May 23, 2025 • 5 mins
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak will be headlining the kickoff to Grand Rapids Tech Week this fall. Vice President of Business Development at The Right Place Andria Romkema joins us to discuss the big announcement!
More information can be found here: https://www.techweekgr.com/
More information can be found here: https://www.techweekgr.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just like our next guest, We're going to talk about
a good get in the business. This is West Michigan's
Morning News. Steve, Kelly, Brett, Bakita, Lauren Smith is back
with us soon. Andrea Ramkama is the vice president of
business development at the Right Place and is in the
right place right now. Andrea, thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Today, right place, right time. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This Tech Week thing gets bigger every year. And it's
not until September, but when I got the press release
in the news, I did a double take. I'll let
you make the announcement for those that may not have heard,
but I don't think you can get a bigger guest
for such a thing.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, we went straight to the top with this one.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So yeah, tech Week has grown immensely the past four years.
We went from about three thousand people at this event
to over sixteen thousand last year.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And yeah, yeah, it's grown. It's seriously grown.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And so we are so excited to announce that this
year we have Apple co founder Steve Wozniak coming to
town to kick off the event.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Wow, I mean, I don't know, It's like when the
Econ Club got bono A couple of years ago. You
think this is Grand Rapids, but I think we need
to puff our chest out a little bit on that
to say this is Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Man, we do, we do, and it's really another feather
in our cap. And it speaks to how much the
city's grown, how vibrant our city is, our growing tech cluster.
I mean, these speakers, you have to pitch them to
come to a city. They're not just coming anywhere. So
he chose us. So yeah, we can be really proud
of that. And I'm honored that he chose Grand Rapids
(01:35):
and happy to host him in September.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So take us through some of the events for people
aren't familiar with tech Week because it has grown immensely
and when you think tech Week, you're thinking La right
or somewhere in California Silicon Valley. So is this kind
of the Midwest Tech Week if you will.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I would say, yeah, absolutely. We're one of the largest
in the country now too. And so the beauty of
tech Week, our tech Week here is that it's truly
built by the community. So right now we have businesses
and other organizations that are working on creating events to
host ding tech Week. So throughout the summer. There are
going to be probably seventy plus events that come onto
(02:12):
the calendar. There are a whole range of topics because
tech it isn't just you know, it isn't just high
tech software development.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's tech. Yeah, AI, there will be a lot on AI,
for sure, but.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It's how tech impacts HR, how tech impacts advance manufacturing.
There's really something for everybody at tech Week.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And to that point, the Right Place does this better
than anybody else in the country. It's that spirit of collaboration, right,
So it's all of those industries and businesses coming together
to talk about a thing that may be central to
all of them all over West Michigan.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes, you're exactly right, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, this is not this an event of the scale,
is not something that the Right Place could do on
our own.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
It's only been.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Possible because we've had the buy in and the support
of gosh well over one hundred different businesses and organizations
throughout the community. And that's probably going to double again
this year just with the interest and support. Companies wanting
to host events, companies sponsoring people coming out and attending,
voting with their feet. I mean, really, we have something
(03:20):
special here in Grand Rapids. We have a truly collaborative
community that works together.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Not only that, but the vision too. And I go
back to that. Just watching all this living and growing
up here, it's amazing to me and knowing some of
the movers and shakers that maybe aren't even with us
anymore but started this and this is the legacy, like
they're looking down saying, wow, this is Tech Week, this
is And one of those was Peter Seki. I always
talk about the Sports Council. They had the vision because
they sought in other states of what it meant. And
(03:46):
we were kidding with the Pure Michigan campaign because I'm like, hey,
I tune in now and I see Kentucky, I see Ohio,
I see, but we did it first. Pure Misikan did
it first. The same thing happened here where. Whether they
saw it somewhere and said we got to bring that
to Grand Rapids or they said we've got to do
this in Grand Rapids because it will explode. It is
so cool to see this happening on a regular basis,
(04:08):
and the right Place is an example of that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, yes, that's a really good point.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I think our community has always been very visionary and
basically said why not us, right, Why why can't we
have this here? Why can't we have a medical mile
you know, why can't we be one of the leading
tech hubs in the Midwest?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And we really put in the work to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You know, we have the visionary leaders, and then the
community comes together and rallies around it and our city
continues to grow because of that vision.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Techweekgr dot com to find all the information is do
you know yet is Woznak going to be a ticketed event?
Or can anybody go? Or how does that work?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, so most of the events at tech week are
free and open, but Wozniak is ticketed, and if anybody
is interested in attending the event, I would recommend getting
on that quickly tech weekgr dot com. They are selling
at quadruple the rate that are kickoff.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Tickets normally sell at.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So yeah, definitely make that a priority if you want
to attend.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Is he going to be able to give personal advice
about if I like showing my phone, Can I say, hey,
Steve Man, I can't get this.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Maybe I don't know if we included that in his
visit contract, but yeah, he's he's gonna he's gonna be
telling a lot of stories though. I bet if you
if you've heard him speak, he's got some great stories
about Steve Jobs and founding Apple, and I think it's
going to be really exciting.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
You've got to get some video of him at the
Apple store at Woodland Mall actually helping someone, and that'd
be great, Like Steve comes in, sure, let me help you.
I think I know a little bit about this.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, maybe maybe he's employee number two at Apple, right.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, vice president of business development at the right place.
