“Made to Stick” Author Keynotes Entrepreneurial Conference
Date Posted: 8/27/2008

Made to Stick author keynotes September Entrepreneurial Conference

AdvantageWest Economic Development Group and The Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council have announced the 6th Annual Carolina Connect Conference on September 11th at The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.

Carolina Connect is a regional conference fostering entrepreneurial growth of businesses of all sizes and stages.

Leading our morning discussion this year will be Ryan Allis, Founder and CEO of iContact which is a Durham NC based company who currently leads market in providing email marketing tools for small business. Ryan built iContact from its start in 2003 to its current size of over 100 employees, 25,000 customers and $15 million in annual sales. In 2005, Ryan was named by BusinessWeek as one of the top 25 Entrepreneurs under age 25. He is the author of “Zero to One Million”.

Every truly successful business started around an idea; the age old question . . . what differentiates a good idea from a great idea? Building on the electricity created by last year’s keynote, Guy Kawasaki and upon his recommendation, we are pleased to announce the lunch keynote, Dan Heath, co-author of “Made to Stick”. Dan will describe the traits that link sticky ideas of all kinds from urban legends to corporate mission statements to successful advertisements. Dan has taught and consulted on the topic of making ideas stick with audiences from organizations including Nissan, Microsoft, Home Depot, Fannie Mae and West Point. Dan is a consultant with Duke Corporate Education in Durham NC.

In addition to these two dynamic speakers, we will be offering the Kaufman Foundation’s widely-acclaimed “Power of Angel Investing” seminar as a separate track of the conference. This track is resereved for those individuals who are existing angels or those interested in learning more about angel investing. Space is limited so please register early for this session.

Three exciting educational tracks for entrepreneurs include; Startup Survival, High Growth Gear and Fund Me which will cover everything from strategic business planning, sales and marketing, cash flow management to sources of funding for your venture.

Finally we will close the day with a dynamic PowerPoint free series of theme-focused roundtables in our Critical Conversation Networking Cafe where you will hear from industry experts on topics such as; Startup Management, Social Marketing, Fundraising Facts of Life, When Your Partner is Your Partner, Putting the WOW in website Design and Function, and more . . .

We will close the day with networking at its best amid the magnificient Blue Ridge Mountains on the Vanderbilt Terrace and recap the day’s events and who know’s you might even win some cool new tech gadget.

Registration is affordable at $50.00 and covers the cost of breakfast, lunch, closing reception and access to all educational sessions. Register online at www.brecnc.com or contact Pam Lewis at plewis@awnc.org - 828-687-7234

Back