The following was taken from Christian Adams Photography…Check it out.

I went to the 6th annual Ohio Growth Summit at the Small Business Development Center at Columbus State Community College. As always it was a wonderful event for networking and learning new business trends. Michael Bowers always does a great job, every year to put on this event and bring in world class speakers like Nate Riggs, and the keynote speaker for the afternoon, Carrie “The Barefoot Executive” Wilkerson.

Nate moderated a panel discussion on personal branding that included well known Central Ohio marketing and advertising types like; Artie Isaac, Jacob Stoops, Amy Parrish, Jason Yun, Andrew Brush, Rocky VanBrimmer, special guest Desarae Veit, Tyler Durbin, Shane Haggerty, and Neal Roberts. After a quick break there were break out sessions with business pros like Jon Myers, Mark Sellers, Tiffany Timmons, and Nancy Stoll. There was an added surprise by the Small Business Beanstalk’s Timothy “Wolf” Starr leaving community cards for everybody that attended the event.

The color orange and looking good naked seemed to be the theme of this year’s summit. You can see all the photos from this event here: http://goo.gl/mHP8

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Here is a quick update on the Summit. Looking forward to seeing every one today.

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Center for Workforce Development ~ Home of the Ohio Growth Summit

Where are we?
The Conference Center at Columbus State Community College
315 Cleveland Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43215

What date / time is it again?
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 8:15 am – 3:00 pm
Registration and networking is from 7:00 am – 8:00 am.  Note…There will be food and coffee at the registration so come on out early and join us.

We will begin the program promptly at 8:15 am.

Where do you park your Bentley?
Parking is free and available in all Columbus State student and employee lots (meters will still be charged).  Just make sure to park legally… sometimes we prefer the grassy hills too but our police department – not so much.

Your laptop is a third appendage too? We understand.
But we hope you also understand that as a state college we have top notch, CIA cyber security that’s even hard for us to get past sometimes!

So to get online make sure to:

*  Have Anti Virus Software installed with current virus definitions
*  Run update prior to arrival
*  Download and install current Windows updates including Service Pack 3 (if you have  those great, just run a check just to be sure – MACs can ignore this step)

Once this is done you’re almost there! We’ll have the user names, passwords with additional directions at the registration table. Be sure to ask for one if you need it.

FourSquare, Facebook and Twitter?

Social Media is encouraged at the Ohio Growth Summit.  The Twitter Hashtag is #OGS10.  When you check in on FourSquare you can check in at “Ohio Growth Summit”.  Lastly, please leave lots of likes and comments on our Facebook page.   Don’t know what we are talking about, you will.

Where’s Ignite Columbus?

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I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize the contributions of Nate Riggs to the Ohio Growth Summit.

I have known Nate for a couple of years now and have found him to be nothing less than a superstar.  From the first time I met Nate and discribed the Ohio Growth Summit he offered to help out in any way he could.  He has presented at the Summit, helped organize the Summit and helped promote the Summit.  Nate has provided his time to help me build a social media presence for the Summit that is really so much more than I ever could imagine.  Nate convinced Tom Williams to allow us to use his Innogage platform for our blog which has worked out wonderfully.  I don’t think the Ohio Growth Summit would be anywhere close to where it is without the contributions of Nate Riggs.

I found this post on Becky Johns blog that really captures what Nate is all about.

On behalf of the Ohio SBDC, the Ohio Growth Summit and mostly from me I want to thank Nate Riggs for all he does to make Columbus a great place to live work and play.

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The following post is taken from the blog of Erika Prior, The Erika Prior Lifestyle Blog.  Great advice for a summer of mixing and mingling.

Dressing for a Summer of Networking by Erika Prior

Networking can be tough. In most professional positions, even if you are not external customer facing, you are likely interacting with individuals and representing the company, department or division somewhere at sometime. And now that summer season is in full swing, that means there are lots of Crew soccer games to attend, golf outing schmoozing, team building retreats, as well as planned and unplanned After Hours events. What that means is you need to get ready. It’s time to consider how you are Dressing for a Summer of Networking.

Just like you wear more white than black, keep sunglasses not gloves ready, and drink cool drinks over warm — you must be ready for the way networking seems to take off during the summer months. Importantly, you have to be prepared to network when the moment arises, because great contacts start when we are least expecting them. So, what types of “attire” do you need. Here’s a short list to get you started.

