The Efficient and Smart Business in New Times
A half-day workshop for small businesses presented by X-BAR
Our format is simple: give us 4 hours and we will give you real tools and solutions that you can take back to your business and implement right away. This is a workshop style event where you come empty handed and leave with an arsenal of tools to help your business. Heck, we’ll even provide lunch.
The current economic climate can make things challenging for the small business owner to do more with less and really grow their business. We know that and we have pulled together a team of experts to help you learn more about topics you think are important; marketing, technology, human resources and the environment. Our focus is helping you save money and improve your bottom line and we promise to deliver. Below are the modules and the subject experts we have partnered with to deliver this timely and relevant content.
Agenda
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| 8:00-8:45 | Check In |
| 8:45-9:00 | Introduction Tiffany McVeety, Washington Mutual |
| 9:00-10:00 | Taking the Time to Lead Julie Benezet, Business Growth Consulting |
| 10:00-11:00 | Sustainability & The Small Business Jessie Alan, Sustainable Business Consulting |
| 11:00-11:15 | Break |
| 11:15-12:00 | Working Smart with Technology Brad Benner, X-BAR |
| 12:00-12:30 | Working Lunch Mike McCarty, Comcast |
| 12:30-1:15 | Market Your Business for FREE & Kill No Trees! Rick Rochon, AdSymetrix |
| 1:15-1:30 | Raffle & Closing
|
Sessions
Taking the Time to Lead, Presented by Julie Benezet
Finding the time to lead the growth of a company by setting the vision, aligning the people and inspiring them to do their best work seems like service beyond the call when you are trying at the same time to get done the 5,000 other more pressing issues that arise in the daily day. In this interactive session, you will learn not only the extreme importance of delivering on effective leadership but how to do that in the context of getting the other things done.
Sustainability & The Small Business, Presented by Jessie Alan
The workshop will begin with a brief overview of what “sustainability” means for small business and how it can lead to significant benefits like cost reduction, greater brand value, risk reduction, and greater employee retention and morale. Jessie will share a few case study examples of small businesses that have increased profitability through sustainability, and then lead two exercises: a visioning exercise to practice developing sustainability goals for your business; and an exercise on “Return on Sustainability” that aids in prioritizing actions to be taken. Attendees will also be provided with a handout on recommended resources.
Working Smart with Technology, Presented by Brad Benner
This session will focus on new advances in technology: smart mobile strategies that allow you to access your data securely from anywhere, new advances in security technologies and best practices that help ensure the integrity of your data and systems, and other tips and tricks to help you get the most from your technology investment. We'll explore how a low-cost internal instant messaging system can improve and secure internal communications, how SharePoint can provide seamless remote access to your files, and how two-factor authentication can prevent unauthorized access to your systems, in a way that passwords never can.
Market Your Business for Free & Kill No Trees!, Presented by Rick Rochon
Technology is evolving faster than it ever has and it's hard to keep with your own business let alone all the changes in marketing your business. There are many great free and nearly free ways to market your business today and we will explore a few of them. Learn what's out there, create a plan, measure the results and save money while improving the bottom line.
Presenters
Julie Benezet, Business Growth Consulting
Julie Benezet has devoted her 30 year career to building companies, real estate and careers. To her consulting work Julie brings 25 years of experience in leading growth within companies.
Prior to forming Business Growth Consulting in 2002, she spent four years as a member of the Amazon.com management team that brought that company from its early steep ramp up phase to its first quarter of GAAP profitability. As Vice President, Corporate Resources and Director of Global Real Estate, she is credited with the strategic planning and delivery of over 7,000,000 square feet worldwide with the supporting corporate infrastructure in just two years. Before joining Amazon.com, Julie lead the growth of a number of business and real estate consulting companies whose clients ranged from Fortune 100 to start-ups. During that time, she served as vice president of a wireless telecommunications project management company, growing it from a $400,000 local to a $10,000,000 national company in one year. Her work as a consultant followed 12 years as a business and finance lawyer, working at Wright, Runstad & Company, Bogle & Gates (Seattle), Webster & Sheffield (New York) and the U.S. Department of State. She has negotiated over $1 billion in equity and debt capital.
Julie is a member of the New York and Washington State Bar Associations and is an experienced facilitator and mediator. She holds an LLB (law) and M.S. (psychology) from McGill University and a B.A. from Vassar College and Cornell University. She has served on various boards including the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton, the Executive Education Advisors Board at the Harvard Design School, CREW Foundation and Sparling, Inc. She speaks to and teaches both national and international groups on the challenges of business growth in the Digital Age, and has appeared in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Office & Industrial Properties and Corporate Real Estate Strategies.
Jessie Alan, Sustainable Business Consulting
Jessie Alan brings a variety of experience to SBC, having conducted numerous carbon footprint analyses, sustainability assessments, and written Corporate Social Responsibility Reports for SBC clients. An experienced project manager and researcher, she recently completed a project with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s Green Fleets program. She is also currently pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Business at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute. She is an experienced public speaker and has given two workshops recently on how to “green your business.”
Brad Benner, X-BAR
Brad Benner is the founder of X-BAR, an IT services company that offers strategic consulting and support services to small and mid-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Seattle area.
After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Spanish Language and Literature, Brad spent a year guiding tours of Spain and Portugal before returning to work as an independent IT consultant. As his client list grew, so did his need for an office, and X-BAR was formed, in the summer of 2002.
Brad brings nearly 10 years of technology consulting experience and creative problem-solving to X-BAR. Taking a direct hand in client and project management while serving as X-BAR’s lead solution architect and engineer, Brad simultaneously manages one of the Northwest’s most innovative and green information technology agencies. Brad was recently named the 2008 Small Business Administration Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska.
Rick Rochon, AdSymetrix, Inc.
Rick has focused his career on developing growth opportunities for businesses, through online and offline advertising, across verticals in both Business to Business and Business to Consumer industries. Rick is dedicated to educating and empowering small businesses to save money, grow revenue and market smarter.
Rick has founded both AdSymetrix™ (www.adsymetrix.com) and Illuminate Marketing™ (www.getillumination.com), both companies are dedicated to educating the small business owner to market smarter by gaining valuable information about marketing effectiveness.
Sponsors
