Small Business Conference Successful
EVENT ORGANIZERS: All smiles at the successful event are, from left, Jerry Holder, Allegra Printing; Lynda Wingo, Miss Helen?s School; Dr. Kara Gae Neal, Superintendent of Tulsa Tech and event host; Brian Smejkal of Sand Springs and owner of Bubble Town Express car wash; and Larry Mocha, Air Power Systems Company.
DANIEL C. CAMERON for GTR Newspapers
Area small business people participated in a conference titled ‘Oklahoma Business Moving Forward’ on June 4 at the Tulsa Tech Lemley Canpus. The one-day conference and town hall meeting addressed a variety of topics specific to small business, including marketing techniques, health insurance and banking. In addition to informative sessions, attendees participated in a town hall luncheon with Lt. Gov. Jari Askins to discuss how state government can assist small businesses.
Kelly Riggs, founder and president of Vmax Performance Group, opened the conference with his presentation, “Rising to the Challenge: Leadership in a Tough Economy.”
Julie Niehoff of Constant Contact presented Session One, titled “The Power of E-mail Marketing,” with information about best practices, why it is a good idea to implement e-mail marketing, strategies for improving response rates and avoiding spam complaints.
Session Two featured information on insurance and banking. David Shirley with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma discussed Insure Oklahoma and what business owners are doing to save money on health insurance. Sean Kouplen, president of Regent Bank, addressed how Oklahoma banks are working under recent guidelines from Washington D.C. Terry May, president of Mesa Products, a 2006 Malcolm Baldridge Award recipient, presented “A Track to Run On in Tough Times.”
Sponsors included Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Tulsa Metro Chamber, Oklahoma Small Business Advocacy, Tulsa Tech, , Oklahoma Economic Development Council, Insure Oklahoma and the State Chamber of Oklahoma.
Updated 06-16-2009
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