Nov. 3 Business Expo Will Put Emphasis on What Comes Next

A Focus on ‘Tomorrow’

The Western Mass. Business Expo, produced by BusinessWest since 2011, has always put an accent on the future when it comes to programming and exhibits.

But this year, that emphasis will be taken to a still-higher level, said Kate Campiti, the magazine’s associate publisher. And this is out of necessity.

“Anticipating the future and preparing for it have always been stern challenges for all business owners,” she explained. “But now, these assignments take on even more urgency because the business world is changing rapidly and there are many powerful forces that will shape the competitive landscape in the years — and even the weeks — to come.

“These include everything from evolving technology, which presents a host of challenges and opportunities, to the emergence of younger generations, especially the difficult-to-read Millennials, in leadership positions, to a host of new social and employment issues that business owners and managers must face,” she went on.

All these focal points and more will take center stage at the Expo, set for Nov. 3 at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. Details of the day-long event are still being finalized, but the broad themes have been identified, and organizers are now filling in the canvas. Here’s what we know:

• The Expo’s overriding emphasis will be on the future, meaning the short term, long term, and intermediate term, because business owners must keep their focus on all three.
• There will be a special accent on what would have to be called the ‘workforce of tomorrow,’ with emphasis on the issues facing all employers — those of quantity and quality.
• Education will again be one of the main stress points of the Expo, with three stages, or rooms, for informative seminars — one to focus on sales and marketing, another on emerging trends in the workplace, and the third on the younger generation now coming of age in the business community.
• Innovation will also be on display, and in many different forms, from robotics demonstrations to exhibitors on the cutting edge of technology and manufacturing.
• The Expo will again put the region’s business sectors in the spotlight. More than 150 companies of all sizes are expected to exhibit on the show floor, gaining the attention of more than 2,000 visitors.
• Also in the spotlight will be many of the emerging startups across the region — the Expo exhibitors of the future, if you will — that are taking full advantage of the services now available to them through a burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Networking, networking, networking: there will be opportunities for this most important of exercises at the day-opening breakfast, again presented by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce; at a lunch presented by BusinessWest; on the show floor; and at the popular, event-capping Expo Social.

“Since BusinessWest began producing the Expo five years ago, the basic strategy has been the same — to provide a value-laden event that will help business owners and managers gain exposure and also gain insight that will make them ever-more competitive in this increasingly global economy,” said Campiti. “For this year, the mission is the same, and this is shaping up as the biggest, best Expo ever.”

For details on the Expo as they emerge, and for sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, visit www.wmbexpo.com.

What: The 2016 Western Mass. Business Expo

When: Thursday, Nov. 3

Where: The MassMutual Center, Main Street, Springfield

Features: More than 150 exhibitor booths; educational seminars; breakfast hosted by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce; lunch hosted by BusinessWest; day-capping Expo Social

Sponsors: Comcast Business (presenting sponsor); Express Employment Professionals; Health New England; Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst; Johnson & Hill Staffing Services; MGM Springfield; Wild Apple Design