NorTech hosted its first Innovation UnConference at the Cleveland Convention Center Wednesday, September 24. It was billed as an exchange of innovative ideas with no set topic or agenda, but rather a chance for the more than 250 participants to set their own discussion topics.

“This is no longer NorTech’s conference -- it’s your conference,” NorTech president and CEO Rebecca Bagley told the group in her registration welcome. With that, more than 50 people lined up to present their discussion topics. Thirty-two sessions were chosen and the group broke into smaller discussion groups. Attendees were reminded of the two-leg law: If you don’t like a discussion or are bored, get up and move to another group.

Discussion topics ranged from “Collaborations Between Small and Big Companies” to “Growing Entrepreneurs from Education into the Economy.” Bagley said most of the topics centered around talent attraction, energy and technology topics.

The event idea originated from the MassTLC Unconference in Boston, which has been holding its event for the past 10 years. Cleveland organizers were pleased that the Cleveland Unconference surpassed Boston’s first-year attendance numbers. The Boston event has grown to about 1,200 people each year.

Additionally, Bagley said the idea came to her when she was on a panel at a conference and was bored. “Looking into the audience, I thought, I know he has something to say, I know she has something to say,” she recalls. “This is about how we accelerate the pace of innovation.”

Participants also had the opportunity to have one-on-one half-hour sessions with 32 mentors to pick their brains and ask advice.