September 19 At Public Auditorium BIG Business Innovation Growth Summit
Think BIG! COSE's Small Business Summit
Be prepared to think BIG on Tuesday, September 19, at COSE’s inaugural BIG Summit at Cleveland Public Auditorium. Focusing on Business Innovation and Growth for entrepreneurs and small businesses, the day-long event will feature workshops, networking, thought leadership, a keynote from a nationally renowned business leader and the 2023 Small Business Innovation Awards Ceremony.
It’s one-day focused on you, the small business innovators who define Cleveland, and our region, and our leading us into the future. You’ll find the innovative ideas, support and connections to take your business to the next level. Stay tuned for details on the groundbreaking speakers who will lead the day’s discussions – and much more
Take Advantage of BIG Savings | Now – August 31
Early Bird Discounts
$129 Members
$229 Nonmembers
September 19, 2023 | Public Auditorium
Meet the Keynote Speakers
Victoria LaBalme
Presentation: Risk Forward – Embrace the unknown and move risk forward to take your business to the next level.
Paul Roetzer
Presentation: The Future of Business is AI or Obsolete – Leverage AI tools to work smarter and more efficiently — AI is the next generation of business principles.
Inspiring Speakers & Transformative Workshops
Our 2023 speakers have been announced. For an idea of what to expect, see below for our speakers and click to learn more about each breakout session. For more details about the agenda, please find the schedule after the speaker list.
Everyone knows lawsuits are painful. They’re time-consuming, energy-wasting, distracting and expensive.
Here’s a dirty little secret that every lawyer knows: Most litigation exposure is entirely preventable if a company follows some simple, preemptive steps.
Join Alex Gertsburg, managing partner of Gertsburg Licata Co., LPA, who will share proven strategies to save your company boatloads of money, both inside and outside the courtroom, and establish a sound compliance foundation to support your growth strategy.
You will learn how to:
– spot and avoid the most common legal minefields
– reduce your legal spend through the right and wrong ways to hire and work with attorneys
This is a true “behind the curtain” presentation guaranteed to help you lawyer-proof your business.
Want to Grow Your Business?
Then, Being Strategic Is Not Optional
While agility is an important quality for a business, you can’t fly by the seat of your pants when you are running a business especially now. Planning your next step – in anticipation of all possible scenarios – is the best way to stay grounded and secure as your business evolves.
The COVID-19 pandemic threw employers and employees into chaos and uncertainty, with no clear end in sight. Business managers & leaders operated in crisis mode for much of 2020 & 2021 and the first half of 2022, figuring out how employees could work from home, trying to provide extra mental and physical health support, and working more than ever on strategies for keeping their organizations functioning. As the dust continues to settle and companies adjust to a new normal, the role of management has fundamentally changed.
Strategic thinking skills are among the most highly sought-after leadership competencies. Why? Because management must think critically, logically, and strategically to have a tremendous impact on a business’s trajectory.
If you want to improve your strategic thinking skills, the good news is that, with the right mindset and practice, you can. In this program, we will focus on the following objectives:
Understand the difference between strategic and tactical thinking
1.) Learn exercises to strengthen your strategic thinking skills
2.) Identify how to think more strategically about your organizations’ future
3.) Recognize five ways to develop strategic thinking including learning how to ask strategic questions
In today’s competitive business landscape, ripe with labor shortages and “loud quitting”, the importance of workplace culture cannot be underestimated. A positive and thriving culture not only motivates employees but also enhances productivity, inspires innovation, fosters inclusivity, and drives overall organizational success. If you long for a work environment that exudes energy, inspires collaboration, and achieves remarkable results, then look no further than our transformative workshop, “Cultivating a Winning Culture at Work,” with entrepreneur, international speaker, and workplace wellness expert, CeCe President.
Join us as we unlock the secrets to creating a dynamic and thriving workplace culture that propels your organization towards unparalleled success. Participants will gain a clear understanding of the importance of workplace culture and its impact on organizational success. They will also learn how to implement the cycle of continuous improvement in their organization to encourage innovation, collaboration, and growth. Finally, leaders will walk away with the tools and techniques to effectively coach their teams in ways that cultivate a winning culture and inspire long-term success.
