Creating a Successful Interactive Marketing Strategy
Presented by: Christina Blenk, CEO, AFS Web

If you are seeking input and directives on how to transition your company from print-based marketing collateral and campaigns - to interactive CD-ROM and web-based formats, to establishing and managing permission-based e-mail, e-marketing strategies, and on-line sales, to launching a customer-service web portal designed to reduce your cost of sales while promoting an on-line customer allegiance program, to integrating all of this into your entire back office operation - come learn how it can be done from one who’s done it all and accomplished business success in doing so!

Selling to the Government, Building Your GSA Schedule
Presented by: Melanie Diggs, President, Vision Resources, Inc.

Federal, state and local governments are great sources of business. The U.S. government alone spends $315 billion annually on goods and services. Talk about a nice market to get into. To be successful, however, you must know how to work within the purchasing system. A major step in the process at both the federal and state level is completing your GSA Schedule. The experts from Vision Resources, Inc. will share the steps and tips that will allow you to position your business to compete and succeed in federal and state government markets.

CEO One-on-One with Janis Mitchell, CEO Precise Resources

Janis Mitchell has been involved in the technology industry for over eleven years before being named the 2003 Small Business Person of the Year by the Columbus Chamber. In 2004 Business First magazine named Mitchell as one of Columbus’s Most Remarkable Women for her accomplishments and involvement in the community while growing her company. In January 2000 she founded Info Fortress Solutions which she then sold to Betrusted, Inc., the world’s largest security company owned by Chase. Missing the entrepreneurial experience Janis has now launched a new venture named Precise Resources.

Wednesday, June 13 2007
Business Growth Breakout Sessions Presented by the National City Bank

Goal Setting for Growth
Presented by: Tiffany Timmons, President, Jump2Success

Goal setting techniques are used by top level athletes, successful business people and achievers in all fields. Goals give you long-term vision and short-term motivation. They focus your acquisition of knowledge and help you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the very most of your life. Join success expert Tiffany Timmons as she shows you how to set goals to achieve business growth while reaching those goals.
 

How to get the bank to say “YES”
Panel Presentation by:

• Huntington National Bank ~ Guy Mower
• Key Bank ~ Jerome Jones
• Terry Crispen ~ Business Loan Express
• Wil Bowdish ~ National City Bank
• Scot Hardin ~ Small Business Administration

Participate in an interactive panel discussion of how to secure conventional bank financing. Topics covered will include:

• What is the role of a bank?
• How does a bank do business and make money?
• What does a bank look at when making a credit decision?
• Role of Credit History/Score
• Role of the Business Plan
• Collateral Coverage Requirements
• How does a bank look at:
  o Start-up Businesses
  o Existing Business
• How to prepare a start-up and existing business for conventional bank funding.

CEO One-on-One with Mark Luden, CEO, The Guitammer Company Inc.

Mark Luden, President and CEO of The Guitammer Company, has built a growing global company from scratch around a product called the ButtKicker. Used by bands such as The Rolling Stones, Shania Twain, Green Day, The Tonight Show Band, Josh Groban, Usher, Los Lonely Boys, Ricky Skaggs, Evanescence, Michael McDonald and dozens of other entertainers, thousands of home theaters users worldwide, for car audio, by two IMAX theaters, Disney World, Hershey Park, Six Flags, Kennedy Space Center, Lincoln Museum as well as in dance floors, video games and simulators, the ButtKicker allows users to “feel” bass without volume.

The ButtKicker has won many industry awards. The business, which started on a shoestring budget, is now an international brand with sales in 25 countries. Mark twice has been a finalist for Executive of Year for the TopCAT award and Guitammer placed 7th in the Business First “Fast Fifty” for its growth from 2004 to 2006.

Business Growth Breakout Sessions Presented by the PR Store

Ideas to Deals, The How -To of Building an Investable Company
Presented by: David Brownstien, Founder/Principle, UVG Limited.

Building a company using investors and equity capital can be a seemingly mysterious process. David Brownstein, Founder and Principle of UVG Limited, will discuss the art and science of creating an “investable business” that will help you avoid the mistakes of many first time fundraisers. Areas that David will cover include; the steps involved in preparing to seek investment, bootstrapping requirements of angel investors to put money into early stage businesses, how an entrepreneur should best seek out and approach an angel investor, and what angels look for and expect the entrepreneur to know.

PR and Media Strategies That Make an Impact
Panel presentation by public relations experts and media members

Every business needs to get their message in front of prospective customers. This can, however, become an expensive endeavor. Using media channels for promotion can be an attractive alternative if you do it right. Join our panel of media experts who will discuss how to effectively promote your business to the media.

Business Certifications ~ What Does It Mean and What Does It Get You!?!
Panel presentation by experts in assisting entrepreneurs become certified and maximizing the value of certifications.

Business Certifications…What are they? How do you get certified? What will they get you once you are certified? These are legitimate questions to which the answers are sometimes confusing. You don’t need to navigate these waters alone. This expert panel will give you real-world advice and recommendations on how to best maximize the value of certifications to grow your business and succeed.