The second annual Small Business Success Summit will take place in Ankeny on November 9.
The Small Business Success Summit is designed to inform and educate small business owners in the central Iowa area on strategies to properly run their business once it is up and running.
“Every year I searched for something where I could just learn the guts and the core of running a business and there really wasn’t anything that focused on that,” said Christina Moffatt, Director of Small Business Development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership and owner of Creme Cupcake.
The Summit will host three keynote speakers and a variety of workshops and breakout sessions on topics that affect business owners and managers. Attendees will also have time to network and establish strategic partnerships.
“The summit really focuses on things like hiring, cybersecurity, marketing tactics, and transitioning if you’ve got new leaders coming in,” Moffatt said. “Basically, what business owners need to do next once their business is running.”
The first Small Business Success Summit in 2017 had 265 attendees and Moffat says she expects to have around 300 attendees this year.
“We really got great feedback that helped us direct what we’ll teach this year, Moffatt said. “Last year people replied that they wanted more marketing. So this year we’ll have five or six marketing classes, versus last year where we only had three.”
Registration for the summit is $79 for members and $99 for non-members.
The three speakers at this years summit will be:
Whitney Cox – Marketing Manager for Small Business Outreach
Cox will kick off the day by discussing how businesses are positioning their products and brands for success.
“The first keynote speaker we’re kicking off the day with is Whitney Cox. She’s actually with Google. She’s coming to talk about consumer behavior. A lot of our small businesses aren’t sure how to best measure that.”
Meredith Elliott Powell – Business Growth Expert and Global Keynote
Powell to talk about strategies that help small businesses actually close sales.
“A lot of businesses around here have that Iowa nice mentality where we’re really good at starting conversations that lead into sales, but we never go back and close the door on them,” Moffatt said.
Joe Schmitt – Author and Impact Leadership Expert
To wind off the day, Joe Schmidt will be talking about impactful leadership.
“Small business owners are often deemed by the community as a leader whether they feel they are or not. So how does that impact your employees and consumers,” Moffatt said. “Schmidt will talk about how to deal with that transition.”