I was perusing Twitter this morning and I saw where my friend Amy Schmittauer
had written the post 4 Faces You Must See on June 6th. This highlights Ohio Growth Summit presenters Amber MacArthur, Cheryl Harrison and Jess Ostroff. As the Director of the Ohio Growth Summit I couldn’t agree more with Amy’s thoughts.
After reading her post I started thinking that I should let people know what I expect to see on June 6th? After all I am on the inside, I picked the speakers. Who would know better than me what you should expect when you come to the Ohio Growth Summit?
First things first. When I look for speakers for the Ohio Growth Summit I reflect on what small business owners are asking me on a daily basis. Most of these questions revolve around how do I find more customers and do more business. Hey, I understand I am in the same boat. Even though I don’t sell a product on my blog, Ideas To Deals or even at the Ohio SBDC I am always looking to find more people that I can help. It is all about outreach. Every speaker at this year’s Summit helps solve this problem in one way or another.
Anthony Iannarino ~ In case you are wondering this presentation will be epic! I knew Anthony from his work on The Sales Blog and from a panel he participated in last year. When I sat down at Stauf’s in Grandview with Anthony last December I was thinking about asking him to participate in an opening panel and within five minutes I knew he had to do the opening keynote presentation at this year’s Summit. Anthony’s thoughts on work, sales and mindset are a must for any small business owner looking to take their business to the next level.
Business Growth Workshops (OK they are Breakouts) ~ We selected eight breakout presentations from over 60 applications. The breakouts are the method by which attendees can customize the Ohio Growth Summit to their specific needs. The breakouts provide a mix of content for attendees to select from that speak directly to the issues happening right now in their businesses. It doesn’t matter if they have employees, have an office or work at home these sessions will mean something very specific for each attendee. This year we will be covering Sales, Building a small business, Branding, Digital Marketing, Personal Leadership as well as unique ways to get more work done. We picked the speakers now you pick what will make you the most successful!
Heather Whaling ~ The first blog post I wrote for Ideas To Deals in 2005 was a hardcore building a fast growth, investment oriented post that referenced WIT and NEM.
WIT: I will do “whatever it takes” to make this business successful.
NEM: “Nothing else matters” more than this business being a success.
Yeah, you have to have some of that but the game is changing. You can make your own rules and still succeed. In this presentation, Heather Whaling will provide tips and advice to help attendees define THEIR all and then make it happen on their terms.
Mastermind Expert Panel ~ I recently did an interview with Metropreneur Columbus about the Ohio Growth Summit. This is one of the many exchanges in the article:
The Metropreneur: What do you want attendees to take away from the summit?
Michael Bowers: I want small business owners to walk away from the Ohio Growth Summit with two things. First, they should have specific, actionable steps that they can use immediately to increase business and revenue. Second, I want them to know that they are important to the success of Ohio’s economy.
Too often small business owners get a lot of lip service about “being the backbone of the American economy,” but when it comes to actually helping them, there is little action. The Ohio Growth Summit changes that. The Ohio Growth Summit is designed to speak directly to the small business owner about how to create the business they want to create. The Ohio Growth Summit is the only event to really support the small business owner with no ulterior motivation beyond helping them win.
The Mastermind Expert Panel is a big part of the support the Summit provides to small business owners. We are bringing together Jim Canterucci, CEO of Transition Managment Advisors; Heather Whaling, CEO of Geben Communication; Ryan Vesler, founder of Homage; Keith Speers, serial entrepreneur and CEO of Consulting Without Limits; and Amber MacArthur, CEO of Konnekt to give you the straight scoop on growing your business. No bull shit here, just real actionable content that you can take back and put to work immediately in your business.
Amber MacArthur ~ I get a lot of questions on how small business owners can utilize digital tools and social to reach new markets and customers. To a lot of people this is still a mystery. What platforms should you be on? Should I blog? What about video? The biggest question I get is how do I find the time to do social media? Amber MacArthur’s Keynote presentation will help you understand how you can use digital tools and build your business.
In my nine years of producing the Ohio Growth Summit I have never had more people excitedly thank me for bring a keynote speaker to Columbus as I have had for Amber. I originally became aware of Amber as a media personality on The Social Hour. From there I got to know more of her activities as an entrepreneur, a TV host, a digital media expert, best selling author and contributor to Fast Company. Plus, she is our first international keynote speaker, she is from Canada and lives in Toronto.
Why is the Ohio Growth Summit better? Because this is what I do. My job and my mission in life is to make you better. I have been working with entrepreneurs and small business owners for over 25 years and you have told me what you want and need to succeed. The Ohio Growth Summit provides you these things.
If you are undecided about attending the Ohio Growth Summit you need to get off the fence and register today. I know people that have taken information from the Summit and started their business the next day. Others have learned techniques to help them find new customers or reach media and others that can help you spread the word about your product or service. I meet with hundreds of small business owners every year and I guarantee attending the Ohio Growth Summit 2013 will be the best use of your time if you are really serious about taking your business to the next level.