Regardless if you have a team of two, two hundred, or twenty thousand, culture shapes success. Join us in “Cultivating a Winning Culture at Work” to unlock the potential of your organization and create a thriving environment where individuals and teams excel.
Course Objectives:
• Recognize and demonstrate the impact of workplace culture on employee engagement, satisfaction, and productivity.
• Identify continuous improvement strategies that would foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence inside the workplace.
• Develop essential coaching skills to empower individuals and teams for growth, development, and high-performance.
Supercharge your online reach by mastering the art of creating an automatic lead generation process using social media. This session will guide you through the maze of modern social platforms, with special attention given to the potential of YouTube and using video to maximize your reach. You will learn how to create impactful content, foster meaningful engagement, and unlock the secrets of an effective lead generation process via social media- attracting automatic inbound leads into your business every single day.
Takeaways:
1. Unlock the Power of Social Media for Lead Generation and Sales: Uncover a step by step process for using social media channels to generate leads and boost sales. Understand the design and implementation of a foolproof automated lead generation process that runs 24/7, converting your social media presence into a powerful sales engine.
2. Boost Your Online Visibility with Social Media: Gain insights into leveraging social media as a tool to amplify your digital footprint. Learn how to use each platform to its fullest potential to connect with your audience and raise your online profile.
3. Craft Compelling Content for Broad Audience Engagement: Dive into the art of creating engaging content, including video production for platforms like YouTube. By the end of this session, you’ll know how to create content that attracts, engages, and retains a wide audience, transforming casual viewers into loyal followers and customers.
Sales isn’t about convincing, persuading, or coercing. It really isn’t about sharing every great thing about your product or service. Sales is about discovery.
Discovery is possible in every aspect of the sales process and yields better, longer term results. Always Be Curious has replaced Always Be Closing as the new standard for making meaningful connections and obtaining profitable business.
Learning is more enjoyable than telling — for everyone involved! In this program we explore the different sales mindsets including why they work, or don’t work. Attendees will learn how to use discovery in every aspect of the selling process. Anyone who doesn’t like to sell, or the feeling of being salesy, or talking about themselves will LOVE the concepts and strategies shared during this program.
Takeaways:
1. Unlock the Power of Social Media for Lead Generation and Sales: Uncover a step by step process for using social media channels to generate leads and boost sales. Understand the design and implementation of a foolproof automated lead generation process that runs 24/7, converting your social media presence into a powerful sales engine.
2. Boost Your Online Visibility with Social Media: Gain insights into leveraging social media as a tool to amplify your digital footprint. Learn how to use each platform to its fullest potential to connect with your audience and raise your online profile.
3. Craft Compelling Content for Broad Audience Engagement: Dive into the art of creating engaging content, including video production for platforms like YouTube. By the end of this session, you’ll know how to create content that attracts, engages, and retains a wide audience, transforming casual viewers into loyal followers and customers.
Format: This proposal is for a solo presentation, but the presenter is open to a panel discussion format
Session Summary:
This session would focus on best practices in keeping intellectual property (IP) portfolios aligned with business objectives and fueling growth. In early stage growth companies the strategic advantages of IP can be easily drowned out by suboptimal resource allocation and risk assessment. We will discuss predictive tactics to identify innovations with offensive or defensive strategic value, procedures to identify the best blend of legal protections, and metrics to identify success or failure of your predictions and legal solutions.
Many entrepreneurs make critical business decisions based on their own bias and perceptions. They know their brand needs to evolve to grow, but they are too close to see the full picture and the real, underlying value. Often, this lack of clarity leads to serious missteps that create employee and customer confusion, which can compromise future success.
In this session, Jackie Bebenroth will share professional anecdotes and proven techniques that empower you to step back and assess your strengths and challenges from different angles. Her Productive Distancing method blends both business and brand strategy, leading to insight that informs future revenue opportunities, marketing communications, and sales approaches.
Creativity is one of the most exceptional human attributes. The ability to create something that never existed before honors something deep within us that makes us truly unique as human beings.
