Forward Fest 2026

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8:00am CDT

Thursday August 20, 2026 8:00am - 10:00am CDT

Aubergine: a Willy Street Co-op Community Space @ 1226 Williamson St, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Limited Capacity seats available

Technical expertise gets you in the room. How you show up determines what happens next.

In this interactive session, consultants will examine the attitudes, assumptions, and habits they bring into client and colleague relationships, and how those choices shape trust, collaboration, and results. Through meaningful dialogue with peers, you’ll uncover blind spots that may be limiting connection or effectiveness in your work.

You’ll leave with practical tools and simple mindset shifts you can apply immediately to improve communication, foster more inclusive relationships, and create better outcomes for your clients and your business. Because in today’s marketplace, how you work with people is just as critical as what you deliver.

Hosted by Yes...And LLC

Event Organizers

Kim Walters

Owner | Cultural Engagement Specialist, Yes...And LLC

Kim Walters is the Owner and Cultural Engagement Specialist of Yes...And LLC, a boutique consulting firm that helps organizations build cultures of respect and belonging through leadership development and self-awareness. She partners with leaders and teams to strengthen communication... Read More →

Thursday August 20, 2026 8:00am - 10:00am CDT
Aubergine: a Willy Street Co-op Community Space 1226 Williamson St, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Free, In Person

Category Social Good, General, Communication
Interaction Type Workshop

9:00am CDT

Practical Tools for Kickstarting your Go-to-Market (GTM)

LIMITED

Thursday August 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT

Virtual @ 1226 Williamson St, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Limited Capacity seats available

Check out our Website

Have you reviewed your business from your customers’ point of view? Do you know your products or services inside and out, but do not have formal sales experience? Are you new to finding customers, but passionate about connecting your product or service with your customers?

Practical Tools for Kickstarting your Go-To-Market (GTM) is a founder-focused guide to building and testing sales and marketing motions. Led by Joshua Steinberg, Director of Strategy & Business Development at Hive, the session breaks down core GTM concepts, introduces proven sales methodologies, and gives early-stage teams a clear framework for communicating value. Through real examples and interactive discussion, participants learn how to understand customer pain, articulate differentiated outcomes, and build the foundation for strong product-market fit.

Designed for entrepreneurs looking to turn insights into action, the workshop emphasizes hands-on learning with exercises that guide founders in crafting value-based conversations, developing discovery call scripts, and asking smarter customer-driven questions. Attendees walk away with tangible tools they can immediately apply to customer discovery, early sales efforts, and strategic storytelling. With an open, collaborative atmosphere, the session empowers founders to confidently test assumptions, refine their offering, and accelerate their path to market traction.

No prior knowledge needed to attend.

Hosted by Wisconsin SBDC at UW-Madison

This is a virtual event. For those who are logged in and have RSVP'd, the streaming link will appear on this page starting 10 minutes before the session.

Event Organizers

Heather Ferguson

Program Manager, UW-Madison SBDC

Sponsors

WEDC

Thursday August 20, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am CDT
Virtual

Free, Virtual

Category General, Marketing
Interaction Type Workshop

9:00am CDT

LinkedIn Glow-Up Lab

LIMITED

Thursday August 20, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am CDT

Event Hall at Hydrate IV Bar @ 4707 Madison Yards Way, Madison, WI 53705, USA

Limited Capacity seats available

This hands-on LinkedIn workshop is warm, welcoming and fun. It walks attendees through the full ecosystem of building a powerful presence. Participants will learn how to optimize their profiles so they clearly communicate value, attract the right audience, and open doors—whether that’s landing a dream role, growing a business, or expanding influence.

The session moves beyond setup into momentum: covering content strategy, topic ideation, and practical tools to create engaging posts without burnout. It also dives into the art of community-building—because LinkedIn isn’t just a platform, it’s a relationship engine. Attendees will learn how to engage authentically, build trust, and turn connections into meaningful opportunities.

Hosted by LinkUp Madison

Event Organizers

Chantel Soumis

Sponsors

Hydrate IV Bar

Thursday August 20, 2026 9:00am - 11:00am CDT
Event Hall at Hydrate IV Bar 4707 Madison Yards Way, Madison, WI 53705, USA

Ticketed, In Person (LinkedIn Glow-Up)

Category Tech / Software
Interaction Type Workshop

12:00pm CDT

The Becoming Experience: Healing, Purpose & Entrepreneurship

LIMITED

Thursday August 20, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm CDT

Leflore Accounting Services @ 306 E Wilson St #2e, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Limited Capacity seats available

The Becoming Experience is an interactive workshop and networking experience designed for entrepreneurs, creatives, and purpose-driven individuals ready to transform their story into impact.

