Are There Conferences for Entrepreneurs?
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Question:
I’ve taken several online entrepreneur courses and now I own a small business. When I worked in the corporate world, I went to two or three conferences every year – even spoke at a few myself. I got a lot out of them – and I enjoyed them! Are there any conferences for us entrepreneurs?
Danny R.
Manhattan KS
Answer:
Hi, Danny:
You bet there are!
Conferences are terrific for a number of reasons. The vendor exhibits keep you abreast of the products and let you train in a few. The speakers help to continue your education in the field and keep you up to speed on new developments. Getting together a bunch of people in the same industry and giving them the opportunity to talk casually is the definition of a networking opportunity.
These events are concerned with issues important to all entrepreneurs – from the entrepreneur salary to social entrepreneurship.
And what’s more – they’re fun! People like to travel and conferences offer them the opportunity to mix business with pleasure. And there are plenty of them for small business owners like you.
TiE
TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) is the largest professional organization in entrepreneurdom. They sponsor the TiEcon conference. The last was in May, in Santa Clara, a two-day event with a very impressive set of speakers and programs.
Keynote speakers included a group president from Visa, the founder of LinkdIn, and Anji Reddy, an Indian entrepreneur in the pharmaceuticals industry. And the break-out sessions covered a range of topics. To name a few:
1) Internet – It’s a Social World was lead by Spencer Reiss from Wired magazine>
2) Where are our Women Entrepreneurs? included panelists from the National Center for Women & Information and the Kauffman Foundation.
3) Software – The Application of the Future concerned how end user behavior will change with new software.
4) Bootstrapping asked the question “Can you build a company without raising money or only raising money for expansion capital?”
5) Business Bootcamp revolved around ways to attract co-founders, advisors and teams for a new venture.
6) What does it Take to Raise Seed Funding? explored this crucial issue with panelists including venture capitalists and angel investors.
The conference also offered several opportunities for highly organized networking.
You’ll be surprised at the price of registration: $500. Not bad!
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford’s most recent conference was held on its campus in February. The keynote for this one-day event was Isadore Sharp, Founder and CEO of Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels.
Some of the conference topics were unusual and welcome:
1) Evaluation of new ideas
2) Hiring employees from start-up
3) Organizational culture
4) Social entrepreneurship
5) Business school courses that were most helpful for entrepreneurs. Many of these are offered by online business schools.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur magazine is one of the definitive resources for small businesses. They hosted their latest conference (free) in January, in Miami Beach. The keynote speaker was “the father of guerilla marketing”, Jay Conrad Levinson, whose book, Guerilla Marketing, popularized the techniques.
The other sessions covered many of the most important issues that small businesses address:
1) Networking through partnerships and other channels
2) Raising seed money and growth funding
3) Branding your company and delivering the message to the market
4) Using the internet and its social media to market your product
5) Presenting your product to reap sales
6) An action plan leading to start-up
Solidea Capital and Stern School of Business
Solidea Capital and Stern School of Business (one of the foremost entrepreneur schools in the US) presented a free three-day conference in New York City in April. The keynote speakers were two models of successful entrepreneurship. Gary Vaynerchuk spoke on creating a personal brand; Fred Seibert’s speech concerned creative thinking and frameworks to escalate ideas.
What’s more, videos of their presentations are available on the 0260 Entrepreneurship Conference website.
Specialty conferences
Aside from the major conferences, there are niche conferences that cater to specific groups. For example:
1) Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference for African Americans
2) Entrepreneurial Woman’s Conference for women
3) Reaching Out Conference for gays
So try to get to one or two each year. I’m glad you enjoy them. They’re very valuable!
Tags: conferences, entrepreneur conferences, entrepreneurship
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