A wealth of activities— suggestions for your Week
Depending on the size of your country, it can be a daunting task to coordinate a national initiative that ties in to a global movement. Here in the United States, we continue to tirelessly recruit partner organizations to plan activities during the Week (we currently have almost 1,000 partners committed). To help do this–and to help them along the way–we use a network of Regional Directors that take control over a region or state. Everyday, it seems, I get new information from them about the activities being planned for the Week. For example, Recently, Michelle Proctor, who is coordinating Global Entrepreneurship Week/USA activities in the state of Tennessee, sent me a brief update from the monthly conference calls she holds with partners in the state. This is from Michelle’s e-mail:
The Tri-Cities delegation is partnering to host an elevator pitch competition called Will This Float? The event will be held November 20th in the evening at Carnegie Hotel in Johnson City. A panel of entrepreneurs will judge the elevator pitches and the audience members will text in their votes. The winner will receive cash and prizes. The live event will be broadcast online. The competition will be the launch of a regional entrepreneurship network that will meet on an ongoing basis. The Tri-Cities event is www.willthisfloat.com. More…Amy Drinnon with TALENT is planning an entrepreneur conference for November 17th at Tennessee State University targeting entrepreneurs. They will provide workshops on business planning, website development, environmental companies. The event will be video streamed and will also feature an entrepreneur expo.
Sheldon and Erik with Create Here are learning how they may tie-in their entrepreneurial efforts with GEW. Create Here a Chattanooga non-profit, provides direct assistance to artists that are starting businesses with business planning and technical assistance. Does anyone have great ideas on how Create Here can be more involved? I’m sure they would appreciate your innovative creative thinking!
If you are Hosting the Week for your country, how are you recruiting partners and coordinating activities? If you want to learn more about serving as a Regional Director, or have updates to share from your state or region, take a moment and shoot me an email at klibby [at] unleashingideas [dot] org.
Tags: MIchelle Proctor, Tennesse, Tri-cities
October 10th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Sounds exciting!
In Kingsport, TN, the Kingsport Office of Small Business Development & Entrepreneurship (KOSBE) is having its 2nd Annual Small Business Night School, which provides free training, education and access to contracting opportunities and new markets to local small business owners, to satisfy existing knowledge gaps and facilitate business growth and development.
The KOSBE 2nd Annual Small Business Night School is a two-night event including interactive training workshops; problem-solving roundtables on a variety of topics; peer-to-peer networking and collaboration activities; and a first-time Purchasing Invitational Expo of representatives from local school systems, government agencies, and large area employers.
Just some of the topics that attendees will learn about include:
- Insurance Requirements
- Employment Rules
- Finance
- Strategic Planning
- Starting a Business
- Government Contracting
- Marketing
- Contractor Licensing
- Supervision
- Management
- Problem-Solving
- Quality
All of the classes are led by expert trainers from small business community partners such as Region’s Bank, Nash & Powers Insurance, SunTrust Bank, Holston Business Development Center, Patterson Diversified Business Solutions, Eastman Chemical Company, Wilson Worley Moore Gamble & Stout P.C., Dent K. Burk Associates P.C., Domtar Paper Company L.L.C., Sterling Graphics, University of Tennessee Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Integrity Capital Management, SBA and more. And, of course, classes and instructors are subject to change.