Denver Startup Week organizers welcomed about 50 participants Thursday to a 2022 kickoff event where they laid out the rules for submitting program proposals, recapped the 2021 event and issued a call for volunteers and sponsors.

“It’s so exciting to be back in person and to be able to see each other and plan for the event coming up this year,” Kate Barton, executive vice president for the Downtown Denver Partnership, told the group gathered at Commons at Champa.

The audience cheered the announcement that Zoom rooms won’t be a thing for this year’s event, which will be fully live.

“We will be back in person barring — well, let’s just say knock on wood,” said Chantel Allbee, Startup Week manager and special projects coordinator for the partnership. “Session organizers should plan to present their sessions live during the week at one of our venues, as with years past.”

In 2019 — before the pandemic hobbled most large gatherings in 2020 and 2021 — Startup Week drew more than 20,000 participants to some 348 events. It’s the largest free Startup Week in the nation, Allbee said.

Last year, 10,238 people registered for the live and livestreamed events. There were 3,550 live participants, 63% of whom were between the ages of 25 and 44. Registrants came from 49 states and 41 countries. There were 219 sessions across eight tracks.

There won’t be any livestreaming for this year’s event, but the sessions will be recorded, Allbee said. Sessions from previous years can be seen at the Denver Startup Week YouTube channel.

“This is for the community, by the community,” said Dianne Myles, diversity, equity and inclusion track co-chair. “We want your diverse voices to have the stage and bring your sessions and talk about what your community wants to hear. … Our goals are to unite the community, connect and learn from each other.”

Tracks open for submitted programs this year include designer, growth, product, developers, makers, spotlight, people and DEI.

The call for session submissions is open now on the Denver Startup Week website.

Submissions are due May 20. Public voting on the submissions starts May 31 and ends June 6. On Aug. 1, winners will be announced, the schedule will be set and registration opens.

“Remember top vote getters are not the sole factor to getting a session,” said Jason Belaire, designer track co-chair. “If you feel like you got the most votes, but your session didn’t get in, it probably wasn’t you. It’s probably that we needed to get a session mix that reflected what the track needed by way of different perspectives.”

He urged people submitting sessions to look at videos from previous sessions to avoid duplication.

Organizers also called for event sponsors and volunteers.

“We do have sponsorship opportunities that are striking this year,” said Rob Anderson, sponsorship activation chair. “It’s probably one of the best ways in the city of Denver to get your name, and the name of your company, out there.”