In 2016, a few Chamber Young Professional (CYP) leaders and I attended the YP Unite Summit in Louisville not really knowing what to expect.
That night, we decided two things: We wanted to host the event in Owensboro one day, and we wanted to absolutely blow people away by their experience.
The YP Unite Summit, started by Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL), is an annual gathering of young professional groups and individuals across the commonwealth and surrounding region with the goal of networking, sharing best practices and leadership development.
CYP continued to attend the YP Summit, visiting Paducah in 2017 and Louisville again in 2018. With the opportunity open for groups to host in 2019, we knew it was our time to make a move. After sending a proposal in early 2019, being voted by our peer groups to host and spending months planning, we got to see everything come together Thursday and Friday.
Our guests were treated to a celebration toast at the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art on Thursday evening before attending the official Welcome Reception at O.Z. Tyler. On Friday, YPs benefited from our keynote speaker, globally renowned president and CEO of Logitech Bracken Darrell, as well as thought-provoking breakout sessions, inspiring panels and incredible opportunities to engage with others and make lasting connections.
We were excited to have the opportunity to host, but actually hosting the event left us even more excited for the future. People wanted to come to Owensboro for the event, and after being here, people really want to come back. YPAL had budgeted to send three of its board members to the event in 2019 but ended up bringing 11 because so many wanted to attend the event in Owensboro.
It was an honor to host our peer YPs. Events like this allow us to appreciate the successful strides we have made to make Owensboro a surprisingly enticing place for young people. Although we often seem to be forgotten, we know we have so much to offer as a community and continue to want to share that with others, especially our peers.
We had so many wonderful partners join us with excitement to host the 2019 YP Summit. We had a handful of speakers share their time and talents to invest in our guests while they were here. It was our honor (and so much fun!) to make this event happen in Owensboro … and to absolutely blow people away by their experience. Thank you, Owensboro, for making it easy to be so proud to show you off. We can’t wait to do it again!