Hamilton’s rising young professionals will meet next month to offer their vision of the city’s future.

The second Hamilton Hive, which last year gathered 200 of the region’s young professionals to consider new solutions to the area’s challenges, will gather Oct. 20.

“We have a great deal of momentum building off last year’s event,” said Hamilton Hive chair Ryan Moran. “These are people who want a voice in the conversation about the future of Hamilton.”

The program includes panel discussion on how young professionals are influencing the media, featuring Hamilton Spectator editor-in-chief Paul Berton and CBC Hamilton producer Roger Gillespie and workshops on small business management, Hamilton’s image, downtown renewal and innovation.

Conference chair Mike Marini said each of those workshops will produce one or two action items that can be forwarded to city council or the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.

Those ideas, Moran said, will hopefully offer a different take on the city’s future development.

Keynote speaker at the one-day event will be Sarah Prevette, founder of Sprouter.com, an online platform connecting young startup executives with a panel of experts in fields such as law, marketing and funding.

Spouter was started in 2009 and was acquired by Postmedia in 2011. Prevette has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Wired Magazine. She is also an adviser to several startups, appears regularly in the Financial Post and live on BNN’s new show The Pitch.

To register for the event go to www.hamiltonhive.ca.

Article courtesy The Hamilton Spectator.