ASBDC Fall Conference 2010

I attended the Fall Conference of the Association of Small Business Development Centers in San Antonio, TX last week. Many things happened in a very short space of time.

Presentations

I presented a brief 10-15 minute overview of how the Arkansas SBTDC is using social media (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) to provide outreach to veteran small business owners.

I also presented a full 1-1/2 hour workshop on mobile website development. My profound thanks to Betsy who worked me into this years schedule. Together, we enabled many SBDC counselors to receive timely information to benefit America's small businesses on how to implement m-commerce.

Both sessions were filled to overflowing and the workshop evaluations have been positive.

Noteworthy Things I Learned

I attended a very good workshop by Google on how to use their line of small business products like Local Listing. Most invaluable was establishing a contact with an insider at Google who i willing to forward my few requests for information and guidance to fellow Google staff. Ditto for the certificate towards certifying as a Google AdWords consultant.

The workshop by the Wyoming SBDC on how they went about establishing a virtual Wyoming SBDC in Second Life has proven the most useful. Just this morning I forwarded my notes to a student team at Henderson State University wanting to develop a virtual retail store as their entry in the upcoming Governor's Cup business plan competition.

I moderated Curt Clinkenbeard's workshop on the nine pillars of marketing. This was a good refresher as I received this training a few years ago here in Arkansas. I have resolved to follow up with his FAMEE Foundation and seek certification as a marketing consultant.

Finally, I attended a very good workshop on professional sales by Bob Butler of Butler Learning Systems. Thank you for the extra wallet cards with the 5 A's Selling Process and R-PAST. I have already distributed these cards to our students in the UALR Center for Professional Selling.

Personal

I managed to squeeze in a visit to Lackland Air Force base where I underwent Basic Military Training (BMT) many long years ago. Most of the facilities I lived in and/or frequented have recently been demolished. I did find and visit the bowling alley, the recreation center, and walk across the grinder where I huffed and puffed through calisthenics and long runs. I made it onto the base just in time to hear "Retreat" echo and watch as time and traffic stood still as end of day honors were rendered.

One evening mid-week, I spent time with my old shop chief from RAF Alconbury, UK. Chief Greyfeather, as he is affectionately known, took my out to Shertz, TX to a small mom and pop Mexican restaurant and introduced me to Borracho (black beans and jalapeños). We went by his house where he has a wonderful collection of brass rubbings.

Aside from a rough departure day involving food poisoning, checking in late for a flight, and extremely turbulent weather which left me with a lingering case of vertigo, the San Antonio conference was enjoyable, productive, and a welcome break.

SBA Veterans Award

On Tuesday, April 27th, 2010, Herb Lawrence and I were honored for our work on ArkansasVeteran.com and our business outreach to Arkansas veterans by the Arkansas District of the U.S. Small Business Administration. District Director Linda Nelson is to our right in the photo.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Little Rock Convention Center, compete with duck shaped butter from the adjacent Peabody Hotel. My wife was invited to attend and she looked marvelous.

Of course Herb and I don;t work in isolation. Our award comes from the work of others and we stand on the shoulders of many. My sincerest thanks to those who nominated us, gave us the tasks, and supported our efforts in any way.

Veterans Grant

The Arkansas SBTDC received a second veterans grant from the SBA to continue our outreach work to Arkansas veterans. The $100,000 veterans grant provides continued funding for ArkansasVeteran.com, the state veterans portal, for continuing our distance education via webinars, and for one-on-one online business counseling. We have renewed our GotoWebinar account and will be presenting no less than 10 webinars over the summer. As the webinar organizer, I'll also be training some additional ASBTDC staff in how to present webinars. I just have to find the webinar scripts and checklists I wrote last summer.

One of the key veterans grant deliverables is hosting an small business conference for Arkansas veterans. The conference is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, November 16th at the Jacksonville Community Center, just down the street from the Little Rock AFB main gate. We had great success attracting veterans to this location for past conferences and enjoy the facility as its well maintained, offers plenty of parking, and is just off the freeway.

Another key event is the veterans breakfast this month on April 27th at the Arkansas Procurement Opportunities Conference. We'd like to encourage all veterans who are able to come join the many service providers for a nutritious meal and some great ideas on succeeding in business. The conference and breakfast are 100% free, so come join us!

Read the Arkansas SBTDC press release on the veterans grant:
http://asbtdc.ualr.edu/media/news-releases/100402-veterans-grant.asp

My Events Calendar - March

Here's my events calendar for March.

Little Rock - March 3 - Search Engine Optimization

Prescott - March 4 - Online Auctions

Little Rock - March 10 - HTML Advanced

Search Engine Optimization is one of my most popular events. Register now if you want to spend an afternoon with me learning how to research keywords and tune your webpages. We'll also take a good look at Google Analytics, which you should be using already. My SEO events are usually standing room only.

Would love for you all to come!