Chicago Ideas Week  launches next Monday, Oct. 8 and the week-long event is meant to facilitate the sharing of ideas, inspire action, and ignite change to positively impact our world. What I love is the mix of people who participate and their “innate passion.”

With more than 80 events, you’re sure to find a talk, lab or program that speaks to your own passions. One note – the events aren’t free, but with speakers like Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Deepak Chopra, Diane von Furstenberg, General Colin Powell and the guy from Incubus, it’s worth the $15 fee.

Here are some of the events I’m most looking forward to:

• Accenture’s Customer Innovation Network: Consumers @ the Edge – appeals to the marketing nerd in me
• Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago: Rebooting the Brain (the brain just fascinates me)
• Storytellers: The Power of Perspective, Presented by Leo Burnett
• Identity: What Makes Me…Me?, Presented by MSL Chicago. Hey, I’m coming up on a milestone birthday and having an identity crisis.
• Disruptive Innovation: Reinventing Our World, Presented by TIME
• Butcher and the Burger: Fish Monger Class. I’ve really been upping my seafood intake in an attempt to be healthy, but  with my limited cooking skills, trying to prepare fish is especially daunting. Hope this class makes me a pro!
• Design Cloud: Chicago as a Focal Point of Art + Design – sounds like an intimidating hands-on session, but also sounds really fun!
• City Winery: Winery Tour, Intro to Wine Making, and Wine Tasting 101. Wine = I’m there.
• Ink Factory Studio: You Talk. We Draw. It’s Awesome. I’m an obsessive note-taker, and a visual person, so this seems like a cool concept.
• Explorers: Seeking the Edge, Presented by Hyatt. I was just reading about how vast and unexplored the ocean is, so I’m interested to hear what other frontiers exist to be discovered still
• The Creative Process: Stop Waiting for the Muse, Presented by Starcom MediaVest Group