Hosted by entrepreneur, speaker, and founder Tennisha Loggins, this experience blends authentic storytelling, business strategy, mindset transformation, and practical tools to help attendees move from survival mode into purpose-driven entrepreneurship.

Through guided reflection, interactive activities, networking, and actionable business insights, attendees will explore how healing, identity, and lived experiences can become the foundation for leadership, confidence, community impact, and profitable growth.

This event is ideal for aspiring entrepreneurs, women in business, creatives, side hustlers, and individuals navigating personal or professional reinvention.

Attendees will leave inspired, connected, and equipped with practical next steps to begin building intentionally, confidently, and purposefully.

Event Organizers

Tennisha Loggins

Founder & CEO, Loggins Family Business

I'm Tennisha Loggins, Founder & CEO of Loggins Family Business LLC, an entrepreneur, speaker, and storyteller. I help people turn ideas into income and purpose into action. Let's connect if you want to talk about entrepreneurship, food trucks, pop-ups, small business growth, coaching... Read More →

Thursday August 20, 2026 12:00pm - 1:00pm CDT
Leflore Accounting Services 306 E Wilson St #2e, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Free, In Person

Category Family, Food, Social Good, General, Kidpreneurship: From Lemons to Lemonade Entrepreneurship Experience
Interaction Type Happy Hour, Social, Workshop

3:00pm CDT

Certified Organic in Wisconsin & New Wisconsin Online Organic Directories

LIMITED

Thursday August 20, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

Giant Jones Brewing @ 931 East Main Street Entrance on, S Brearly St Suite 9, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Limited Capacity seats available

Check out our Website

Understanding Certified Organic in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a national leader in organic food production—but for many consumers the certified organic system still feels opaque. “Understanding Certified Organic in Wisconsin” is a practical, interactive session designed to demystify how organic really works in our state and to introduce new tools that make it easier than ever to find, buy, and support Wisconsin organic.

This event is for anyone who cares about the future of our food system: shoppers, chefs and retailers, distributors, institutional buyers, farmers (certified or transitioning), and food system professionals who want a clear, current picture of Wisconsin’s organic landscape. Together, we’ll walk through the key facts and structures that define certified organic in the United States and Wisconsin—how certification works, who the 1,623 certified organic operations are, where they’re located, and how they fit into the broader value chain. We’ll unpack what “certified organic” really means in practice for crops, livestock, and processed foods, and why local organic production is critical at a time when so much “organic” food on store shelves is imported and often less transparent.

A highlight of the event is the public unveiling of Wisconsin Organics’ new three-part online directory ecosystem: a unified, searchable directory of certified organic farms and handlers; an emerging consumer-facing brands and products directory that will catalog an estimated 3,000 Wisconsin organic products; and a farm and garden input supplies directory mapping key supply-chain businesses—from seed and soil amendments to equipment and organic feed. Built on meticulously collected and cleaned data, these HubSpot-based tools transform scattered information into an accessible, navigable map of Wisconsin’s organic sector.

Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the USDA national organic standards, how certified organic works in Wisconsin, where the opportunities and bottlenecks are across the value chain, and how to use the new directories to source local organic products, strengthen short supply chains, and better align purchasing with their values.

The session will include a guided tour of the directories, have some local organic producers in attendance with their products, providetime for questions and live troubleshooting, and space for attendees to share what tools and information they most need next—helping shape the future of organic market transparency in Wisconsin.

Hosted by Wisconsin Organics and Giant Jones Brewery

Event Organizers

Noreen Mucha

Executive Director, Wisconsin Organics

Noreen Mucha is the Founder and Director of Wisconsin Organics-dedicated to building the digital and coordination infrastructure necessary for Wisconsin’s organic sector to thrive. With more than two decades of experience in global food systems and nutrition across 40+ countries... Read More →

Thursday August 20, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Giant Jones Brewing 931 East Main Street Entrance on, S Brearly St Suite 9, Madison, WI 53703, USA

Free, Virtual