Walker County Chamber of Commerce President Lacey WilsonKeynote speakers
Morning keynote: Clint Powell, Connect Marketing“Take Back Your Marketing”Billboard sales, social media, press releases — where does a business owner begin when promoting his or her business? It can be overwhelming for small-business owners. Powell will discuss the basics of marketing and advertising to help increase one’s organization’s bottom line. Powell’s experience in media sales, social media and advertising is the foundation for a weekly radio show, “Marketing Mix Radio Presented by People’s Home Equity,” on 96.1 FM The Legend. Connect Marketing works with many small businesses as an extension of their marketing team.Luncheon keynote: Suzie Price, Priceless Professional Development“Motivating Yourself and Your Workforce: What You Wish You Knew”Price’s workplace motivation method shows just how easy it is to discover one’s own top motivators and drivers, as well as those of the people one lives and works with. In this jam-packed presentation, Price will show one how to quickly increase one’s level of personal enthusiasm, resilience and motivation and those of one’s team members, and how to actively manage one’s own stress by learning the exact actions one needs to take to reduce it. Price is an author of “120 Stress Management Strategies” and “Daily Tips for Professionals,” among other books.
Walker County Chamber of Commerce is welcoming business owners to the first-ever Small Business Conference at the Walker County Civic Center Friday, Sept. 16. The event features 16 different speakers.
"Our speakers are a good mix of local folks that run their own small businesses," said Walker County Chamber President Lacey Wilson. "People from outside the area that are well versed in small businesses will also be speaking. The UGA Small Business Development Center out of Rome will be here. Someone from Georgia Tech will be speaking about best practices in large manufacturing facilities and how those can be applied in small businesses. We have a marketing panel to give advice and feedback. We have Rhonda Beasley, who is the human resources director at Roper. She will be talking about HR tips geared specifically toward small businesses."
Attendees can choose the sessions that best fit the skills they would like to improve on in their businesses.
Wilson is teaching a session titled "Social Media 101: Everything You Need to Know but Were too Afraid to Ask."
"Maybe they don't know about Facebook posts," she said. "We hope they will feel comfortable enough to ask about their social media concerns. I think one topic that will be very interesting is generational differences in the workplace. The session talks about Gen-Y and Gen-X and baby boomers. Trying to understand basically where other people are coming from how their generation approaches work problems."
Wilson said as far as she knows, no other small-business conference in the area provides this much education for small businesses.
"I think it's the best value for trying to grow their business," she said. "And it's the best value to be able to get all of their information in a single day without having to go anywhere else."
Wilson said she decided to organize the event because she realized how many small businesses there are in Walker County.
"They [business owners] need continuing education and professional development opportunities," she said. "And they need to be able to grow their businesses."
The conference is open to anyone, regardless of whether they are from Walker County.
The entry fee is $50 for Chamber members and $55 for non-members. The ticket price includes breakfast and lunch catered by Darr's Chow Time of Rossville.
People are encouraged to dress business-casual.
"It's hard for small businesses to get out of the office," said Wilson. "I thought having it on a Friday would make it more manageable."