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Total funding amounts to $125.3M.
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2019 Tech Conferences for Small Biz You Don’t Want to Miss
Attending conferences can be one of the best things you do for your business this year. Stay up-to-date on tech trends, hear from industry leaders and experts, and build your network. There are hundreds of tech conferences going on this year, but we’ve picked out a few across the US and internationally that might spark your interest. Let us know which ones you’re attending and maybe we’ll see you there!
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Last year we had 4000+ attendees, and this year we’re projected to grow that number by 50% ! We’re constantly on the look out for new speakers & sponsors, join our newsletter or follow us for updates
. . . . #MGS19 #mobilegrowth #gamers #technology #mobilegrowthsummit #techconference #globalconnection
A post shared by Mobile Growth Summit (@mobilegrowthmgs) on Nov 29, 2018 at 3:19pm PST
Mobile Growth Summit
Date: 13-14 February Location: San Francisco, CA
MGS is the world’s largest mobile growth conference and one you don’t want to miss! The Mobile Growth Summit connects you and helps you learn from mobile growth and brand marketing experts who specialize in the areas of monetization, user acquisition, retention and engagement, and data science and analytics.
Contacts or Content? How will you spend the majority of your time at #OCSummit19? Well, that's up to you but it all starts with a ticket! Don't miss top keynote speakers and panelists from around the world and incredible networking this March 7th: https://t.co/yv490ZM5Ne pic.twitter.com/3Uvj1lgdYd
— OurCrowd (@OurCrowd) February 7, 2019
2019 Ourcrowd Global Investor Summit
Date: 7 March Location: Jerusalem, Israel
If you were looking for an excuse to see Israel, OurCrowd’s Global Investor Summit is the event for you. Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporations, and investors come from all over the world to network, learn, and do business. While mostly a forum for new tech startups to garner funding, any small business owner can benefit from the array of topics being covered this year such as “Hacked Cars, Stolen Identities, and Short-Circuited Pacemakers: Cybersecurity in a Connected World,” “OurCrowd University - Master Classes in Startups,” and “Top Ten Tech Impact Trends for 2019.”
Nearly 100 sessions at #TheAIConf in New York, April 15–18. Check out the complete schedule. https://t.co/BcHWMoB3QE
— TheAIConf (@TheAIConf) January 29, 2019
Artificial Intelligence Conference: New York
Date: 15-18 April Location: New York, NY
AI is dominating conference agendas this year. Learn all about how AI is helping organizations innovate and compete more effectively at the Artificial Intelligence Conference: New York. This conference can get a little technical, but if your business is developing or implementing artificial intelligence or machine learning, you should check it out.
Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit
Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit
Date: 29-30 April Location: San Diego, CA
Data analytics are a trend you should definitely get on board with in 2019. Innovation Enterprise Summits is hosting their Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit which includes a wide range of topics related to analytics. The purpose of this conference is to bring statistical analysis, predictive modeling, text analytics, data mining, and machine learning techniques to forecast the future. This two-day event is packed with innovators and industry leaders, keynote presentation, and interactive breakout and discussion sessions. Confirmed speakers for this year’s event include Ramkumar Ravichandran, Google’s Director of Data Science and Analytics.
DIG SOUTH Tech Conference
DIG SOUT Tech Conference
Date: 24-26 April Location: Charleston, SC
At the DIG SOUTH Tech Conference, major brands like IBM, Salesforce, and Oracle connect with top tech leaders and entrepreneurs. This year’s theme is “What’s Your Story” and includes testimonials from experts on what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur and what’s the most important tech to adopt this year. Topics include “Business Growth Track | Adversity is Your Strength: How Struggle Sharpens Your Ability to Innovate,” “Emerging Tech Track | Embracing the Bots: How Companies Are Using Machine-Learning to Empower Clients,” and “HealthTech Track | How to Finance Your Own Well-Being: New Challenges for a New Generation.”
Many people have asked how #Identiverse continually produces an identity industry conference agenda that sets the bar so high. So from our CFPs to committee review to speakers taking the stage, here’s how it works. @andrewhindle https://t.co/hTVcrnEyDL
— Identiverse (@Identiverse) January 29, 2019
Identiverse
Date: 25-28 June Location: Washington, DC
Indentiverse is the world’s largest identity industry event with over 500 enterprises and 50 vendors. The conference this year includes over 200 session and 50 master classes to get you up to speed on digital identity, customer identity, identity security, privacy, and IoT device tech. With data security begin such a hot topic in business right now, you don’t want to miss this one!
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We’re so excited to have these Featured Creators and more joining us at #VidConUS!
Check the link in our bio for the full list and get your tickets now!
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VidCon
Date: 10-12 July Location Anaheim, CA
If you love video in your business or for personal entertainment, make your way to VidCon. This event is a community festival, creator conference, and industry summit. Sign up for the Industry Track for unapparelled access to industry leaders and experts. Learn best practices to successfully integrate video into your marketing and insight into the future of video and media. Access to the community and creator content is included, so once you get your fill of learning for the day, go and have some fun!
eTail
Date: 19-22 August Location: Boston, MA
eTail is where top minds from the retail industry converge. Content is centered around eCommerce and tech to help your optimize profit. Attendees range from the Billion dollar club to start-ups and there is truly something for everyone.
Strata Data Conference
Date: 23-26 September Location: New York, NY
Gather with the leading minds in technology and business to share best practices at the Strata Data Conference. Get a first look at emerging industry trends and insight to propel your business into the future. Topics include Data Science and Machine Learning, Streaming and IoT, Automation in Data Science, Security and Privacy, and more.
