where to be

10+ can't-miss Houston business and innovation events for April

Mar 31, 2022, 1:12 pm

Check out these conferences, pitch events, networking, and more happening in Houston in the month of April. Photo via Getty Images

After a very busy March, Houston innovators might need to prepare for another month of networking opportunities. Here's a rundown of what all to throw on your calendar for April.

This article will be updated as more business and tech events are announced.

April 5-6 — Energy CEO Summit

Industry leaders and members of the Houston business community will discuss the evolution of the energy sector, Houston's pivotal role, and the critical events driving the change.

Center for Houston's Future CEO Brett Perlman will moderate a panel on Electrical Grid Trends at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 6.

The event is Tuesday and Wednesday, April 5-6, online or at Asia Society Texas Center (1370 Southmore Blvd.). Click here to register.

April 6 — 2022 PVAMU Industry Innovation Collaboration Day

This event is designed to provide an interactive platform for academicians, researchers, students, industries, and government agencies an opportunity to meet and share recent innovations, developments, and technology trends. Collaboration between the university and various industries needs to be nourished to enhance innovation development for the benefit of society.

The event is Wednesday, April 6, from 8:30 am to 5 pm at Prairie View A&M University-MSC Ballroom (155 L.W Minor St.). Click here to register.

April 6 — Enventure "Inspire" Seminar Series - With Dr. Santosh A. Helekar, MD, PhD

The "Inspire" Seminar Series was developed by Enventure to help students learn about the reality of working in the biotech and biomedical fields. The series consists of a number of events starring guest speakers coming from different areas in the biotech and biomedical industries.

This particular event will star Dr. Santosh A. Helekar, M.D., Ph.D. Participants attending this event will learn about the story of Dr. Helekar and his experiences from transitioning from grad school & academia into an inventor & his experiences and current role. In addition, there will be a final Q&A where the audience will be able to ask direct questions to Dr. Helekar.

The online event is Wednesday, April 6, from 6 to 7:30 pm. Click here to register.

April 7 — Low-Carbon Hydrogen Accelerator Kickoff

Together with Greentown Labs and the Urban Future Lab, EPRI and Shell recognize the need to accelerate the development and commercialization of low-carbon technologies required to enable economy-wide decarbonization. As leaders in the utilities and energy industries, respectively, with domain expertise, R&D facilities, and access to global customers, EPRI and Shell are uniquely positioned to lead this transformation in partnership with startups innovating at the cutting edge of low-carbon hydrogen.

The hybrid event is Thursday, April 7, from 5:30 to 8 pm at Greentown Labs (4200 San Jacinto St.) and streaming online. Click here to register.

April 7-9 — 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition

The 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition will be hosted in Houston at the Jones Graduate School of Business. This year, 42 teams have been invited to compete in the 22nd Annual Competition. The finals will be streamed online —watch on Saturday, April 9 on our YouTube. If you're a member, please visit our membership page to register to attend in-person.

The competition is held Thursday through Saturday, April 7-9, at Rice University (6100 Main St.) and streamed online. Click here to register.

April 12 — Energy & Energy 2.0 Council

As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston is the headquarters and the intellectual capital for virtually every segment of the energy industry including exploration, production, transmission, marketing, supply, and technology. This Council explores how Houston's largest industry continues to lead in this critical sector while also advancing innovation that supports the transition to a more efficient and sustainable, low-carbon future that also accommodates global demand growth.

The event is Tuesday, April 12, from 11:30 am to 1 pm at Partnership Tower (701 Avenida de las Americas, Suite 900). Click here to register.

April 12 — Softeq Venture Studio Demo Day (Q1 2022 Cohort)

The Softeq Venture Studio invested $125,000 in cash and services in each of the nine early-stage startups to help them refine their business model, build their technology, and prepare them to scale. In this capstone event, founders have seven minutes each to present their pitch deck, demo their product, outline their ask, and answer questions. And we need you there to evaluate them for investment (or at least support them).

The event is Tuesday, April 12, from 5 to 7:30 pm at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 13 — Serving & Selling: Building your Brand, brought to you by Insperity

Find out how to solidify your brand, deliver exceptional service, and take your productivity to the next level, with Pete Hinojosa, CBPA.

The event is Wednesday, April 13, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm at The Cannon (1334 Brittmore Dr.). Click here to register.

April 14 — DivInc Happy Hour: Meet the Sports Tech Cohort

Meet DivInc's Sports Tech cohort at a happy hour hosted at The Ion on April 14. The companies accepted into the new cohort are slated to be announced on April 11.

The event is Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 pm at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 19 — State of Technology

The second annual Greater Houston Partnership event features business leaders discussing Houston's growth as a national leader in tech innovation and the many qualities the region possesses that support a robust tech ecosystem. Through a panel discussion, the event will also explore how Houston is uniquely enabling digital transformation across industries including energy, life sciences and healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and aerospace.

The event is Tuesday, April 19, at 10 am to 1:30 pm at Hilton Americas (1600 Lamar St.). Click here to register.

