During today’s FranNet blog edition, we present a brief review of this 38th annual America’s Small Business Development Centers Conference, of which we were a sponsor. In partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the SBDC hosted more than 1,000 attendees at the Washington Marriott Marquis on Sep. 4-7, 2018. So, what is the SBDC? From their website, they define themselves as such:
America’s SBDC represents America’s nationwide network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) – the most comprehensive small business assistance network in the United States and its territories.
SBDCs are hosted by leading universities, colleges, state economic development agencies and private partners, and funded in part by the United States Congress through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration.
There are nearly 1,000 local centers available to provide no-cost business consulting and low-cost training to new and existing businesses. Small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs can go to their local SBDCs for FREE face-to-face business consulting and at-cost training on a variety of topics.
You’d probably like to know if there is an SBDC near you. Guess what? There’s a super easy way to find out. Their website also includes a handy search feature—by zip code—for finding the nearest outlet.
This year’s conference was headlined by keynote speaker Alexa Brandt, the director of Shop Small and Small Business Saturday for American Express. Additional keynote speakers included Matt Rissel (Intuit), John Sileo, author of The Hacker’s Blacklist: 7 Critical Cybersecurity Threats & Solutions, David Simon and Bruce Cundiff (Visa) and Master of Ceremonies Ramon Ray, a four-time entrepreneur and co-founder and editor of Smart Hustle Magazine.
The purpose of the annual conference is to bring together entrepreneurial minds to discuss professional development and networking opportunities. The theme of the conference was “Connect and Protect” and featured a healthy dose of roundtable discussions on cybersecurity and small business development. In fact, there were more than 140+ workshops that discussed the latest information on products and services—all specifically designed to ensure the future success small business clientele. As you can imagine, it was right up FranNet’s consulting alley.
The conference also included an exhibitor hall trade show space, where dozens of companies with an interest in seeing the success of small business clients set up and displayed their latest offerings, many of which were consultation-based services.
At FranNet, we certainly enjoyed the representation we achieved by attending this year’s annual conference, especially as a presenting sponsor. The messages preached at this gathering are extremely important to budding entrepreneurs everywhere, many of whom are unaware that an SBDC can be a viable resource for their future planning.
Just the same, FranNet is committed to becoming a viable resource for the entrepreneur in each of you. When you decide that the time is right to explore this route via franchising, our qualified consultants who live and work in your area, are standing by to assist.
And if you want to get a jump on next year’s America’s SBDC Conference, make plans now to attend. It will be held Sep. 3-6, 2019 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif. In all likelihood, we’ll see you there, if we don’t meet up along the way first.
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