Inc. 5000
Date: 17-19 October Location: San Antonio, TX
Get insights and inspiration from leaders of America’s fastest growing private companies at the Inc. 5000 Conference. Featured speakers this year include Ben Chestnut, Co-founder and CEO of Mailchimp, Dr. Brené Brown, Research Professor at the University of Houston, Joel McHale, Comedian and star of “Community,” and more.
SLUSH Helsinki
Date: 21-22 November Location: Helsinki, Finland
SLUSH is one of the world’s leading startup events. This year the program promises to deliver the best hands-on advice from entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Notable speakers this year include Dr. Werner Vogels, CTO at Amazon, Julia Hartz, Co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, Katrina Berg, Chief Human Resource Officer at Spotify, Justin Rosenstein, Co-founder of Asana, and many more. SLUSH offers attendees a unique opportunity to engage with the tech community and reach global audiences. The conference is designed for companies at all stages of growth.
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More info @marcuslemonis so we got the restaurant, got the delivery mechanism and we've got a small army of youth in our church who will volunteer and help too. Let's do this! #PlatingChange email me [email protected] or txt me 917-685-3920 https://t.co/E6rsZR0De0 pic.twitter.com/lYuWI9m0DH
— Ramon Ray (@ramonray) November 22, 2020
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Can Magic Help You Grow Your Business? Maybe, But Differentiation Definitely Can
Mark Levy is the founder of Levy Innovation LLC, a positioning and branding firm that helps thought leaders grow their personal brand and business. Mark says he typically works with 2 types of clients.
The first: those who are already famous before they reached out to Mark, and he helped them differentiate and refine things to help them grow.
The second: people who share ideas for a living who deserve to be famous but aren’t quite famous yet.
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Mark works with people who are smart hustlers. His favorite clients are the ones that continue to act on their ideas over and over again.
They don’t just take an idea and assume that the idea is perfectly formed from the get-go. They go out there and they use the idea as a launching pad and they roll with it and allow things to change just enough so that the thing is effective…That’s the entrepreneurial spirit.
Why Differentiation Is Important
There are 9 billion people in the world and Mark says that means there are also 9 billion personal brands. When there are so many businesses, books, speeches, and ideas out there, Mark says, the key is to “show people how your idea is different.”
Mark has a background as a magician. He even co-created the highest-rated live show on TripAdvisor in New York City! But, believe it or not, his background in magic is integral in his method for helping his clients differentiate themselves in their industry. He says, in magic, “you take something that’s seemingly normal and make a miracle out of it.” The same principle applies when Mark works to elevate people’s brands in a very dramatic way.
Mark advises that when you’re introducing yourself to someone and making your elevator pitch, that you need a distinction, a differentiation. Everything needs to be about that distinction and you should talk about things “that overtly back up the premise, the uniqueness.”
A Little Magic Goes A Long Way
The magic is there! Mark says that “so often, contained within your business, is something that’s distinct (or many things that are distinct) {and} you just don’t realize it.” This can even include things such as who you are, and that can become your distinction. Mark also says that sometimes you may not have something that clearly differentiates you and that it’s a good idea to “manufacture or create” those distinctions.
The purpose of your distinction is to get your foot in the door.
Ramon relates and he’s told followers, “Listen, your job when you’re pitching is not trying to get everything in that package. It’s just to get people to chuckle, to laugh, or to say, ‘can we speak further.’”
Mark agrees that when you’re giving an elevator pitch or even a media pitch, you can’t lead with too many things. According to Mark, “too many things…is more than one.” Mark gives the example of the Antarctic ice cutter ship. The sole purpose of the ice cutter ship is to clear the ice in order to allow the ships carrying the important people and equipment to get where they need to go. It’s the same with distinction. You lead with that one thing to “cut through the marketplace’s icy indifference to who you are and what you have to offer. And now, once you’re in, you bring along all the important stuff after.”
A Big, Sexy Idea
Mark says one hang-up for folks he’s worked with is thinking their “big, sexy idea” is an “open sesame to riches and fame.” He reiterates that “the idea is not going to suddenly change everything for you. The idea is giving you the best shot as you go forward in order to create something magnificent.”
“You don’t just need a point of differentiation, you need to be a little different than you have been,” Mark notes that some people have a hard time grabbing on to this because of all the rhetoric about being your true, authentic self. While you should be who you are, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grow and work on things that are holding you back from your goal.
Aside from finding your point of differentiation, Mark says it’s equally important to think about “what is the difference that you make in your audience’s life after dealing with you.” Mark says the most important thing is to work from this premise.
You’re the Leader
Mark leaves us with one final word of advice, and that’s “you’re the leader.” He says that understanding the market is extremely important and doesn’t want to discount its significance. Whatever you’re creating, you need a market and an audience for it. However, he emphasizes that you are the leader.
You need to create a solution that other people aren’t using yet because they don’t realize it exists.
Take advantage of the leadership position you’re in and educate people on it. Mark shares that “an artist gives people what they couldn’t know they wanted this time, but they know they want it next time.” He goes on to say that “you’re a business person, but you’re also an artist, in a way.” The question you have to answer is, “what is it that they don’t know they need now, but they know they would need next time?” And Mark says that’s something you should consider giving them.
If you want to hear more words of wisdom, visit his website, levyinnovation.com or join him at the Smart Hustle Growth Conference on 25 October 2019.
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HP Elite Dragonfly Notebook PC - The Perfect Computer for Road Warriors
A few months ago my computer broke. Actually it went under the car I was in and was crushed. I quickly ran into Best Buy to buy another one.
I was disappointed that computers that had a USB-3 port were large and bulky. The ones with a full HDMI port were also bulky. Many had the newer USB-c connections but those had not USB-3 and on and on it goes.
Seeing the new HP Elite Dragonfly Notebook PC, I was HIGHLY impressed. HIGHLY.
Overall it's light. Very light. Starts at 2.2lbs - less than 1kg.
