Why GrowSmartBiz Rocked
Though I was excited about attending the GrowSmartBiz conference yesterday (to which I was invited as “Media/Blogger,” which was very cool for me), I did feel a little grumpy about getting ready and heading out early. That’s what happens when you work from home. After reading about Mayra Ruiz’ trek from West Virginia, though, I’ve resolved to never complain about doing so again (well, I can try). I only had to drive about 10 minutes to a Metro station and endure a not-unpleasant trip on only one Metro line. Mayra, you’re dedicated!
I live-tweeted during the conference, so I’m not going to recap all of that here. But here’s why I think GrowSmartBiz rocked:
1. Great food. When you attend a lot of conferences, you know what a difference a hot breakfast can make. Eggs, breakfast potatoes… the works. And it was nice to be able to sit down and eat without trying to balance your plate, bags, etc., on your lap. I even got to meet the folks from Indique (can I get an Amen?) during breakfast. Sweet.
2. For the most part, the panels were engaging. You can read great recaps/POVs here and here, to name just a couple. I had to divide my time between the conference and the “Learning Center,” so I missed parts of some panels, but I had as much fun hanging out there with people like Raj and Rebecca Malik, Robin Ferrier and Mike Dougherty, to name just a few.
Filed under Communication, Shonali Burke | Tags: crt/tanaka, grow smart business, growsmartbiz, indique, jill foster, joanna pineda, mayra ruiz, mike dougherty, priya ramesh, raj malik, rebecca malik, robin ferrier, roy dunbar, senator mark warner, shashi bellamkonda, steven fisher | Comments (8)DC, #GrowSmartBiz Is Here
Update: This is a recap of my live-tweeting from the GrowSmartBusiness conference held today in DC. I did try to give everyone a heads up that I would be doing this, but if you didn’t get that (because I know you have better things to do than hang on every word I say), I apologize in advance for clogging your Twitterstream.
As far as the conference goes: in one word – WOW, what a day. But more on that later. I used the Twitter LiveBlog plugin for WordPress to populate this blog, which essentially means that all my tweets (which were duly hashtagged with #growsmartbiz) during the conference automatically provided content for this post. Hattip to Neville Hobson, from whom I learned about this.
8:42:09 AM: Roy Dunbar (Network Solutions) is welcoming everyone at #growsmartbiz. He’s got a cool accent.
8:45:04 AM: Roy’s presenting very interesting findings from SBSI (Small Business Success Index) at #growsmartbiz, find ‘em at http://www.growsmartbusiness.com
8:47:53 AM: Financial mistakes small biz are making: cutting prices, valuable employees & hurting company morale #growsmartbiz
Filed under Business, Shonali Burke | Tags: Career, grow smart business, live blog, network solutions, neville hobson, shashi bellamkonda, Twitter | Comments (10)Help Manila After Ondoy
This morning I was relieved to get an email from one of my IABC contacts in the Philippines, Rosan Cruz; I was worried about her when I heard about the devastating floods Manila has been reeling from in the wake of Typhoon Ondoy.
We don’t have to speak the language to hear the heartbreak in these people’s voices. And we certainly don’t have to be in Manila or geographically nearby to lift a helping hand.
Via Twitter, Rosan shared a link that tells you how you can help. I’m sure there are many others out there, though this seems quite a comprehensive list of what’s going on. If you’re trying to keep tabs on things via Twitter, the #ondoy search seems to be updating pretty frequently.
Please do what you can, even if it means “only” sharing news and information. As communicators, that’s the least we can do.
Filed under Personal, Shonali Burke | Tags: manila, ondoy, philippines flood, rosan cruz | Comment (0)
