Skip to main content

Showcase event on March 21 demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement at UW-Madison

March 13, 2018 By Kathy Contezac

Showcase, a free annual event highlighting process and program improvements, innovations, and best practices on campus, will be March 21 at Union South.

The 19th annual event offers a varied program consisting of poster exhibits, breakout sessions, poster flash talks, and a keynote presentation. The event is open to everyone – on and off campus – including faculty, staff, students, and community members.

It starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 12:15 p.m.; attendees can choose to attend any or all of the morning’s activities. Although Showcase is free, registration is requested to aid in planning (however, you may still attend if you weren’t able to register in advance).

The poster exhibition runs from 8 to 11 a.m. and includes 60-plus posters from different schools, colleges, divisions, and units across campus.  They spotlight a wide range of project and program successes — from the application of new tools or technologies, to educational innovations, to successful partnerships with units on or off campus.

This year’s keynote speaker is Mark Guthier, Director of the Wisconsin Union, whose presentation, From Vision to Reality: The Transformation of the Wisconsin Union, will offer insights on:

  • How to balance and reconcile the need for change with a commitment to tradition and legacy.
  • How to gather broad stakeholder input and direct it into actionable progress.
  • How to integrate storytelling (organizational values, donors, student impact, etc.) into a project.
  • How to maintain perspective and staff morale over the course of a multi-year project.

Guthier will be speaking at 11:15 a.m.  in the Union South Marquee Theater.

Showcase includes 45-minute breakout sessions that focus on tools, techniques, and methodologies that participants can leverage in their own work and improvement efforts on campus.

This year, four different sessions will address the following topics:

  • Leveraging technology for collaboration
  • Quick process improvement methods
  • Planning and leading effective meetings
  • Transformative design

Breakout sessions start at 8:15 and 10:15 a.m.

Also back by popular demand are the poster flash talks in which select poster exhibitors provide quick 2-minute synopses of their projects.

Showcase is sponsored by the Office of Strategic Consulting — the unit that was created by the merger of the Office of Quality Improvement (OQI), which has traditionally sponsored Showcase, and the Administrative Process Redesign (APR) office.

For more information or to register to attend, visit the Showcase website.