7,000 people come to Madison for Epic UGM 2024

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Monday was the first day of the UGM Conference hosted by Epic Systems. The conference is being hosted at their Verona campus and is bringing over 7,000 people to the Madison and Verona area.

The conference brings partners of the health IT organization together. In an email to WMTV, they explain, “Epic organizations from around the world present innovations and discuss shared challenges in peer-to-peer sessions and focus groups.”

Epic partnered with organizations like Destination Madison and the Dane County Airport to help things go smoothly. Destination Madison helped organize thousands of hotel rooms for attendees. The airport worked with Epic to coordinate flights and transportation to make sure the airport continued to operate for other passengers this week.

But this major event also helps boost the economy and highlight the area.

“These are attendees who are here visiting our restaurants, visiting our retail shops, staying in our hotels, it’s a huge boost for those business owners and our community overall,” said Destination Madison Director of Communications Rob Gard.

Gard said they expect around $8.2 million in visitor spending this week from the Epic crowds.

Verona is also getting more attention, being where the Epic campus is located. The chamber of commerce helped make sure all the businesses know to expect larger crowds.

“They love it, they love it when different organizations come in and visit Epic throughout the year, and UGM and XGM, the two big ones, it’s a chance for them to show off their business as well,” Executive Director of the Verona area chamber of commerce Le Jordan said.

Traffic around Epic and in the Dane County Airport may be escalated during the week as the visitors travel around the area, and eventually back home.

The conference runs all week.

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