HP has put a lot of thought into the small details of this notebook that overall make it a powerful and productive machine.
There are two options of batter power you can order when buying the Drangonfly notebook. Both last long, one lasts even longer.
I love that HP's notebook has both USB-c (so you can charge it via Thunderbolt technology) and USB-3 (your standard USB) and full HDMI port for your next great presentation.
While some notebooks sacrifice their keyboard, HP's Dragonfly does not. They've put a bit of thought into into the keyboard design to make sure when you type it's a full typing experience.
Many people are nervous about hackers getting into their webcams and seeing them. A good fear to have. No longer do you have to have a stupid looking piece of tape or a sticky note covering your webcam but HP's built a webcam cover into the Drangonfly.
HP's SureView software lets you quickly turn your regular screen into a privacy screen which blocks what you're typing from prying eyes on the left and right side of you.
The alloy construction of this notebook, means it's HIGHLY durable and strong and coated with an oleophobic coating that helps the oils in your fingers not smug it up.
If you're looking for your next great notebook the HP Elite Dragonfly notebook PC is perfect for the road warrior and highly mobile professional.
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So You Want to Implement an Identity Solution: Here’s How to Begin & What to Consider
IT and security professionals have more responsibilities than ever, particularly at SMBs. Competing priorities from the helpdesk to network maintenance to managing user access and securing employee identities are made all the more complicated by the variety of apps and devices in use across a company. Getting visibility into who is accessing what, when, and where – and then controlling it – can sometimes seem like a Herculean task. And while numerous identity and access management (IAM) solutions exist, most SMBs have the added challenge of balancing ease of use for employees with security.
As an IT professional at an SMB, you may find yourself in any number of different positions with regards to your identity program. According to our recent research, ninety nine percent of you believe that managing user access is important to the overall security of your organization. However, 92 percent of you also say you are experiencing at least one challenge when it comes to identity. Perhaps you’ve invested in one IAM technology and are wondering how to add others – from SSO and password managers to MFA, adaptive authentication and biometrics. Perhaps your organization has long used all of them but are finding your existing solutions no longer support the business. Or, perhaps your business has no identity program in place – in which case we recommend you start by understanding:
The problems you’re trying to solve: Is managing user access a hurdle? Are employees securely managing passwords? Is too much security impacting employee productivity?
Your requirements for solving those problems: What type of identity solution meets the challenge you’re facing? Is there a unified solution that can meet all of those challenges in one?
The technologies you currently use to meet those requirements: Are you using password management? Single sign-on? Multifactor authentication?
Current gaps in the technologies you’re using: Are you using specific IAM technologies in isolation?
Additional technologies that may help address those gaps: How can you complement your existing IAM solutions to securely manage user identity?
Any technology that is tedious to use or slows down a user’s workflow will be a hindrance, and adoption will suffer. That’s why it’s critical to choose identity solutions that are easy for employees to use and adopt, while still increasing the overall security of the organization. SMBs need an identity-as-a-service solution that reduces friction with a simple deployment that unifies employee access and authentication into a centralized view – making user experience and security top priorities. In fact, 93 percent of IT professionals agree that implementing a better approach to IAM could increase employee efficiency. To realize those benefits, it’s crucial to invest in a holistic solution that balances user experience with security.
You also need to consider to what extent tools will integrate with current and future resources and applications, as well as your definition of identity governance, asking who should have access to what and under which circumstances.
By clarifying your current identity position, you can research and evaluate identity technologies with greater focus and intent. Careful planning and decision-making can ensure that an investment in IAM solutions brings the maximum productivity and security benefits.
A holistic solution that brings the benefits of each IAM technology together is the best option for SMBs. An all-in-one solution that offers unified visibility and control across every access point, with an end user experience that is easy to learn and use, is the most likely to lead to a successful identity management program. With unified visibility into user access and authentication across the business, SMBs can reap the rewards of balancing user experience and increased security.
Published in partnership with LastPass.
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8 Steps to Building a Plan for Your First Customer Event
If you are working on your first event for your customers, you need a plan. That’s true for any kind of event, from a festival to a fundraiser to a funhouse.
Writing an event plan might sound like a major project, and it kind of is. That’s because it’s the best way to prove your event is a valuable investment to potential partners, sponsors, and other stakeholders.
But with a systematic approach, writing an event business plan is also a straightforward process involving specific steps.
Here are 8 steps to building an event business plan, from Ronnie Higgins, Eventbrite’s Content Strategy Manager.
Step #1: Craft your event mission statement
Your mission statement describes your event in a short sentence or two. It helps sell your event to important stakeholders and forms the foundation of your marketing. In fact, every decision you make will ultimately trace back to your mission.
TechCrunch Disrupt is an annual San Francisco event where technology startups learn, network, and compete for a $100,000 grand prize. Companies like Dropbox, Mint, and Fitbit got their start here.
Here’s the mission of this exciting conference:
Disrupt is where the startup world gathers to see the present and the future of tech in one place.
This high-level mission statement sells the spirit of TechCrunch Disrupt succinctly. Make yours equally inspiring.
Step #2: Describe your greater vision
While a mission statement says what your event is about, a vision statement describes what you hope your event brand will become. It’s your big, hairy, audacious goal (your BHAG).
The Susan G. Komen Foundation uses the mission statement “Save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer.”
But the Foundation’s vision is even more aspirational:
A world without breast cancer.
What’s your big-sky vision? You might not cure cancer, but perhaps you want to eventually turn your little foodie pop-up into a nationwide series of locavore festivals.
Step #3: List the key objectives you want to measure
To convert your mission into on-the-ground action, list the key tasks and deliverables integral to your event.
In the foodie pop-up example above, a few key objectives might be to:
Host 3 foodie pop-ups in your local area this year
Find at least 10 sponsors — local food purveyors or restaurants
Acquire 10,000 followers on Instagram
Your key objectives should be doable in the short-term and in the future. Make them aspirational but achievable — and definitely measurable.
Step #4: Tell a vivid story about your event
Here’s the heart of your business plan: a tangible description of your event. Define what makes it unique and sell your audience on your vision with data that grounds it in reality.
Here’s how to craft a succinct event story:
Describe your target audience, with research into the market
List potential or actual sponsors, investors, and partners who will support and influence your event
Lay out the team structure you intend to build — who will get what done?
Your job here is to convince the reader that your event will be successful. Give proof that you can back up your ideas with business acumen.
Step #5: Detail a marketing strategy
Word of mouth is the dream, but most events don’t sell themselves, at least not in the beginning. You’ve already described your mission, your vision, and the event itself. Use this content in your marketing plan and include additional information like:
How will you price your event?
Which marketing channels will you use?
What’s your promotion budget?
Your target audience will determine the direction of your marketing. If your arts event caters to twenty-somethings, the highly visual environment Instagram provides will be a better marketing match than LinkedIn.
Step #6: Outline your event’s operational requirements
There are countless logistics that go into even the smallest event. Break your needs into categories: facilities, services, staffing, production, technology, legal, and insurance as a starting point.
Don’t leave anything out. This exercise will help you with the next step — assigning a cost to each aspect of your event.
Step # 7: Crunch the numbers for your event budget
Financial forecasts are essential to proving the event will be profitable — and to making your plan a business plan. It’s common to include both an overview of your numbers as well as a full budget spreadsheet (usually as part of an appendix).
Identify all potential income streams, like ticket sales, exhibition space sales, food, or merchandise. If you have funding secured or capital saved, include that as well.
You’ll also need to tally all expenditures, including your operational and promotional costs.
Your business plan might serve as a way to win over potential investors. For instance, if your visionary idea for a national yoga teachers’ conference will require an initial cash infusion to get off the ground, show how it will pay for itself in a matter of years in your budget.
Step #8: Conduct a SWOT analysis for your event
SWOT stands for “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.” This risk assessment is important because every event carries inherent risks. It’s a liability to ignore them. You want to identify and acknowledge any risks, then provide solutions.
For example, your fundraising triathlon is at the mercy of the weather. You’re aware there’s a risk it could get shut down by a thunderstorm. But you’ve mitigated that risk by planning it for the mildest time of year and getting catastrophe insurance.
Set your event business plan in motion
To dive deep into the details of creating an event business plan, and learn how to compile these sections into an effective document, Eventbrite has a helpful guide that I recommend to any entrepreneur starting out in the event business..bk-author-box{display:none;}
Authored by:
Ronnie Higgins
Ronnie manages content strategy at Eventbrite, helping event planners level-up their registration game. Born and raised in New Orleans, there’s nothing he enjoys more than helping people get together—whether it’s for a conference, class, or a city-wide party like Mardi Gras.
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Zoho One Cements Place in Business Technology Industry with Shiny New Features
Customer experience has been a business buzzword this year. But, when it comes to using technology to facilitate the best user and customer experience, businesses oftentimes face challenges. Multiple logins, systems that don’t communicate, important customer information lost in translation, and overall more work for you. Since Zoho One launched in 2017, its goal has been to offer an integrated approach to technology that would give businesses a better user experience.
The organization prides itself on the premise of being a unified operating system that is capable of running your entire business including sales, marking, finance, HR, operations, and more. After being in the game for just over 2 years, Zoho One has been quick to keep up with ever-evolving technology.
As Zoho One continues to grow with and for its customers, the platform is expanding, reimagining and redefining how technology platforms should be moving forward and setting the tone for the entire industry.
Zoho One announced several important changes to their portfolio today. They rolled out several new operating-system services. All of the new features are available today (9/12) and are included with Zoho One.
Communications
PhoneBridge is Zoho's new telephony platform, which integrates over 50 telephony vendors on one side and several Zoho applications on the other side.
PhoneBridge integration enables telephony in Zoho apps like CRM and Recruit. It integrates with over 20 Zoho apps, allows users to make calls directly from those Zoho apps, and provides important data on incoming calls.
Single Sign-On
The new Single Sign-On service from Zoho One allows customers to integrate any third-party applications onto their Zoho account. This new feature currently supports approximately 50 third-party applications with the promise to keep expanding that list. Zoho’s SSO is another prime example of Zoho’s commitment to providing a seamless user experience and is ultra-scalable for mid-to-large sized businesses. In addition to the existing multi-factor authentications already supported, Zoho One administrators can now require YubiKey authentication as an added security factor.
App Management and Provisioning
Zoho One currently enables provisioning for all 45+ Zoho apps. This is now being extended to custom apps created through Zoho Creator as well as external apps available through Zoho Marketplace.
Zoho, third-party, custom, and SSO apps can be provisioned either individually to users or as groups conditionally provisioned with custom criteria.
Zoho One's new Admin Panel with dashboards and reports allows admins to monitor user activity and app usage, enabling them to find and manage underutilized resources. Admins also get extensive reports on user management, sign-in activity, app usage, and account security.
Orchestly
The cherry-on-top of Zoho’s latest rollout is Orchestly. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, Orchestly enables managers with zero coding skills to easily define processes. Orchestly allows managers and administrators to automate and run their regular workflows, and can even support cross-departmental workflows such as purchase approvals, content publishing, asset management, and onboarding.
Zoho Sign
The Zoho Sign feature has been upgraded to include an additional level of verification for customers by implementing blockchain-based timestamping through Ethereum, the globally accepted, open-source platform.
Although Zoho One has come out with a multitude of changes that only add value to their product, their pricing remains at $30 per employee. Every feature highlighted above is included in Zoho One for no additional cost to the user.
The Austin, Texas-based company has contributed immeasurable value to the realm of business technology in just 2 short years. Their respect for user privacy, excellent customer support, and pioneering an integrated system is evident by their 45 million users worldwide.
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How to Drive Traffic to Your Event Landing Page
Your event landing page has 10 seconds to capture a visitor’s interest. That’s not a lot of time to spark an event-goer’s imagination and hold their attention.
How do you strike a balance between eye catching design, strong messaging for why attendees should come, and the value they’ll get all on one event landing page?
Ronnie Higgins, Eventbrite’s senior content strategy manager, shares some advice on how to create the perfect event landing page.
What’s an event landing page?
An event landing page is different from your main website as it is designed with a singular focus — to get visitors to register or purchase tickets to your event.
Whether your event landing page is for a concert,, conference, or trade show, it’s primary goal is to drive attendance. If your messaging is confusing to visitors and difficult to navigate, then all of your marketing efforts will be for naught.
There are two key components to creating a perfect event landing page: copy and design.
How to create compelling copy for your page
Before you type a single word, take a moment to think about who you’re speaking to. When you truly understand the audience you’re trying to reach, it’ll be much easier to write copy that speaks to them.
For example, a conference for recruiters focused on industry trends wouldn’t use the same voice as a multi-day music festival. The conference would use a professional tone and more formal language, whereas the festival would take a conversational approach.
How you format the copy on your landing page is also important. Make yours is easy to understand with these tips:
Write a clear call-to-action: Since you have a short amount of time to capture a potential attendees’ interest, you’ll need a clear, action-oriented copy that ultimately leads them to register for your event or purchase a ticket.
Use short sentences and paragraphs: A good rule of thumb is to keep your copy short and sweet. Maximize the effectiveness of your landing page by distilling only the highlights: what to expect, who the speakers will be, which vendors will be there. Write short, easy to read sentences that can be skimmed by prospective attendees.
Lastly, your event landing page should encourage visitors to purchase a ticket or register for your event. You can do this by creating a sense of urgency with potential event-goers and guiding them into the purchase process. Write straightforward, action-oriented CTAs (call to action) buttons that can’t be missed — or ignored — like “Buy Now” or “Click Here To Register”.
How to design an event landing page
The words used to describe your event and convince visitors it can’t be missed are important. But the design of your event landing page can stand in the way of your event’s success. The layout, colors, and other visual aspects on the page should support your copy. It has to be clear and intuitive, naturally leading visitors to the action you want them to take.
Follow these tips to make your design capture interest and drive attendance:
Keep it simple: Don’t clutter the page with unnecessary visuals and design elements that make it difficult to navigate. You’ll only end up frustrating interested visitors who would have otherwise attended your event.
Make it easy to purchase or register: In the case of event registration pages where you need to collect additional information from your guests, it’s important to limit the forms to only pertinent information. Lengthy registration forms on your landing page will deter attendees from completing the required fields.
Optimize for every device: Don’t forget to optimize your event landing page for mobile. Half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so be sure your landing page is mobile ready.
Take your event page for a test drive
Want to know if event landing page is…landing? Ask a colleague or someone who isn’t as familiar with your event to read your landing page. Have them to summarize the benefits of attending. If their summary doesn’t match up with what you want to communicate, you can make the necessary tweaks before it’s too late.
If you’re trying to decide between two landing page designs, you can test to see which is most effective through multivariate testing tools like Yieldify.
.bk-author-box{display:none;}
Authored by:
Ronnie Higgins
Ronnie manages content strategy at Eventbrite, helping event planners level-up their registration game. Born and raised in New Orleans, there’s nothing he enjoys more than helping people get together—whether it’s for a conference, class, or a city-wide party like Mardi Gras.
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Secrets from The Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network Summit-Singapore
Ramon Ray recently attended the 10th annual Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network Summit in Singapore. The Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) connects female entrepreneurs across the globe with networks, sources of capital, knowledge, and technology, giving them the power to do more. Ramon was able to score some exclusive one-one time with some of the presenters/attendees and they had some fantastic advice to give! Take a closer look at each interview for even more insights from this year’s summit.
Aditi Balbir
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Aditi Balbir is revolutionizing the hospitality industry in India. Her business makes vacation rentals more reputable and more efficiently managed. She’s been running her business for over 5 years and her advice to new entrepreneurs is to above all else, “run your business with profitability as your main goal.”
Cheryl Liew-Chng
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Cheryl Liew-Chng offers great and applicable insight on balancing your work life and your personal life. She even built a business around the very idea! The 24-Hour Woman based on the premise that women entrepreneurs can partake in all the joys of life, even with just 24 hours in a day.
Melissa Shepard
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If you’ve ever wondered whether CRM is the right choice for your business, let Melissa Shepard clear up any doubts you have. Melissa is a CRM and Salesforce expert with over 20 years of experience in CRM improvements and innovations and believes CRM can only make your business better.
Michele Ruiz
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Michele is an entrepreneur who has owned several businesses and in doing so has found the secret recipe to building and scaling a business without sacrificing your personal life and goals. She says the key is that you have to “think about the life that you want,” and build and scale your business around that vision.
�� Sabrina Tan
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For Sabrina, founder and CEO of Skin Inc, the transition from the tech industry to skincare wasn’t an easy one. But her hard-won lessons on perseverance should serve as an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere.
Erick Day
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Erick highlights some of the take-aways from this year’s summit. The opportunity to come together in a community of support with companies that are having similar issues and the ability to have authentic conversations helps attendees solve critical problems is invaluable. Erick also talks on the importance of having a strong CRM infrastructure and how good data enables businesses to make better decisions. He also touches on issues that women exclusively face, including lack of access to capital funding.
