BizCamp Akron – Join Us at This Unconference
BizCamp Akron takes place April 17 – 18, 2009. I will be keynoting there. Several of the Ohio-based Small Business Trends Experts will be speaking at this “unconference” event: including Joel Libava, Ivana Taylor and Jim Kukral.
The event is patterned after a BarCamp — an event popular in the Web 2.0 community. The reason it’s called an unconference is that it’s somewhat adhoc and highly participative, with the agenda influenced by the attendees.
Although some speaking topics are assigned, attendees can suggest which topics they want to discuss … and workshops form almost organically. It’s free-form, but still has some organization to it. The overall themes are:
- The Entrepreneurial Experience
- Marketing for Small Business
- Business Technology
The mix of speakers is very interesting, too. A few people will be presenting on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. But then there will also be ‘traditional’ sales experts as well – people trained via Sandler, Carnegie, Ziglar. Perhaps they will end up on stage together and talk about bridging the gap between the ‘old school’ and ‘new school.’
On Saturday there will be hands-on workshops – with groups of 8-10 people developing their marketing plan or business plan together.
So, if you’re in Northeast Ohio, this is your opportunity to jump in, network, and learn from others — all at an inexpensive price. The early-bird rate through April 8, 2009 is just $50. It includes breakfast and lunch — very reasonable. It’s organized by Kelly Brown of Office Space Coworking.
I hope to see you there.
Author of Do-It-Yourself PR Kit
Founder of Small Biz Survival
Social Media Swami
Anita,
Best premises with your keynote speech!
Have you attend meetings arranged by Toastmasters?
The open form of the activity sounds fascinating. I am interested to learn more about the Office Space Coworking in Akron. I have to get in touch with Kelly Brown. It is funny to see that they are using a similar template theme (Revolution Magazine) as my new website. Maybe you could have my site a “case” during the conference?!
What should a site have nowadays in order to feel fresh, up-to-date, following the AIDA rule, be “sticky”, enable two-way communication, etc… I could be your guinea pig! 
Click on “Martin Lindeskog” Says if you want to see the “under construction” site. The only thing that I have added so far, are some ads by Chitika and a speech from TED by Evan Williams on listening to Twitter users.
I would be interested in attending a conference together with participants from the whole supply chain, e.g., suppliers, purchasers, sales people, consumers, management and business leaders, etc.
I think we’ve just finalized my Keynote topic:
“Don’t Make these 5 Mistakes in YOUR Business (I Wish I Hadn’t)”
This will be a highly practical session including how to price your products and services; how to use your marketing budget wisely and avoid wasting money; practical tips for harnessing technology; and more.
Is there any one going to this from Washington DC? Like to connect and join together.
Sounds interesting. Hope you share some of the info talked about there, maybe some pics too!
We just found out we will be taping some of the sessions. We hope to throw some of them on our Web site for others to view.
Kelly Brown: Please send a notification when you have uploaded stuff from the conference. I am interested in the co-working and office space concept, and I want to discuss it with you. I have had a physical meeting place for entrepreneurs and business minded individuals in Gothenburg, Sweden, and I am interested in creating contact with other spaces for life-work activities.
Anita, congrats in advance for this event. Just curious: what do you mean by the “unconference”?
Hi Mary Grace,
The word “unconference” merely means that unlike highly structured conferences, this one will be a little free-form. Participants will have a chance to suggest the direction the sessions go in.
It will be very participatory.
Anita