Taking place in New Orleans at the Ernest N, Morial Convention Center this week, from July 27th through July 30th, is Sage Summit 2015. At the convention there will be talks from big names such as YouTube Cofounder, Chad Hurley; new host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah; General Colin L. Powell; Tony Hawk and more. From featured conversations with inspiring stories of business challenges and successes, to success strategies, business insights and customer stories from unique perspectives from thought leaders and various Sage customers. This series is designed to help small businesses overcome everyday business challenges. From trends, to insights and advice, these sessions are essential for any small business owner, so hopefully you registered for this amazing show.
Below I have listed some of the talks I recommend attending:
Tuesday July 27th
Gift and Loyalty in the Digital Age 11:45-12:30PM
This talk discusses customer loyalty, brand recognition and finding ways to build brand awareness to compete with larger competition. Featured speakers include Chris Brandage, Michael Hackney, Lori Laub and John Laurell.
Full STEAM Ahead: Inspiring Girls to get Involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics, 1:30-2:15PM
This talk discusses how to evoke change in the STEAM related fields and how to get more females involved in larger programs and initiatives to mentoring and to one-on-one with aspiring female students. Featured speakers include Lisa Kianoff, Lanee Kirby, Alisha Moore and Gail Perty.
Wednesday July 28th
Main Street NoLa: Staying Competitive and Managing Growth, 1:30-2:15PM
This talk, with featured executives from three New Orleans institutions, Adler’s Jewelry, James H. Cohen and Sons and Rubenstein’s discusses New Orleans’ small business atmosphere. These leaders have many great stories to share! Speakers include Mickal Adler, Steve Cohen, Jim Pendergast and Kenny Rubenstein.
Learn How Tim Horton’s Became a Marketing Giant, 3:30-4:15PM
Speaker Ron Buist, one of Canada’s most foremost marketing professionals, discusses how he helped Tim Horton’s grow from a single doughnut shop to a multi-billion dollar international Company. He discusses the 12 points to business success that he utilized at Tim Horton’s and how to stay up with the changing-customer.
Thursday July 29th
Using Psychology 101 to Build Your Business, 11:45-12:30PM
This talk goes over how you can use basic psychological principles to better understand the needs of your customer, and how to better cater to them. Delving into concepts such as perception, cognition, attention, and motivation can help build your business; featured speaker Leslie Shiner covers it all.
The Phenomenon of Mobile, 2:30-3:15PM
This talk discusses how the mobile market has grown so much in the last 10 years that it is imperative to have mobilely optimized websites and how mobile commerce is quickly becoming one of the newest ways to shop. Speaker Rieva Lesonsky goes through the intersection of retail, marketing and mobile.
As a shameless plug, I’ll also be speaking at this conference. My first talk, Titled “Create a Million-Dollar Digital Presence with One Hour and $25,” will cover how to use tools available today to create an impressive digital presence within a limited timeframe and even more limited budget. I will be designing a beautiful and effective website, demonstrating how to create responsive email, and more. The talk is ideal for small business owners, startups and others looking to create a unique and impressionable digital branding strategy.
My second talk later on Tuesday, titled “Going from a Million to a lot More with an Hour a Week of Google Analytics,” goes over how Google Analytics is the industry standard tool for tracking visitors on your website and mobile apps. It can do far more besides track visitors, and I am here to show how to install, navigate the interface, and best use the information it provides.
Are you heading over to Sage Summit this week? We’re excited to see you there!