This session provides an introduction to a technique that can help individuals and teams get into the creative flow more easily. And, how to intentionally switch your thought channel to where you can access inspiration, insight, wisdom, solutions, and pure genius.
The speaker will show the benefits she experienced in implementing a creative culture in her business and the resulting applications of creativity in marketing.
This hands-on workshop equips participants to be more intentional in their interactions with employees by incorporating a coaching approach to management that elevates employee engagement and sparks stronger financial performance.
Leslie will design a highly-interactive, skill-creating and objective-driven session to help the participants to explore and chart how to plan for long-term business health and growth with a philanthropic approach to leading and managing an organization that cares for it’s customers, workforce and community.
Have you ever
• had a plan for your day – only to be derailed by putting out fires?
• noticed that your team is constantly in reactive mode jumping from one emergency to the next?
• wished you had quiet time each day to think and work on the crucial projects in your business?
If you answered YES to any of these questions, attend this session!
When you understand and implement the A.W.E. Time Management process, you and your team will reclaim hours each week so you can focus on the important work.
In this very interactive session, you will
• learn how to easily identify your real fires and those of your team.
• create strategies to minimize the amount of time spent in fire-fighting mode.
• increase productivity (and income) by creating consistent thinking time.
Plus, as a bonus, each participant will receive a list of the top 11 Time Thieves that steal time from busy business owners.
The next growth opportunity for your business is usually uncertain. Further, constant change in today’s world has created a need for all levels of your organization to creatively problem solve and innovate to stay ahead. Unfortunately, some leaders get in their own way when looking for innovation. This program will provide you with insights on how to use the design-thinking methodology to find or create new opportunities and solutions.
You will also learn the fundamental components of an innovation eco-system to help you sustain innovation in your company. And finally, we will explore steps to eliminate barriers to innovation and unleash the creative capacity of your people.
In today’s competitive, dynamic price-sensitive market, customers’ demands for quality, value and customized solutions require a solution selling approach. Achieving your sales objectives requires customer-focused selling strategies and skills that will win and sustain profitable business relationships.
During this workshop the Sales Doctor will focus on Seven Specific Sales Techniques that will enable participants to become more effective at selling the value of their services instead of discounting the price. It’s not the pricing of your product or service but whether or not you are skilled in selling the value and not the price.
Michael DeAloia
Research shows that those who have a vision for their retirement live more fulfilling lives in their elder years. As Baby Boomers are living longer and healthier lives, it makes sense that we need a plan for retirement that is active and offers the opportunity to make a contribution to society in new ways and still have fun. This workshop will support the visioning side of succession planning – your personal vision for your third act.
This session will take a practical view of what small to medium companies are missing out when they overlook world markets from an export, investment, or crowd funding perspective among others. Then the presentation will turn to resources, programs, grants, and other tools available to companies in Ohio in general and in the Cleveland area specifically.
‘Win BIG With Painless Pitches’ will empower emerging business owners and sales professionals to create and deliver more winning sales pitches. It will be a highly engaging and enjoyable conversation, regularly tapping into attendee experiences and expertise.
Key content includes:
* Avoiding pitches from hell
* Doing your homework
* Pitching with style and class
* Responding to ‘yes’
* Handling ‘no’
* Taking action
If you answered YES to any of these questions, attend this session!
When you understand and implement the A.W.E. Time Management process, you and your team will reclaim hours each week so you can focus on the important work.
In this very interactive session, you will
• learn how to easily identify your real fires and those of your team.
• create strategies to minimize the amount of time spent in fire-fighting mode.
• increase productivity (and income) by creating consistent thinking time.
Plus, as a bonus, each participant will receive a list of the top 11 Time Thieves that steal time from busy business owners.
Contrary to popular belief, generosity is not a soft skill. Generosity is a power skill. It’s more than giving to a charity, the merits is multi-layered. Generosity shows up in our behavior and actions, nobility is at the root. Yes, it is principled, yet not practiced often in the workplace.