April 20 — Spring 2022 D2K Showcase

Explore Rice University's D2K students’ end-of-semester projects covering a wide range of topics including computer vision, natural language processing, deep learning applications, web scraping, time series analysis, signal processing and more. Celebrate the impact they are making through data science and interact with Rice students and learn more about their projects in the poster session. Attendees can vote for their favorite project/team to compete for cash prizes.

The event is Wednesday, April 20, from 5 to 7 pm at Duncan Hall at Rice University (6100 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 20 — The H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge Championships

Join Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and support Rice University student startups at the H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge Championships on Wednesday, April 20. Six student finalists will pitch their ventures for the chance to win a share of $75,000+ in equity-free funding. Attendance is open to Rice students, Rice alumni, friends of Rice, and the whole Houston entrepreneurial community. Seats are limited, so get your tickets while you still can.

The event is Wednesday, April 20, from 5:30 to 9 pm at The Anderson-Clarke Center’s Hudspeth Auditorium (6100 Main St.). Click here to register.

April 21 — Greentown Houston's First Anniversary

A year after opening the Houston's first-ever climatetech startup incubator, Greentown Houston is home to over 60 startup members and 20 corporate partners. Join the green tech hub for a celebration of entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation, which together with the engineering strength and talent of the region’s energy industry will power Houston’s climate leadership. The day of festivities will include celebratory remarks, lightning pitches from some of our outstanding startups, a member showcase, networking, and more.

The event is Thursday, April 21, from 1 to 7 pm, at Greentown Houston (4200 San Jacinto St.) or livestreaming online. Click here to register.

April 27 — Engage VC: Revolution

Revolution is a D.C.-based investment firm focused on investing in entrepreneurs building transformative companies outside of Silicon Valley. With $1.7 billion of capital commitments across portfolio companies including Houston-based Goodfair and relationships in 60+ startup communities, Revolution is dedicated to creating meaningful results for companies outside of the Bay Area. And they are coming to Houston. Join HX Venture Fund to hear Tige Savage, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Revolution Ventures, David Hall, Managing Partner at Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Martin Simoncic, President B2B at PROS discuss Revolution's perspective on venture investing, current and future trends, and how Houston fits in among other topics.

The event is Wednesday, April 27, at 8:30 to 10 am at The Ion (4201 Main St.). Click here to register.

Building Houston

guest column

3 tips from a Houston expert on making the most of content marketing

Guest column

Content marketing may seem like a challenge to get started and maintain, but it helps create a connection with your customers that benefits both of you in the short and long term. Image via Getty Images

For startups and established companies alike, content marketing is king. It is one of the most well-respected methods for growing brand recognition, establishing a reputation for expertise in a field and engaging your target market.

In fact, according to Mailchimp, businesses with blogs obtain 67 percent more leads than other companies and 88 percent of consumers credit branded videos for convincing them to purchase a product or service.Even better, one of the biggest benefits of content marketing is that it allows you to capture the attention of your audience without a hard sell.

So, what is content marketing? Coursera provides a simple definition: content marketing is the marketing strategy of creating articles, podcasts, videos, infographics, and other types of media to engage and retain potential customers. But let’s dig a bit deeper. In order for this content to be effective, it needs to be relevant and valuable. The content should help establish your organization’s reputation as an expert in the field, but it should be primarily focused on addressing the needs of your audience in one way or another.

What are some things to focus on when developing a content marketing strategy? Begin with the end in mind. What are you trying to gain from this strategy? Are you looking to increase brand awareness and build your list? Working to generate immediate sales? Build partnerships? Establishing your goals will guide the rest of your planning and implementation going forward.

Know your audience

It is also critical that you have a thorough understanding of your audience. For starters, this involves understanding your market’s demographics, needs, common communication vehicles, and preferred content formats. In regard to your strategy, you also need to understand what stage of the customer sales journey you are trying to appeal to. Are they ready to buy, or just at the ‘getting information’ stage? Or perhaps you want to connect with existing customers to retain their business and generate referrals.

Keep concise and organized

To make the most out of your strategy, make sure the content is engaging. You may have the answer to your customers’ challenges, but if it is presented in a way they cannot connect with, you will lose their attention. Work to create content that is relatable and easily digestible. As you continue to develop your content, find a way to serve it up in an organized manner and deliver it on a consistent basis.

Track analytics

Also, you want to make sure you are tracking the performance of your content. Analytics will help you understand if and how your content is being engaged with, providing guidance on what to adjust, what to scrap and what to do more of. There are several tools available that will provide these metrics, but before you look to spend on something new, it is helpful to understand the resources you already have through your site metrics, email platforms, etc.

Finally, make sure your content isn’t outdated, and check for broken links or statements that contradict your other content.

Content marketing may seem like a challenge to get started and maintain, but it helps create a connection with your customers that benefits both of you in the short and long term. At the end of the day, many businesses find content marketing is a strategy they cannot live without in today’s fast-paced environment.

------

Katherine Rupp is marketing director of LevelField Financial, a Houston-based financial services company.

From Your Site Articles

katherine rupp levelfield financial content marketing guest column marketing guest columns

INNOVATIONMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME