Every Vote Counts: Let The Voice Of The SMB be Heard!

The majority of US-based businesses are small or medium-sized. In addition to the size of the SMB market, both the economy and incentives from the federal government to encourage individuals to create business has positioned the SMB market as perhaps the most important sector of growth we’ve seen in more than a decade.

Large enterprises know this and are keen to reach entrepreneurs and executive at SMBs to help them grow, using their products and services as they scale into larger businesses.

This gave myself and Karen O’Brien, a partner a Crimson Consulting, the idea to being together a panel to educate those at South by Southwest (SXSW) and Enterprise 2.0 conferences to talk about how large enterprises can reach the SMB market and the promise it holds for them in doing so, as well as educating SMBs about what incentives these companies are providing to engage with the SMB customer. At SXSW, the panel will include representatives from Microsoft, Cisco and Yelp.

But these panels will not happen unless you vote to bring them to life… and the competition is fierce. That’s where your help comes in…

Please take a moment to vote for the panel on the SXSW panelpicker and leave a comment on what you think the promise the panel holds, what you would like to get out of it if you were to attend the session or anything else you think is important for us to know.

The panelists could be different, but the message very similar at Enterprise 2.0 – you can cast your vote here. Again, would love to hear your comments!

Everybody’s Doing It*, So Why Don’t We? (*it = social media)

I’m exciting to be moderating a great panel on Social Media and business Tuesday, February 16th from 6-9 PM. And I’m calling for your questions now (tweet in to @jennifered)!

The question?: To “go social” or not? And should we still be asking that question?

With San Francisco and Silicon Valley leading the world in web innovation and many considering our area the epicenter of all things social media, why are Bay Area companies still so reluctant – as much as those in the Midwest – to engage in the social web? And what about the original internet success story: the porn industry? It’s not thriving as much as you may think. So are companies that are reluctant to ‘go social’ making the right decision?

We’ve assembled a clever and varied panel for a provocative discussion from several different perspectives: big business, non-profits, small to medium size business, and a very specific ‘alternative’ industry.

[Please get your tickets now – there is limited seating and this event will sell out!]