• Future Shock: Catalyst Business Summit 2026

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    Name: Future Shock: Catalyst Business Summit 2026
    Date: October 22, 2026
    Time: 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM EDT
    Website: effinghamcounty.com
    Registration: Sorry, public registration for this event has been closed.
    Event Description:

    Catalyst Business Summit 2026: Future Shock, Powered by OpenAI

    PROMPT: Help me prepare my business for a future that is already here.

    RESPONSE: Come to Catalyst.

    Technology is advancing. Workforce expectations are shifting. New industries are emerging. The ways we communicate, lead, create and make decisions are changing faster than most of us can comfortably process.

    Welcome to Future Shock.

    Join us Thursday, October 22, for the 2026 Catalyst Business Summit - a full day of ideas, practical exploration and meaningful connection for business leaders, entrepreneurs, community builders and curious humans navigating extraordinary change.

    And this year, Catalyst is getting a serious upgrade.

    Catalyst - Powered by OpenAI

    OpenAI is joining the Effingham County Chamber as the Title Sponsor of Catalyst and making sponsored registrations available to local Chamber members.

    That means more people can enter the room, engage with the ideas and gain practical access to tools shaping the future of business - without registration cost being the barrier.

    OpenAI’s involvement will extend well beyond its logo on the screen.

    During a live, expert-led ChatGPT training session, OpenAI trainers will take attendees beyond the headlines and into the technology itself. This will not be another hour of watching someone else click through a presentation.

    You will use ChatGPT.

    Bring a laptop or tablet - and perhaps the business problem you keep moving to next week. Attendees will have the opportunity to experiment with ChatGPT and explore practical uses for research, planning, communication, content development, problem-solving, productivity and everyday business operations.

    No coding degree required. Human judgment remains essential.

    Before We Prompt the Future, We Need to Think About It

    The morning begins with Catalyst’s signature Future Shock Think Talks: a fast-paced series of short presentations from people approaching change through very different lenses.

    Together, they will explore the human questions underneath all that innovation:

    • Geoff Thatcher, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Creative Principals, begins with creativity and the human experience: As AI changes what we can create, do and experience, what remains distinctly human?

    • Dr. Ryan Foley, President of Savannah Technical College, examines skills and the future of work: How do we prepare people for careers - and a future - we cannot completely predict?

    • Ivory Brown, Ed.S., adaptive special-education teacher and 2024–25 Effingham County School District Teacher of the Year, challenges our assumptions about inclusion, ability and human potential: Are we recognizing all the talent already around us?

    • Karima Burdette, author and host of LifeChat with Karima, turns the conversation inward: What does not change when everything changes? What anchors us through uncertainty and disruption?

    • Joe Marchese, founder of Marchese Construction and longtime business and community leader, brings the morning together through leadership and stewardship: What will you do with what you have been given?

    The arc moves deliberately from disruption to consequence, challenge, grounding and responsibility—because understanding what technology can do is only part of the conversation.

    The more important question is what we choose to do with it.

    Then We’ll Give Your Brain Some Breathing Room

    Following the Think Talks, attendees will enter Breathing Room: What Are You Rethinking?

    This intentionally unprogrammed pause creates space to process, reconnect and contribute to an interactive installation centered on one deceptively simple question:

    What has this morning made you rethink?

    Think of it as clearing the chat before entering a much more hands-on prompt.

    From there, the OpenAI trainers take over for the interactive ChatGPT session - moving the room from thinking about change to actively working with it.

    Lunch Is for Humans

    At noon, we pause the prompting, presenting and processing for Business Bites, Catalyst’s signature lunch and networking experience, presented by our friends at Hospice Savannah. 

    There will be no formal luncheon speech. By this point, the room should have plenty to talk about.

    Business Bites provides a full hour to eat, connect and continue the conversations sparked throughout the morning. It is intentionally relaxed, distinctly local and built around the kind of spontaneous exchange that still works best face-to-face.

    Some things should not be automated.

    From Boss to Coach to Catalyst

    The afternoon continues with John T. Brantley, President and CEO of Auxin 360, Inc. and creator of The Auxin Leader.

    In The Evolution of Leadership, John traces how leadership has moved from the centralized “boss,” to the collaborative “coach,” to the model demanded by today’s rapidly changing environment: The Catalyst.

    Modern organizations need more than compliant doers or engaged problem-solvers. They need thinkers, adapters and innovators capable of making strong decisions throughout the organization.

    John will explore how leaders can develop those behaviors, create cultures of growth and help people thrive when speed, complexity and expectations keep increasing.

    Yes, the leadership model is literally called The Catalyst. We could not have prompted that better ourselves.

    And Then There Is Everything We Are Not Revealing Yet

    Expect an afternoon energy reset, opportunities to connect, interactive moments, a few surprises and additional voices designed to keep the day moving.

    Catalyst is not an AI conference.

    It is a business and leadership summit about what happens when technology, work, culture, expectations and opportunity begin changing at the same time - and how thoughtful people choose to respond.

    AI may help us generate possibilities.

    People still decide what is worth building.

    Come Curious

    Bring your questions. Bring your experience. Bring a laptop or tablet. Bring the business challenge you have been meaning to solve.

    Most importantly, bring your willingness to rethink something.

    Thursday, October 22, 2026
    8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
    Downtown Springfield

    The future is changing. Let’s decide what we do with it!

    Event Sponsors:

    Ttitle Sponsor

    • OpenAI

    Business Bites Luncheon Sponsor

    • Hospice Savannah, Inc

    Engagement Sponsor

    • Jason Campbelll
    Location:
    The MARS Theatre | Downtown Springfield 
    Date/Time Information:
    Thursday, October 22 2026
    8:30 AM- 3:30 PM
    Contact Information:
    Susan Kraut
    Send an Email
    Fees/Admission:
    General Registration: 
    Members: $FREE to attend, powered by OpenAI
    Non-Members: $139
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