Week 8: Escanaba, MI, Chicago, IL & Madison, WI
October 8-15, 2023
For week 8 of the #PowerBetter road show tour, I worked with the Midwest district to plan and execute their events in Escanaba, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, and Madison, Wisconsin. This is the first of four weeks of the tour where we are on campus at one of tier one universities hosting a recruiting event for students on Friday and a customer tailgate event at the football game on Saturday. In the Midwest district we hosted these two events at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, an awesome college town.
Key Takeaway: At our customer event in Chicago on Wednesday, I spoke with our Building Automation team about their products and what they do. I learned from their virtual display about the Brainbox AI technology they use, a predictive artificial intelligence installed in commercial buildings to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions. I also learned a lot from our big weekend in Madison, and feel more prepared for the upcoming weeks of student events and customer tailgates. They aren’t run exactly the same as my typical road show events, and since this was the first one, it was definitely a bit of a learning curve.
Favorite Food: I had some good food in all three cities throughout the week, including Chicago deep dish pizza and Wisconsin cheese curds. However, my favorite food was definitely my Italian beef sandwich from Portillo’s in Chicago. I got it with extra gravy and both sweet and hot peppers, and it was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. I also want to give an honorable mention to the glitter latte and Starbucks Reserve espresso martini, shoutout to my friend Lauren for the recommendations!
Highlights: This week was truly a memorable one, as I hit three states throughout the Midwest in seven days, seeing many different views of Lake Michigan throughout the week. I loved exploring Chicago, it’s a beautiful and clean city to walk around in with so much to do. I walked along the Chicago riverwalk and saw some pretty views, got a coffee drink at the Starbucks Reserve, checked out the Chicago Barstool bar, and went to visit the famous Bean (which is unfortunately under construction at the moment). Later in the week, I drove over to Madison, Wisconsin to help out at a student recruiting event and customer tailgate event for the Badgers football game. Madison is a beautiful campus and such an adorable college town, and the game day experience and atmosphere was unforgettable. I got to participate in the unique Jump Around moment they do at their football games, walk around the local farmers market, and check out some of the local college bars while being led around by my personal tour guide, shoutout to Maria! To top off a great weekend, we drove over to Milwaukee to go on a quick walk along Lake Michigan outside the city before catching our flight home.