Raquel Eatmon leads this session with power and enthusiasm. She threads a form of excellence known as ARETE (a concept in ancient Greek). It means a fulfillment of purpose, it’s a higher standard of excellence where you focus on the quality of everything you do including the overall experience. This focus, when combined with the Power of Three (Connection, Collaboration and Challenge) can improve employee engagement and build smarter customer relationships which can increase your bottom line.
With so many marketing channels, software providers, and service providers out there, it’s more challenging than ever for small and medium-sized businesses to know where to spend their marketing resources. If only there was a roadmap to help guide you.
During this presentation, we’ll walk step-by-step through how to develop a focused marketing strategy, choose the right resources at the right time, and measure the return on your marketing efforts.
**Note: Referred by Marvin Montgomery; also open to/interested in moderating or hosting a roundtable.
The US Chamber of Commerce reported in August 2022, that the latest data shows that we have over 10 million job openings in the U.S. but only around 6 million unemployed workers.
As regional workforce and economic development leaders work to solve their labor shortages, they realize there is no real-time system that gives them analytics on the actual labor supply and demand of their local workforce. Employers also don’t have direct access to the people who have the skills they need to fill open positions, because the outmoded system of hiring in the U.S. is broken — until now.
Join this session, led by Founder and CEO of UnifyWork, Stephen McHale, and learn how to leverage technology to hire more equitably through the lens of skills-based matching, and access an untapped pool of talent.
I will discuss the basic elements of Networking, my grass roots approach. Break down my version of the who, what, where, when and why’s and then follow it with my own experience on how networking grew my current position from a new location with no existing business to one of the more prominent showrooms in Northeast Ohio.
“Millennials and Gen Z are so entitled, they just don’t want to work hard.”
“Boomers need to get out of the way so we can do what is right.”
These are the predominant narratives when it comes to the relationship between generations in the workforce. But the truth is, we need to reach across the generational divide if we are going to unlock the potential of our business community and drive impact in the future. This session will provide a close look at how a real-life cross-generation collaboration is driving impact. Through the “Fireside chat,” you will learn about various tools that help foster multi-generational conversations in your company and life. Whether you are a senior-level executive or a young professional, this session is sure to resonate with your experience and challenge you to reach across the aisle.
“Millennials and Gen Z are so entitled, they just don’t want to work hard.”
“Boomers need to get out of the way so we can do what is right.”
These are the predominant narratives when it comes to the relationship between generations in the workforce. But the truth is, we need to reach across the generational divide if we are going to unlock the potential of our business community and drive impact in the future. This session will provide a close look at how a real-life cross-generation collaboration is driving impact. Through the “Fireside chat,” you will learn about various tools that help foster multi-generational conversations in your company and life. Whether you are a senior-level executive or a young professional, this session is sure to resonate with your experience and challenge you to reach across the aisle.
Businesses all over exist to fill a need. Some have to happen just for the world to turn. Others are developed out of creativity and to move the world forward. The brands that stand out the most and that are able to withstand the test of time are the ones
that are built on unwavering belief in the value that they bring to society and the importance of the work that they do.
Spend part of your day at the BIG Summit listening to Taylor Evans, Founder and Owner of Rust Belt Recruiting, a leading agency for manufacturing talent, talk about how he built his businessaround a vision for renewing our region by connecting hardworking people with meaningful workplaces. Taylor’s firm belief system and the core values behind it are what has led to rapid growth for RBR.
The session will focus on a prescriptive approach to cybersecurity for small business considering proportionality factors to be considered for each organization. The presentation will be a how to approach to gain the competitive edge over other organizations in your industry who needlessly place clients and consumers at risk. For example, what security controls matter and what should each organization start doing and stop doing to become digitally secure.
The YOU in Business
How to Build a Strong Business from the Inside Out
Tim Dimoff’s presentation will provide everything you need to set yourself up for success in the business world. If you build your business correctly, they will come. The key to your business is YOU. Your attitude, your leadership, your hard work, your decisions, your work habits, and your desire for success.
Learn how to get your company running at peak performance using the principles and proven processes embodied in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). You’ll learn the 6 key components of any business and, more importantly, how to dramatically strengthen each one. And you’ll walk away with a set of free tools that allow you to start improving your business immediately. Over 20k companies use the EOS system to run their businesses every day. Learn what they know and start to Optimize Your Operation!
