The Ohio Growth Summit was held on June 10 at Columbus State Community College. Now more than ever we at the Ohio Small Business Development Center were looking for ways to small businesses to find ways to ignore the economy and continue to take their businesses to the next level. The Ohio Growth Summit became a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and
commitment to making dreams become reality. The Summit
features speakers, partners and networking specifically tailored toward small business success.
It's usually difficult for me to participate in the Summit sessions because I'm usually running around working on some aspect of the event but this year I was able to actually attend some of the sessions so I'm going to reflect on what I saw and heard at the Summit.
The Tweet-up on June 9 went very well. Mike Figliuolo of thoughtLEADERS gave a great presentation on personal and professional leadership. I missed the beginning of the presentation as I was picking up Chris Brogan from the airport (his flight was delayed twice and canceled once, glad he made it). We did finally make it and I was very happy to see over 100 people there to kick off the Summit.
On June 10, the full Ohio Growth Summit began. Jim Canterucci presented on Personal Brilliance for small business owners and entrepreneurs. I had seen the presentation before but I told Jim afterward that I liked this one better than what I had seen before. Jim had customized the presentation for the Summit attendees. I really appreciated his effort in doing that. Some speakers would just do what is in the can but Jim went the extra mile to make his presentation impactful...Jim ~ You're Brilliant.
After Jim finished we held four breakout tracks:
- Social Media ~ Your Customers Are There, Are You?
- How To Successfully Take Your Company Global.
- Invent, Build, Go To Market ~ Successful Product Commercialization Strategies.
- An Entrepreneurs Guide ~ How To Get The Bank To Say "YES".
I attended the Social Media track but took a few minutes to walk around and stick my head in each session. We had engaged participation in each session but the Social media track had over 125 attendees. Back in December I had lunch with Nate Riggs, founder of Social Business Strategies, and we discussed what would be key for small businesses to know about social media. Many of the small businesses that we had been consulting with were not utilizing the tools. Nate shared a concept of using social media to build activity above the sales funnel. From that moment on I knew I wanted Nate presenting on social media applications for small business and he did not disappoint. The full track was great. Chris Brogan told me we didn't need to bring him in to speak because Nate had it all together and did a great job. Nate wrote two posts for the Ohio Growth Summit I wanted to share here:
- Small Business in the Social Guerrilla Marketplace
- Social Media Practitioner Panel at the Ohio Growth Summit
The social media practitioners panel brought out four power users of social media ~ Lewis Howes, Angela Siefer, Cheryl Harrison and Alaina Sheer. This is truly an All-Star panel that would match up with presenters from any conference in the country. Be sure to click the Practitioners link above to read about each speaker and visit their site/blogs.
The closing keynote was Chris Brogan, President of new Marketing Labs. Chris' blog, Chrisbrogan.com, is one of the top blogs on social media. It is a go to for me on how to navigate the world of social media. Chris is a rockstar of sorts in social media circles and I felt that he would be a natural to speak at the Summit. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what kind of a speaker he was I just knew his content was great. To answer the question...he is a GREAT speaker. He was entertaining and kept the audience engaged and entertained through the entire keynote. What I like about Chris is that he keeps things in perspective regarding social media. Social media is about being social. It is about listening and being a "promiscuous connector. When it comes to business only social media analytic that matters is $$$. Chris couldn't have been nicer to deal with or more accommodating with his time. My favorite Chris Brogan quote was: "People that don't take risks are called employees".
I want to thank everyone that participated as a speaker, a volunteer or a sponsor of the event. I mostly want to thank the attendees that took time out of their day to day battle with the economy to come out the Ohio Growth Summit. Hopefully you got some much need ammunition to continue the fight and reach your business goals.