Kate & Clare
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This pair of entrepreneurs each own their own businesses but work together to maximize what they bring to the table. These complementary businesses are both female-run, which Kate and Clare admit has been a challenge in Ireland where the pool of inspiration for female business owners is small.
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A Hospitality Entrepreneur Changing How Travelers See the World
Ramon Ray spoke to many women during his time at the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network in Singapore. Many have created businesses that are changing industries and even the world. Aditi Balbir and her business, V Resorts, are no different.
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Aditi Balbir is changing the game of how small hotels and resorts can source and manage their customers. Even though AirBnB is popular in India where Aditi lives, she explains that there have been issues with quality and trust, which is causing many people to skip out on the AirBnB experience. Aditi’s business is trying to solve that problem for both the owners of the properties and the customer who needs a place to stay.
Her business, V Resorts, will actually take over the management of your small property, hotel, or resort. That means her team will handle things like housekeeping, vendor management, customer service, and more.
Our business model is simple – develop a new destination, establish a resort, support the local villages by providing employment, developing new skills, supporting the local trade, and provide the customer with a true ‘Make In India’ tourism experience.
New Age Solutions
V Resorts coins itself as a new age travel solutions company that provides standardized boutique experiences in the leisure travel space. Primarily built on the concept of introducing the harried Indian traveler to new and unexplored places in the country, V Resorts is developing new destinations — and — ideas for tourism.
Today, they have more than 100 properties spread across 17 Indian states. Balbir conceptualized the business idea while conducting research for Bedrock Ventures. “When you expose urban travelers to unique travel experiences such as discovering the regional arts and crafts, indigenous food et all, awareness and appreciation grows, and it empowers the 'little India', leading to the successful growth of the model,” she says.
V Resorts relies entirely on local staff and resources to run the properties they manage, and they practice environmentally friendly policies, including conservation of water and use of solar power. Her philosophy includes adding to the local economies by partnering with local vendors who can provide guests with a glimpse of regional art, craft, music, and dance.
About Aditi Balbir, Woman Entrepreneur
Aditi left a career in finance that spanned almost a decade and has become a well-known entrepreneur in India. Her drive and vision quickly shaped V Resorts into a successful venture. She also enjoys mentoring other women and fostering entrepreneurship. She’s on the panel of the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network and the Cherie Blair Foundation.
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5 Tips To Pitch Your Business at Live Events
So you've got your first (or 10th) opportunity to pitch your business at a live event. Congrats.
At these kinds of events you're pitching your business to the attendees, often other business owners.
Most of the time you're also pitching your business to a panel of media, infleuncers or others.
Here's how to ROCK that pitch and ensure it goes well.
Want to attend Smart Hustle PITCH!?
Be clear and concise
Too many times someone has stood up, to give their pitch and by the time they sat down people were MASSIVELY confused! It's so important that when you pitch use clear language and get to the point. If you feel that what you're pitching will be hard to understand, give an example. Apples are sweet and delicious. Our new health bar tastes like an apple and looks like a golf ball. People now understand.
Work the room before you pitch
Before I give a keynote presentation I'm often working the room and greeting a few people. This does a few things. It lets me get a sense for who is in the room. It make people feel good about me. It calms me down. Working the room before you pitch gives you a few people who are now more friendly towards you and your fans!
Know why you want to pitch (to get a follow up conversation!)
You are NOT pitching to tell everything about your business. The purpose of your pitch is to TEASE the audience enough to want to have a longer conversation with you!
Be engaging with humor or emotional heart pull
You MUST connect with the audience and get their attention. You can do this with genuine and authentic humor OR do this by connect with them on a more serious level. One lady started the pitch for her business by saying, "I was raped". This got our attention.
Make people smarter
When you finish your pitch, people should feel smarter. Try to leave people some information so they feel that the 30 seconds or 5 minutes you were speaking to them was well worth their time.
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2 Female Entrepreneurs Getting the Party Started
Ramon Ray spent a few minutes talking to Clare Harris and Kate Hyde during the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network in Singapore. Clare and Kate are female business owners who have complementary businesses that don’t compete with each other but instead enforce a nice referral system. Businesses supporting other businesses in a symbiotic relationship is always helpful for female entrepreneurs.
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About Talking Tables, Clare Harris
Clare Harris founded talkingtables.com in 1999, right in time for the turn of the century celebrations. Her idea for this venture came from a love of hosting informal, fun gatherings at home. Now, after seeing steady growth, Talking Tables employs 50+ people and sells many varied, colorful and stylish party products, all of which are great at getting the ‘table talking’.
Clare knows that many people take pleasure in creating a nice environment for hosting family and friends, and her company is filling the need of where consumers can find the products they need and that showcase their personality.
About Glencove Group, Kate Hyde
Back in 2008, Kate Hyde realized that no one in Ireland was claiming the market of the thousands of women who were going on hen parties (i.e. bachelorette parties) every year. So, Kate decided to build Irelands’ first hen party website.
The business gained traction and started to go from a pipe dream to generating revenue through smart advertising. Following a media appearance in 2009, Kate had her national launch and further spread the hen party word and began to reframe the hen party industry — from an undesirable concept in the public eye to a mainstream and viable revenue stream.
Now, glencovegroup.com has multiple offices and over 40,000 people attending their events — each year!
A Little Motivation
When asked about inspiration and what words of advice they have, Clare was quick to say that you need to believe in your market and believe that there are other people, like you, with similar interests. Those are the people who will be excited to see your business come to market. She also said it’s important to be resilient and determined. Simple words with a strong punch.
Kate had similar thoughts, commenting that you need to have belief in what you are doing and yourself and that you should find other people who have similar drive and motivation. In her case, she is motivated by other women in business.
