Ocean State Small Business Expo To Be Held October 3, 2012
RISBJ Staff | Sep 21, 2012
WARWICK, RI – (September 18, 2012) DiscoverYou Events, a North-Smithfield, RI-based exposition and event producer along with Jay White of Uncle Jay’s Networking, announces its 4th annual Ocean State Small Business Expo on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., at the Crowne Plaza Hotel located at 801 Greenwich Avenue in Warwick, R.I.
The day-long event, co-sponsored by the Rhode Island Small Business Journal, Natural Awakenings magazine, Rhode Island Telephone and Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, will have a “Business-to-Business” theme and feature over 100 exhibitors throughout the Crowne Plaza’s outdoor Garden Pavilion tent. The Expo will also include five educational breakout sessions led by area experts on various business topics, and a two-hour open networking event for attendees and guests. Admission is free with a business card.
“For the past four years, the Ocean State Small Business Expo has provided small businesses throughout Rhode Island the opportunity to network and learn the best practices of marketing and strategies to keep their organizations afloat in any economy,” states Susan Lataille, DiscoverYou Events producer. “Last year, we had over 1,000 people in attendance and about 100 exhibitors, but this year we expect those numbers to increase substantially due to the improved business climate and the new Expo partnerships we have forged.”
This year marks the first time that the Rhode Island Small Business Journal (RISBJ) is co-sponsoring the event. “We are eager to work with the Expo organizers to make this event more successful than it has been in previous years,” comments Gil Lantini, publisher of the Rhode Island Small Business Journal. “The Ocean State Small Business Expo is directly aligned with what we believe at RISBJ, which is helping small business owners spread the word about what they do and who they are.”
Featured speakers for Ocean State Small Business Expo 2012 are as follows:
Betty Galligan, APR, president/founder of Newberry Public Relations and Marketing (East Providence, RI), will present “Social Media Marketing for Business” to help attendees navigate through the multitude of social media channels available and discover how best to interact “socially” with key customers and prospects. Topics of the presentation will include the importance of segmenting audiences for marketing success, how to develop engaging and relevant content, determining which social media channels are best, developing an integrated campaign, and measuring social media initiatives.
Corissa St. Laurent, regional development director for Constant Contact, New England, will present “Engagement Marketing: Building relationships to build your business” for attendees to learn how to inspire, inform, and create long-term meaningful connections with engagement marketing using the three key elements to building lasting engagement; and “Power of Email Marketing: Staying top-of-mind through the inbox” which looks at best practices and winning strategies for getting and keeping quality subscribers, increasing deliverability and open rates, writing good headlines and content, saving time, getting readers to take action, and more.
Gil Lantini, founder of the Rhode Island Small Business Journal, will present “From Employee to Entrepreneur” for attendees who are considering making the transition from full time employment or unemployment to becoming their own boss. This presentation will help with both a personal and business assessment as well as provide many steps necessary to prepare and build your first company.
Educational breakout sessions begin at 12:00 p.m., each running for 50 minutes both inside the hotel and in the pavilion tent; and the open networking session is scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with food provided by the Crowne Plaza.
Exhibitor space is still available for $225 per booth with a 10% discount for reserving two or more tables (not including electrical and Internet connections). Set-up for exhibitors is from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Sponsorship packages are also available – including Silver ($1,000), Gold ($2,500), Platinum ($5,000) and Media ($10,000) levels with varying degrees of vendor space included in each package, among other incentives.
For more information, contact Susan Lataille at DiscoverYou Events, (401) 769-1325 x 11 or susan@discoveryouevents.com, or Jay White, (401) 265-5373 or jaywhitebiz1@cox.net.
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