service from your business?

  With his MBA emphasis in qualitative research marketing, Grant spent the next several years experimenting with methodologies and measurement techniques that could be used to discover the emotions and motivations behind purchasing intent. After working with a nationally renowned brand analyst, Grant discovered a quant method that could be used to assess brand preferences. With that as a starting point, he and his team utilized some principals of neuroscience and behavioral economics and created a new metadata system that can accurately quantify emotional resonance.

  Today, PROOF has executed over 500 market research engagements using its emotional resonance method and stands as one of the most novel, compelling and accurate ways to quantify and understand why customers do the things they do. Grant is an international speaker in the areas of Emotional Market Research and Emotional Data, an emerging field that PROOF is helping pioneer.

  Nerdy Fact: Grant is a classically trained vocalist and has performed in venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall, Westminster Abbey and St. Mark’s Basilica. He has 3 amazing children with his wife, Stacey, of over 13 years.

  • TOPIC: How to Use Emotional Data for Sales and Marketing
    • What if there was a dataset that explained WHY people do the things they do, not just that they did them? What if there was a dataset that could measure the emotions that drive our behaviors? And what if we could use that data to influence or change behaviors? This dataset is called “Emotional Data” and it is the future of marketing, sales and communication. Emotional Data is the qualitative and quantitative measurement of emotions, motivations and preferences that helps explain human behaviors and interactions. In this presentation, you’ll learn what emotional data is, how it is gathered and real examples of its use.

  Speaker: Vercie Lark, author of “Make it Rain” & former President Biden appointee SBA

  

  Vercie Lark

  Vercie Lark recently completed his role as a presidential appointee in President Biden’s administration overseeing the SBA’s Great Plains Region helping small business owners access the capital, counseling, contracts, and other federal services needed to expand small business and job growth in America. As a presidential appointee Mr. Lark provided oversight of SBA District Offices, Field Operations, and served as an Advocate to protect the rights and interests of small business owners located in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Although Mr. Lark is no longer working as a presidential appointee for the SBA, he continues to advocate for and believes investing in small businesses is the best way to expand economies, job opportunities, wealth, and security for citizens in every zip code across the nation.
  Mr. Lark is the author of Make It Rain, a simple self-help personal finance book, and he a small business investor who’s on a mission to increase wealth, jobs and financial security for millions of hardworking citizens. Mr. Lark, working in collaboration with Naples Technology Ventures (NTV), recently launched an $18 million dollar venture capital (VC) fund to help fuel the growth of U.S. technology firms owned by women and minority entrepreneurs. Mr. Lark retired from a successful career as an entrepreneur and corporate executive rising up the ranks in several fortune 500 firms before leading a billion-dollar business at DST Systems in Kansas City, MO.

  Mr. Lark and his wife believe in helping those among us who simply need a hand up to realize their dreams. His wife volunteers her time helping feed the homeless and supports elections in the Kansas area while Mr. Lark currently serves on the boards of Avila University, Kansas City Junior Achievement Foundation, and Wright State University’s Engineering Department where he and his wife created the Hammond-Lark Family foundation to provide college scholarships for well-deserving students.

  Mr. Lark previously served on the boards of the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City, The Family Conservancy, Boys Hope of Missouri, Prodapt Americas, George Butler Associates, and Stamus Networks.

  Mr. Lark attended Central State University and graduated in 1986 from Wright State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

  • TOPIC: Using the Power of Data to Transform American Society
    • Information or lack thereof has always played and will continue to play an essential role shaping American Society (Governments, Businesses, Communities, & Cultures). Lark, will share insights about how he’s leveraging publicly available information (data) to increase equity in businesses, jobs, justice and education for citizens in the KC metro and across America.

  Speaker: Dr. Rodney Hammer, Founder and CEO of Rehope

  

  Dr. Rodney Hammer

  My wife and I served as missionaries in Asia and Eastern Europe for 18 years and expanded two humanitarian NGOs to meet indigenous needs. While there, I was exposed to the raw realities of human trafficking. I found its vastness, corruption, and demand overwhelming and seemingly impossible to address.