You can learn more about their businesses by checking out talkingtables.com and glencovegroup.com
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Media Secrets from a Publicity Guinness Record Setter
Jess Todtfeld was a TV producer on the national level at ABC, NBC, and FOX but always wanted to start his own business. So, with a wealth of industry know-how, he started a media training business. Jess helps train people on how to get media attention and then what to do with it once they get it! Jess says, “the important thing is not that you go do this one interview one time” it’s about making sure you make the most of out if.
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Jess implores small business owners to find their call to action, which means figuring out “what do I need to say in the interview so that they’ll reach out and set up a phone conversation, an introductory or discovery call.”
Credibility is King
Ramon points out that the goal of media attention and publicity is not to get a direct lead. You may find that an interview does lead to some leads, but the overarching goal of a press interview should be to establish credibility.
The overarching goal of a press interview should be to establish credibility.
Credibility can tighten the sales loop. People have heard about you, they’ve seen you on a national or local news outlet, they start to feel like they know you. Jess says by the time you get to that first sales conversation, “they feel like—'I’m talking to a star. I’m talking to Ramon Ray today, I’ve seen him on TV!’”
Jess emphasizes that it’s not publicity alone that will benefit your business. It’s this powerful combination of:
Visibility
Publicity
Credibility
Jess advises people who are going to do an interview to give something away for free. So that people can opt-in and you can convert interviews into leads. Take the interview and push it out in your email, social media, use an auto-posting service to extend the life of that interview. In this interview, he leads by example and incentivizes views to visit mediatrainingtoolkit.com where they can access many of his “Top 10 Lists” for free.
Don’t Discount the Little Guys
You don’t have to get an interview on a national media outlet like FOX or CNN to make publicity work for you. Jess says the same principles apply, it still works, you’re just talking to a very specific audience. This could be beneficial if you are selling your product or service to a niche market.
The How to Get an Interview Checklist
Create a list of media targets.
Send an email out to everyone on your list.
Play a long game and numbers game- be prepared to send out your email with frequency.
Perfect your look, put some effort in. Make sure you're on brand and you've taken time to think about your branding.
You have to be able to format the email in a way that it’s easily digestible.
Don’t Be Discouraged- You may send out an email and the person might not reply to you. It may not be because they don’t like you. Jess says people automatically assume that because the person they sent the email to didn’t reply it’s because they didn’t like the pitch. “Who knows how many people even opened it?” He asks, “Did you check your open rate?” Know if you even use the kind of software that can provide that data.
The Formula for a Great Pitch
In this example, we take a look at “Becky”.
“Becky” is in graphic arts and branding and considers herself a branding expert. She comes up with a great hook- “Why your personal brand will get you fired.” She puts that directly in her subject line.
The perfect pitch should include:
Short intro
Headline
Subhead
Bullet points on what she will say in her potential interview
The media can now envision how an interview might go. Make it easy on them! If the journalist has to do all of the work, like finding your bio and headshot or come up with the flow of your entire interview, they probably won’t give you the interview because it means more work for them.
Idea Fishing for Media Hooks
One of the toughest things when creating your pitch is coming up with the perfect headline or hook. Jess gives us a fantastic method to create a hook and it’s called idea fishing. The concept is relatively simple and so easy! Simply go to a news site for inspiration, Jess walks us through it on news.google.com. Take a look at the headlines. One example we see is “3 Tips for Building Courage and Resilience from a Navy SEAL.” Jess recommends taking that as an example and coming up with your own applicable headline. “What would your 3 tips be?” Jess says his might be something like, “3 Tips for Growing Your Business from a Guinness Record Setter for Publicity.”
Try also searching in a subject outside of your own. Jess quickly searches for headlines in the estate planning industry. The top result is a headline from CNBC that reads, “Steer clear of the 8 biggest estate plan mistakes.” Maybe there is a week for your industry that you can leverage for a great headline. Ramon points out that this is such a great idea because big players like CNBC have spent hours perfecting these headlines. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, take what’s already been done and make it your own.
The Biggest Media Mistakes to Avoid
No matter whether you’re interviewing with a major news outlet or a niche podcaster, Jess is intent that the biggest mistake you can make when seeking publicity is “not being clear about what you want to make happen as a result of the interview before you go in and not having an authentic call to action.” You don’t have to outright promote your business. Don’t worry about getting a plug in for your book. A good host will promote you. Focus instead on the value you can provide to the audience and on communicating what problems you’re solving, the solutions you’re giving, and the pains you’re helping people avoid.
Get even more media secrets from Jess Todtfeld at the Smart Hustle Growth Conference on October 25, 2019. For customized publicity solutions, reach out to Jess with all of your TV, radio, print, and social media publicity questions by visiting PRsecretweapons.com.
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DWEN: How Is Small Business Working for Women?
Ramon Ray got a chance to catch up with Erik Day, who heads up Dell’s Small Business Network. Erik had been at the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network in Singapore summit as well and noted the amazing relationships and networking he’s seen over the course of his time there.
“Having a community of support to come together and build relationships and create authentic relationships helps everyone solve problems.”
The summit featured a lot of great topics, including technology, which can be a topic of intimidation to many people(understandably!). But, with technology and machine learning comes a lot of great data, and when used properly, data can push a business forward into success.
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The Importance of Learning from Data
Erik brought to light a really good point that all small business owners and entrepreneurs should keep front of mind: learn from the data you collect. That is, make sure you invest in a really good CRM. As you collect data from prospects and clients, a good CRM tool will help you learn from it. What’s the point of storing information if you can’t have it work for you?
Cultural Issues
Another topic that came up over the course of the event was overcoming cultural issues such as access to funding (check out the WE Cities Index, the only global, gender-specific study that looks at a city's ability to foster the growth of women-owned businesses), access to talent, and what technology is available to help women in business be productive and successful.