1. Business Cards: Although I’ve read some online chatter (read Chris Brogan and Nate Riggs here), I’m not convinced that we are beyond business cards because even though so many more relationships are built and maintained virtually. Even if you are on the other side of the fence, keep in mind others may not be as “advanced” as you. So, to be on the safe side: Have business cards handy. In fact, have them everywhere. Your car. Your gym bag, You wallet/purse, even your infant or toddler’s stroller. Everywhere that way you never miss an opportunity to leave someone with a way to reach you in the future.
2. Attend A Diverse Events: Networking is about meeting NEW people. So by attending the same types of events on a regular basis, you are likely running into the same crowd of folks. Consider going to events like the Ohio Growth Summit, an American Marketing Association monthly meeting, at DECinDublin Jelly day and Columbus Young Professionals event during the month rather than the same old meet ups. It’s always nice to know someone there, but limit the list to 1 or 2, otherwise you’re likely to hang out with your friends all night rather than meet NEW people.
3. Stay Current: During the summer, I read less. I simply am more consumed with doing other things that are outdoor and frequently leave me without my computer. I actually buy the hard copy news paper more (shocker I know!) because I enjoy being outside and there isn’t free wireless everywhere. Where ever you like to read, just do it. Staying current means knowing about the latest, best practices, experimental industry trials, and economic movement happenings are in your field. Although you can’t know everything, it can be very embrassing to hear about an important industry event or news item while calling yourself an expert or thought leader.
4. Follow up: Frequently relationship building opportunities are lost on the follow up. If someone says, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about researching other insurance carriers because I’m not 100% satisfied with the company we’ve got now?” That seems like a really bold invitation to contact them and let me know what you’ve got to offer. Now some may not be that coy, if you are lucky they will just come out and say it. But one never knows, so your powers of interpretation have to be active in these circumstances. Be Tenacious!
5. Volunteer: In parts of the country where there are temperature variations throughout the year, the summer is a great time to volunteer as an organization, family, or both. There are lots of one-time engagements like runs, golf outings, as well as park and riverside cleanups. These are great opportunities to do some social good and network — all at once.

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Post written by Andrew Brush, panelist for the 2010 Ohio Growth Summit’s “Personal Branding for Fun and  Profit” panel.

When I was 19, I became the youngest person ever elected to the Delaware City Council, and was one of the youngest politicians in the country.  I bested 5 opponents – all well over twice my age – in a hotly contested election.  Personal branding had a lot to do with my success, but Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. had nothing to do with it.

I did have a website.  In fact, I was the very first candidate for any office in all of Delaware County to have a campaign website.  I also had a Facebook group; my campaign predated the current ‘page’ setup Facebook has implemented.  But I built my personal brand in a much more powerful way: through a months-long effort to connect in person with as many voters as possible.

Winning a local election takes a lot of hard work and organization – effective fundraising never hurts either – but it’s not generally very complicated.  In Ohio, it’s a matter of public record who the registered voters are, where they live, which party’s primary they vote in if any, and a list of the past ten elections they have voted in.  I got my hands on this data and compiled a list of 4th Ward voters likely to show up to the polls in this off-year, non-partisan election – around 2,000 of them spread over around 1,200 households – and then I went out on foot and systematically visited almost all of them.  About 98% of the voters on that list got a personal visit from me and either chatted with me on their front porch or received literature and a brief handwritten note asking them for their vote.

Obviously, it took more than just showing up on voters’ doorsteps.  I also had a strong command of the issues, had an agenda that resonated with the voters, and demonstrated that despite my young age I had the passion, conviction, and most importantly interpersonal and speaking skills necessary to effectively advocate for my constituents on the City Council.

But I am willing to bet that on election day a fair number of voters showed up at the polls, saw a list of six names, and had met only one of them.  And in most cases, I was the one they had met.

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While Ohio Growth Summit sponsors have come an gone over the past six years the Huntington has been with us since day one.  The Huntington is truly an advocate for the growth of small business.  In this video SBDC consultant David Rivers discusses small business development with Guy Mower of the Huntington.

Be sure to visit the Huntington at this year’s Ohio Growth Summit.

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Are you marketing or selling?  Have you defined your sales strategy?  Listen to this interview with Tiffany Timmons as she discussed how to handle your sales strategy to build your business.

See Tiffany on June 9 at the Ohio Growth Summit.  Click here for more information on registering for this year’s event.

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Have you decided yet to attend the Ohio Growth Summit?  If not check out some of my insights on the agenda and what you can expect to see at the Summit.   We have some spectacular speakers lined up to help you be better whether you are a business owner or work in a business or a non-profit.

Don’t miss this year’s Summit…Click here to get more information on registering.

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