Tweet

A Small Business Community Success Story

Written by: Marian Banker

Article Overview: "Thank you for creating an environment where business owners, suppliers and information specialists can gather to strengthen ties and build our firms." Shirley Frazier SoloBusiness Marketing

A Small Business Community Success Story

I’m still high from the energy and positive feedback we’ve had from the Third Annual Small Business Summit 2008 . Support and enthusiasm about making it happen was apparent from last year’s Summit, but we didn’t know we’d have a sell-out and fill the house. Last year we had 360 attendees and this year it was 450.

As a small business community in one of the nation’s major business centers, it’s clear that we are a vocal and expanding community. The Summit concept and community now has a life of its own. People tell us they look forward to attending each year and many ask what else we’re doing. Here’s a quick glimpse at how it happens and why it’s a success.

It all started in the Spring of 2005. I had read articles and posts by Ramon Ray for several months and finally decided to attend an event where he was speaking. I was impressed by his presentation and the fact that he focused on small business technology. It’s a critical element of any small business, but not really my strong suit. I wanted to know more about his work, so we decided to meet for coffee.

During the conversation we learned that both of us had visions of someday doing a large event that would bring together small business people interested in business and technology. We decided to do some research and learned that there were a few companies willing to sponsor such an event. We both became excited about the possibilities and were encouraged to put together our first Small Business Summit in February, 2006. I think we finally started working on it in October, 2005.

In starting to plan for the very first Summit we realized we needed some professional help . We hired Maria DeVito and Roy Bavaro of Corporate Experience, an event planning firm with experience in similar types of events. One of their main functions was finding and helping us negotiate for an appropriate and affordable venue….no easy feat. They’ve worked with us all three years. They’re great!

And, of course, we always need a website with information about the event and a way to register, someone to create banner ads and a layout for the printed program, which then had to be printed. What we didn’t realize was how much all of this would cost. Our planners gave us some guidelines, but it turned out things were always much more expensive than we had budgeted.

Running an event of this size is not for the faint hearted. There’s often not only a cash flow issue, but an issue of whether or not we can attract enough money from sponsors to cover our committed expenses. We keep the attendance fee low so as many as possible small businesses can afford it. Attendance fees, unfortunately, only cover a tiny fraction of the costs.

Like any small business, we faced technical and timing challenges . There were some scary moments when we didn’t have the answers we needed, but with perseverance and teamwork, it all got done.

With no marketing or PR budget, we looked to our small business colleagues and organizations to help us promote, primarily through e-mail, newsletters, blogs and websites. Every year these have been our main methods for reaching our audience. The size of the list continues to grow exponentially, so each year we’ve been able to attract more attendees.

In 2008 we had the benefit of some great media exposure and that helped us reach an even larger audience. Attendees came from across the country and even Canada.

This year we reached capacity for the venue we have used for the past two years. We’ve decided to cap the number next year so we don’t lose the congenial ambience and high-energy agenda that has become part of our brand.

I think the Small Business Summit has been a success for a variety of reasons.

First, and most important, is the support of great sponsors and organizations who believe in what we are doing and have been willing to contribute to make it happen. Without them, we couldn’t do it.

Second is the partnership between me and Ramon. We are both passionate about the Summit. We each have our own reasons, but the result is the same. Ramon is the sales and marketing (out front) guy and I’m more the operations and budget (behind the scenes) part of the team. We value each other’s perspective, experience and opinion. We talk over all decisions and reach agreement (and have to twist the other one’s arm a bit sometimes) on everything.

We could never put on an event the size of the Summit without a good team. Each year we’ve managed to find people who are as passionate as we are about what we were doing. This year our team consisted of Andrew (Andy) Shulkind (web designer), Gail Cramer (Advertising and Print Design), Beth Silver (media specialist) and Laura Leites our first ever Summit Coordinator, who helped us with everything.

Here are some other reasons I think it was a success:

Involvement of the regional small business community in promoting
Interesting exhibits by both large and small businesses
Speakers who were, for the most part, a member of the small business community
Lots of time for networking in a congenial environment
Attendees can meet and talk with the speakers
Great volunteers and barter arrangements that served both parties.

It truly is a Summit of small businesses, coming together to focus on business and technology. Some people have attended each of the three years. And some sponsors have been with us that long also. We are continuing to involve the Summit community in planning for the future.

Honestly, I’m always amazed at how well things come together on the day of the Summit. We know, however, that success is only as good as the last event. We have our work cut out for us to continue listening and serving this amazing small business community.

Thanks to all who helped make this year’s Summit a success.

Related Articles
  Public Relations as the Heartbeat of Your Organization
  How to Maximize Local PR
  What Farmers Know About Community
  Telling an Authentic Story About Your Brand
  Story Ideas that will interest the media

Article Tags: small business community, small business summit, success story



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
These maybe the coldest franchises out there: - Here are the worst 15 performing franchises in regards to having the highest Small Business Administration (SBA) loan failure rates. The list is dotted with sub sandwich shops, fitness centers and car shops. WORST FRANCHISE LOAN FAILURES Failure % 1 OBEE'S SOUP SALAD SUBS 55.56% 2 LADY OF AMERICA 41.94% 3 COUNTRY CLUTTER (BED & BREAKFAST) 41.18% 4 COPY CLUB 36.36% 5 ALL TUNE AND LUBE 35.71% 6 PICKERMAN'S 35.71% 7 PHILLY CONNECTION 35.59% 8 ROLY POLY ROLLED SANDWICHES 34.78% 9 COTTMAN TRANSMISSION 34.48% 10 HAIR COLOR EXPRESS 33.33% 11 LEE MYLES AUTOMOTIVE TRANSMISSIONS 33.33% 12 GODFATHER'S PIZZA 33.33% 13 SMOOTHIE FACTORY 33.33% 14 BLIMPIE 31.39% 15 GOLF U.S.A. (RETAIL GOLF EQUIP.) 30.77% Source: Small Business Administration, SBA Loan Performance Within Franchise Code for the Period of FY 2001 - 2005
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Biz Plan Competition - i just wanted to say that posting Small Business Events on CanadaOne is a great resource. Thanks Julie!
New Small Business Topic - Hello everyone, I'm on the lookout for new topics to add to my site. We just launched a Franchising section and are planning Human Resources section. Do you have any thoughts for a new section? Here's a list of what we currently have: Angel Investors Branding Bank Loans Business Coaching Business Plan Franchises (New) Insurance Legal Marketing Public Relations Sales Small Biz Loans Venture Capital


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Neglected Art of Receiving

How to Write Your Articles for Better SEO

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.