Expanding DWEN
Erik explains that the goal for this network is to evolve into more consistent, relevant conversations throughout the year to help solve some of the problems mentioned above. Erik said that more and more women are starting businesses that will change the world. Needing businesses that help make the world a better place will be critical, and Erik sees a lot of that at DWEN.
Erik and Ramon bonded over having their minds “blown” by all the smart minds around them at the summit, which speaks to the level of leadership and dedication these women entrepreneurs have.
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5 Tips to Craft Your Perfect Business Pitch
Ramon Ray is hosting a LIVE event to help small business owners get publicity for their small businesses. Join him on September 10th in NYC in a fun, fast-paced, and informative even that will help you grow your business through publicity and connecting with the media.
For now, keep reading to learn how to start crafting your business pitch.
1. Know Your Audience
A sales pitch can come off like a con if you pursue prospects who aren’t really interested in your product or services. Remember, your business has value to the right people.
Learn to identify prospects who will genuinely benefit from your business. Figure out what matters to different people, and learn how they do business. If you target compatible prospects, it will be easier to create a conversational tone in sales pitches that don’t make anyone feel like they are being sold to.
2. Research!
You don’t want to use the same standard sales pitch for each person you speak to. Nowadays, individuals and businesses share information about online, so you can do your research ahead if you know who you’ll be speaking to.
Check out their websites, social media, and other online resources to gather information that can help you relate to the specific people you’ll be talking to. Time is limited when you need to create a connection quickly. Look for a way to make people feel comfortable right from the start. That way, there’s a better chance at them having an open mind and being receptive to your message.
3. Build Anticipation
What are your services worth? What tangible benefits do businesses and clients gain from hiring you or working with your business? A good pitch will provide specific information — not vague generalizations. So, how do you accomplish this? Consider the following:
Show a live demo of your service or product and show how it solves the problem
Tell a story or provide an example of a previous problem you solved in a real situation
Share specializations that make you particularly suited for the prospect or audience
You should consider personalizing your approach to fit each situation. A live demo is perfect for a physical product, while portfolios are better for any projects or work that are difficult to display or happened in a digital form.
4. Practice, Practice, Practice
Pitching your business successfully is a skill, and like most skills, the more you practice the better you get. Take the time to practice your entire pitch, including answers to likely questions, until you know it inside and out. The more comfortable you are with this conversation, the more likely you are to win someone over in a meeting or at an event. Practice in the mirror, with friends, colleagues, or even a business coach.
5. Putting It to Use
A pitch can happen at a networking event, a sales meeting, over lunch, or on public transportation. That’s why it’s so important to have your pitch, or pitches, retained in a comfortable and natural way. Make sure you are relaxed, as less is more when delivering this information. Also, prioritize the important topics and stick to those, try not to veer too much.
Smart Hustle Pitch is a unique experience designed for business owners to refine their pitch and meet the media. Join fellow successful business owners along with journalists, bloggers, podcasters, editors, and more to streamline your pitch and generate more publicity for your business.
To learn more and reserve your spot, click here.
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CRM: Your Small Biz Can’t Live Without It
Ramon Ray caught up with Melissa Shepard, Chief Architect, President and CEO at Lizzard Tech Consulting, a Salesforce silver consulting partner based in the USA at the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network in Singapore. Melissa is a CRM and Salesforce expert with over 20 years of experience in CRM improvements and innovations. Melissa is passionate about CRM and what it can do for small businesses.
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Why Your Business Can’t Live Without CRM
The list of reasons why you need CRM to efficiently run your small business is seemingly endless. Melissa says it’s important because it:
pulls all of your customer data.
gives you insight into your customers.
helps you communicate with your customers.
helps you report on data and analyze analytics.
helps you build your pipeline so you know what’s coming in so you can plan for the future .
helps with sales, marketing, operations, customer service—and basically everything!
“{CRM} really will run your entire company,” adds Melissa.
Businesses Without CRM Have it Harder
Melissa’s been in the CRM business for over 20 years, and she’s probably seen it all. Businesses that don’t implement a CRM system struggle. Melissa says if you’re not using CRM, “You’re not communicating with the customers, you’re missing out on opportunities and possible sales, you’re not tracking your revenue. You’re not able to report on your data, no customer insights, you don’t know your customer base and who you’re selling to.” Communication is such an important thing in running a business and without CRM you’re not doing that as effectively as you could be.
A CRM System That Scales
Melissa admits that for some businesses, CRM is not easy to implement. “There are CRM systems that are easy to use and some that aren’t so easy,” she says. But, Salesforce can be customized to specifically meet the needs of just about any business out there. Other CRMs, while easier to use, operate at a much more basic level. That’s fine for very small businesses, but Melissa says, “as you grow, and figure out your processes, something like Salesforce is going to support that growth.” Businesses can start out small with Salesforce Essentials, then as they grow, move up to Professional, and then Enterprise when your business goes global and you start growing at a pace where your business outgrows the smaller programs.
Let The Experts Face the Challenges
CRM is designed to support business processes. Melissa says one of their biggest challenges when helping a business troubleshoot a CRM program is when the business’s processes aren’t functioning properly within Salesforce. Melissa and her team make sure that everything is architected properly upfront, and will meet the business process needs, so a business can successfully scale upon that foundation. If your business’s CRM foundation isn’t set right, you’ve only wasted your time and money because it will have to be redone.
CRM Is There to Support Your Business
Melissa and her team conduct a business analysis when helping a company implement or troubleshoot CRM. They look at the day-to-day operations of the business and determine how they can create business processes with the CRM system that can best support that. Sometimes that means tweaking the business processes. Sometimes, Melissa says,
“it means taking a look at the company holistically, seeing how each team operates and how can they operate better together as opposed to in these silos and then creating that 360-degree view of the customer.”
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