Andrea Ramkama, thank you for.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Coming in, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well done, What Radio News Time seven forty one Back
to traffic and weather. I'm the ones
Just like our next guest, We're going to talk about
a good get in the business. This is West Michigan's
Morning News. Steve, Kelly, Brett, Bakita, Lauren Smith is back
with us soon. Andrea Ramkama is the vice president of
business development at the Right Place and is in the
right place right now. Andrea, thanks for doing this.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Today, right place, right time. Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This Tech Week thing gets bigger every year. And it's
not until September, but when I got the press release
in the news, I did a double take. I'll let
you make the announcement for those that may not have heard,
but I don't think you can get a bigger guest
for such a thing.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yes, we went straight to the top with this one.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So yeah, tech Week has grown immensely the past four years.
We went from about three thousand people at this event
to over sixteen thousand last year.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
And yeah, yeah, it's grown. It's seriously grown.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
And so we are so excited to announce that this
year we have Apple co founder Steve Wozniak coming to
town to kick off the event.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Wow, I mean, I don't know, It's like when the
Econ Club got bono A couple of years ago. You
think this is Grand Rapids, but I think we need
to puff our chest out a little bit on that
to say this is Grand Rapids.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Man, we do, we do, and it's really another feather
in our cap. And it speaks to how much the
city's grown, how vibrant our city is, our growing tech cluster.
I mean, these speakers, you have to pitch them to
come to a city. They're not just coming anywhere. So
he chose us. So yeah, we can be really proud
of that. And I'm honored that he chose Grand Rapids
(01:35):
and happy to host him in September.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
So take us through some of the events for people
aren't familiar with tech Week because it has grown immensely
and when you think tech Week, you're thinking La right
or somewhere in California Silicon Valley. So is this kind
of the Midwest Tech Week if you will.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I would say, yeah, absolutely. We're one of the largest
in the country now too. And so the beauty of
tech Week, our tech Week here is that it's truly
built by the community. So right now we have businesses
and other organizations that are working on creating events to
host ding tech Week. So throughout the summer. There are
going to be probably seventy plus events that come onto
(02:12):
the calendar. There are a whole range of topics because
tech it isn't just you know, it isn't just high
tech software development.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's tech. Yeah, AI, there will be a lot on AI,
for sure, but.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
It's how tech impacts HR, how tech impacts advance manufacturing.
There's really something for everybody at tech Week.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And to that point, the Right Place does this better
than anybody else in the country. It's that spirit of collaboration, right,
So it's all of those industries and businesses coming together
to talk about a thing that may be central to
all of them all over West Michigan.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes, you're exactly right, Steve.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, this is not this an event of the scale,
is not something that the Right Place could do on
our own.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
It's only been.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Possible because we've had the buy in and the support
of gosh well over one hundred different businesses and organizations
throughout the community. And that's probably going to double again
this year just with the interest and support. Companies wanting
to host events, companies sponsoring people coming out and attending,
voting with their feet. I mean, really, we have something
(03:20):
special here in Grand Rapids. We have a truly collaborative
community that works together.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Not only that, but the vision too. And I go
back to that. Just watching all this living and growing
up here, it's amazing to me and knowing some of
the movers and shakers that maybe aren't even with us
anymore but started this and this is the legacy, like
they're looking down saying, wow, this is Tech Week, this
is And one of those was Peter Seki. I always
talk about the Sports Council. They had the vision because
they sought in other states of what it meant. And
(03:46):
we were kidding with the Pure Michigan campaign because I'm like, hey,
I tune in now and I see Kentucky, I see Ohio,
I see, but we did it first. Pure Misikan did
it first. The same thing happened here where. Whether they
saw it somewhere and said we got to bring that
to Grand Rapids or they said we've got to do
this in Grand Rapids because it will explode. It is
so cool to see this happening on a regular basis,
(04:08):
and the right Place is an example of that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, yes, that's a really good point.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I think our community has always been very visionary and
basically said why not us, right, Why why can't we
have this here? Why can't we have a medical mile
you know, why can't we be one of the leading
tech hubs in the Midwest?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
And we really put in the work to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
You know, we have the visionary leaders, and then the
community comes together and rallies around it and our city
continues to grow because of that vision.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Techweekgr dot com to find all the information is do
you know yet is Woznak going to be a ticketed event?
Or can anybody go? Or how does that work?
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, so most of the events at tech week are
free and open, but Wozniak is ticketed, and if anybody
is interested in attending the event, I would recommend getting
on that quickly tech weekgr dot com. They are selling
at quadruple the rate that are kickoff.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Tickets normally sell at.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So yeah, definitely make that a priority if you want
to attend.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Is he going to be able to give personal advice
about if I like showing my phone, Can I say, hey,
Steve Man, I can't get this.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Maybe I don't know if we included that in his
visit contract, but yeah, he's he's gonna he's gonna be
telling a lot of stories though. I bet if you
if you've heard him speak, he's got some great stories
about Steve Jobs and founding Apple, and I think it's
going to be really exciting.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
You've got to get some video of him at the
Apple store at Woodland Mall actually helping someone, and that'd
be great, Like Steve comes in, sure, let me help you.
I think I know a little bit about this.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Yeah, maybe maybe he's employee number two at Apple, right.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, vice president of business development at the right place.
Andrea Ramkama, thank you for.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Coming in, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well done, What Radio News Time seven forty one Back
to traffic and weather. I'm the ones
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