Owners of small businesses have an opportunity to learn how technology can benefit their businesses September 30 at a free symposium offering assistance with digital marketing, websites, social media and productivity.
“In 2017, you’re only limited by your imagination,” says Carrol Josephs-Marshall, President of Central Florida Community Planning & Development, the event’s organizer.
The symposium offers free help to startups, businesses in the growth mode and successful companies ready to ramp up. “We offer technological assistance that is designed to help companies compete in a world that is becoming more and more digital,” she explains.
“We also take the digital discussion a step further by covering Business Intelligence and how it can make a small company an immediate competitor of a much larger corporation,” she says.
The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, at the Ybor City campus of Hillsborough Community College; 1320 E. Palm Ave., Tampa.
The program features industry experts who want to share practices they use in their own businesses. “Each attendee will have an opportunity to interact with presenters and get contact information so they may be able to get a one-on-one meeting at a later time,” she adds.
This year’s itinerary includes Janette Blanco, a business consultant with Florida Small Business Development Center; Andrew Gold, Ph.D., with Hillsborough Community College, and Co-Founder of e2Venture and Operation Startup; Rita Sauri, with Hillsborough County Economic Development; Gregory Hart, Managing Director of Minority and Small Business for the City of Tampa; and Charles Young Jr., a CPA and Managing Partner with Young and Son, Inc.
Also on the program are Sean Josephs, of The Josephs Group, Inc.; Leighton Kyler, of Peak Performance Paradigm LLC; Dr. Veronica Walters, Founder, The Walters Academy for Entrepreneurship; Brandy Hastings, Regional Partnership Manager, Visit Florida; Fabian Yepez, VP, Prosperausa West Coast; and Robert West Jr., Store Manager/AVP, TD Bank.
Check out more tech-related opportunities in Tampa Bay below.
• Tampa Bay is participating in the 1776 Challenge Cup September 19, joining more than 70 cities worldwide that are holding a pitch competition to single out their top startup. Winners will fly to New York City for the Challenge Cup Global Finals in November. If you’d like to come out and hear the pitches, the event is planned from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Tampa Theatre, 711 N. Franklin St. You can learn more about the event by the nonprofit business accelerator Tampa Bay WaVE here.
• Are you up for a challenge? You can help Hillsborough County control mosquitoes -- and prepare for a Zika threat. The Hack Zika 2017 event is scheduled for multiple dates, including a group hack September 22 to 24, independent teamwork from September 25 to 29 and presentations and awards September 30. The event is scheduled at Tampa Bay WaVE, 500 E. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 300, Tampa. Designers, programmers, developers, game engine experts, UX/UI experts, graphic designers and others are being asked to write software to help Hillsborough County Public Works Mosquito Control District combat mosquitoes through education, data collection and analysis. Zika is a disease spread by the Zika virus.
• Need funding for an innovative startup? The University of South Florida Chapter of National Academy of Inventors is holding a workshop to help you with that. Workshop: Avenues to Fuel Your Startup is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. September 25 at 3720 Spectrum Blvd., Oakview Room - USF IDRB Building, Tampa. A panel will talk about SBIR/STTR, VC funding and other seed resources. The event is free, but interested persons are advised to RSVP by September 18 by email or phoning 813-974-6414.
• Learn how artificial intelligence can affect our future at the Artificial Intelligence Summit from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. September 26 at Ramada Westshore Hotel, 1200 N. Westshore Blvd., Tampa. The effect of driverless Teslas, new search engine optimization rules on Google, and how wearable tech can help you save time are part of the program priced at $199. Members of Tampa Bay Business Owners pay $99 with a code. Learn more here.
• Learn how to get connected on the professional networking website, Linkedin, at Linkedin for Business Building, a program offered by Operation Startup. Operation Startup offers a wide range of business startup services to veterans. The program is scheduled from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. September 29 at Hillsborough County's Entrepreneur Collaborative Center in Ybor City, 2101 E. Palm Ave., Tampa. Walk-ins are welcome.
• In an attempt to make football safer, the National Football League and Football Research, Inc. are partnering with Duke University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute on HeadHealthTECH Challenges. The series of challenges are focused on head protection, materials science, head kinematics and more. If you’ve got an idea, you can submit it by September 29. There will be multiple awards totaling up to $1 million a year, including in-kind support.