Benefits of sustainable practices: The session explores the many benefits of sustainable practices for businesses, including cost savings, increased competitiveness, and improved reputation. In particular, the session focuses on the ways in which sustainable practices can positively impact employee engagement and retention. This includes a discussion of the ways in which sustainable practices can make employees feel more connected to their work, more committed to their employers, and more fulfilled in their roles. Sustainability can be a source of pride and motivation for employees.
Benefits of sustainable practices: The session explores the many benefits of sustainable practices for businesses, including cost savings, increased competitiveness, and improved reputation. In particular, the session focuses on the ways in which sustainable practices can positively impact employee engagement and retention. This includes a discussion of the ways in which sustainable practices can make employees feel more connected to their work, more committed to their employers, and more fulfilled in their roles. Sustainability can be a source of pride and motivation for employees.
The session will focus on a prescriptive approach to cybersecurity for small business considering proportionality factors to be considered for each organization. The presentation will be a how to approach to gain the competitive edge over other organizations in your industry who needlessly place clients and consumers at risk. For example, what security controls matter and what should each organization start doing and stop doing to become digitally secure.
BIG Summit Agenda | Public Auditorium
Registration Opens | Breakfast & Networking | Exhibit Booths Open
Opening General Session | Keynote Speaker
Breakout Sessions and Workshops
Workshops | Breakout Sessions
Workshops and breakout sessions continue
Keynote presentation | Business Innovation and Growth Awards
Closing Celebration | Networking Party
Session Details
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. Schedule
Networking - It Actually works
Presented by Steve Caldwell
Want to grow your business? Then, being strategic is not optional.
Presented by Amy Shannon
How to read the label from inside the jar: Distancing techniques to evolve and grow your business.
Presented by Jackie Bebenroth
How to stay out of court
Presented by Alex Gertsburg
Want to grow your business? Then, being strategic is not optional.
Presented by Amy Shannon
The Roadmap for BIG Marketing Results
Presented by Ryan Morgan
Selling Value Not Price
Presented by Marvin Montgomery
Cultivating a winning culture at work
Presented by CeCe President
Three strategies to pull your team out of fire-fighting mode
Presented by Lisa Crilley Mallis
Corporate Sustainability for Competitive Business
Presented by Danielle Doza & Victoria Avi
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Schedule
The You In Business
Presented by Timothy Dimoff
Using Tech to Engage the Right Talent Equitably, Right now
Presented by Stephen McHale
How New Growth Companies Should Leverage World Markets
Presented by Nate Ward
Branded Podcasts - the Power of Your Voice
Presented by Michael DeAloia
Win BIG with Painless Pitches
Presented by Phil Stella
The Power of Three: How Generosity In Customer Service Can Transform Your Business (and workplace culture)
Presented by Raquel Eatmon
The coach Approach: Taking Direct Reports to the Next Level
Presented by Kris McGuigan
Optimize Your Operation: A "How-To" Guide
Presented by Todd Thompson
Unleashing Innovation: Building Creative Capacity to Support Growth
Presented by Lori Long
2:45 - 3:45 p.m. Schedule
How do you remain resilient in good times and bad?
Presented by Leslie Yerkes
Improving the Creative Flow in Your Teams
Presented by Julie Stout
Amplifying Impact Across Generations: How Multigeneration workforces can unlock innovation and extend leaders' legacies
Presented by Tanya Budler and Robert Smith
Mapping Your Third Act: Envisioning & Embracing your elderhood
Presented by Monika Moss-Gransbury
Cybersecurity for Small Business
Presented by Tim Opsitnick & Eric Vanderburg
How to Enjoy Selling and Get Results
Presented by Diane Helbig
Digital Domination: Amplify Your Sales, Optimize Your Online Visibility, and Establish an Autopilot Lead Generation System with Social Media
Presented by Cheryl Perez
Business GRowth and Strategic IP Management
Presented by Dominic Frisina
Building A Belief Based Brand
Presented by Taylor Evans
Become a Sponsor or Exhibitor
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