  Simultaneously I wondered why trafficking victims were unable to escape. During a street outreach, my colleague asked a woman forced to sell herself on the street, “Why don’t you just leave?” She responded, “Am I coming home with you? Do you have a safe place for me?”
  With her hopelessness seared in my mind and without a solution, we returned to the states for a much-needed break. During this time, we discovered that human trafficking is a major problem in our own communities. With up to two million people being trafficked in the United States and a lack of long-term solutions and safe homes, we founded REHOPE.

  On a mission to restore survivors, we opened REHOPE Farms, a 17-acre campus offering women long-term housing, therapy, healing and wellness programs, education, and lifelong support. To provide jobs, professional skills training, and reintegration into the community, we launched REHOPE Market & Cafe, a social enterprise of survivor-made products. We also opened REHOPE Youth, a campus for the restoration of victimized children providing trauma treatment, education, family reintegration, and advanced, trauma-informed foster/adoptive services. We have the only facility in the Midwest that accepts boys.

  Being an advocate and a strategic partner in this fight, I catalyzed REHOPE University - Center of Excellence in Counter Human Trafficking, which brings together a centralized network of professionals from legal, medical, psychological, prevention, social services, business, law enforcement, judicial, and legislative arenas.

  I recently stepped into the Executive Producer role and joined forces with three-time Emmy-nominated producer, Craig Martin, to create a docuseries called Knock: Peering Behind the Door of HumanTrafficking. This series is to bring awareness and create change to the growing pandemic in our own backyard.

  • TOPIC: Human Trafficking – Where is it? What is it? How Does Data Management and Training fight it?
    • Think human trafficking isn't happening in in your community. Think again! In this presentation you will hear real life emotional stories about how data was utilized to save local victims of human trafficking. We will expose you to the different types of trafficking in the KC metro and debunk the stereotypical images of trafficking victims. Share some of the challenges that law enforcement faces. Learn how enormous human trafficking is and who runs it! Provide tips on how you can identify signs of trafficking and where to turn for help.

  Speaker: Eric Lee, Chief Emotional Officer at Mental Health Hackers

  

  Eric Lee

  Eric Lee is a Solutions Architect at AWS. His focus is in cloud infrastructure and IAM.

  Not giving up after being rejected by numerous conferences, he has shared his experience going through IT Burnout to over 30 conferences and companies that span multiple IT verticals.

  When not working, you'll find him ridding 4-wheeler's with his daughters, drinking bourbon, or at a dirt track watching sprint cars.

  • TOPIC: Surviving IT burnout
    • Eric shares – “I've lived through IT Burnout twice and seen it in numerous peers. Keeping it at bay during COVID-19 has been extremely hard. This is my journey with IT Burnout and what you can do to support yourself, family, and peers.”

  TO PARTICIPATE YOU MUST PICK IN PERSON OR ZOOM when you RSVP. 

  In person we will be meeting in the following location:

  TRAINING UMBRELLA
  10551 Barkley St Ste 102, Overland Park, KS 66212
  Directions: in Overland Park off of Metcalf: 105th & Barkley

  Please arrive by 12:30PM – we will have prepackaged snacks and drinks. We can’t wait to see you!
  Note: Masks are optional in this facility at this time.

  Those choosing to participate remotely:

  Zoom details will be emailed to each participant after you RSVP.

  Guests are welcome to attend for a $35 fee and can submit payment here.

  We have special rates for students and unemployed, please contact RSVP@kcdama.org for more details.

  We also offer a scholarship to one deserving individual if you or someone you know would like to apply to attend for free, send an email to RSVP@kcdama.org with a short paragraph for application.

  Please send your RSVP by January 20th to: RSVP@kcdama.org.  Each individual who will participate must register separately.

  NOTE:  Please contact Membership@kcdama.org or Treasurer@kcdama.org if you are unclear of the status of your membership.