Tulsa World: Oklahoma’s small businesses planning big conference
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September 12, 2011
Oklahoma’s small businesses planning big conference
by: LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9/11/2011 3:22:42 AMFor the first time in more than a decade, Tulsa will host a statewide gathering focused on small businesses.
Owners of small companies throughout the state are encouraged to attend and network with one another through the event, the Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Small Business, which will be held Oct. 13 and 14 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa.
Organizers hope the conference acts as a launching point for small businesses statewide to remain connected and help one another over the long term.
“Small business has the potential to do amazing things for our state and our nation if we could just unleash that power,” said Larry Mocha, conference chairman and president and CEO of APSCO Inc. in Tulsa.
Mocha sees the upcoming conference as a grass-roots movement for small business to come together and try to solve problems together long after the conference concludes.
So far, small business ambassadors from more than 60 counties in the state are registered to attend the conference, but Mocha would like to see all 77 counties represented.
Mocha together with Jerry Holder, owner of Holder and Associates, and Lynda Wingo, owner of Miss Helen’s Private School, began laying the groundwork for this conference about a year-and-a-half ago.
Oklahoma has had statewide governor’s conferences for small businesses before, but not like this one, and not in more than 10 years, Mocha said. The last statewide educational conference was held in 2000 in Tulsa. Annually, small businesses also gather for a special Small Business Day at the state Capitol.
“We wanted to be able to find a way to lift small businesses up,” said Lynda Wingo, owner of Miss Helen’s Private School.
Small business owners go to work every day, try to make payroll every day and maintain their business, and are the ones who drive the economic engine, she said. Regardless of where they are located in the state, small business owners share the same basic needs and deal with a lot of the same issues related to work force, health care, tort reform and workers’ comp.
Yet, many small business owners need help and are unaware of the tremendous amount of resources that are available to them, including local resources through the Tulsa Metro Chamber, Wingo said.
If small business people can pool their resources, bring their voices together and help one another find solutions, they become stronger, she added.
Seventy-five percent of all business in Oklahoma have fewer than 10 people on their payrolls, Mocha said.
“The majority of all businesses are small business, and we really need to do a better job of taking care of these people. It just kills me what comes down from Washington; there is so much rhetoric. Everybody likes to talk about small business because it impacts so many people, yet there are not that many people doing something about it,” Mocha said.
The upcoming conference is packed with educational workshops, a national keynote speaker and effective networking opportunities.
Hundreds of small business owners from across Oklahoma helped establish the conference programs. Each workshop has been carefully selected to deliver immediate, practical tools and information that small businesses can apply right away.
The conference kicks off Oct. 13 with a golf tournament and chamber after-hours trade show.
The nuts and bolts of the conference occurs Oct. 14 with a tentative agenda that includes three tracks of workshops, which focus on growing a business, workforce solutions and the right tools for success.
Workshop topics include marketing strategies using social media, apps for today’s business, access to financing, permitting solutions, tips for rural entrepreneurs, safety programs and training, and more.
Dan Danner, president of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, will be the luncheon keynote speaker, and Anthony Mulligan, founder and CEO of Advanced Ceramics Research, will provide the closing keynote.
More than anything, Mocha hopes small business people benefit from the connections and networking that takes place during the conference.
He sees this as a launching point for small business people across the state to share information and content and work together over time to remove barriers that negatively impact their businesses.
A lot of business owners have been depressed because of the economy, and this conference is one way to assist them, said Jerry Holder.
“We thought of putting an online network together that will allow people to sort of voice opinions and ask questions … and perhaps develop some business between the owners of different companies,” Holder said.
The governor, too, will be able to use that network to survey small business owners across the state, Holder added.
Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Small Business
Date: Oct. 13-14
Time: Oct. 13, 10 a.m. golf tournament tee off; 5-7 p.m., chamber after-hours trade show. Oct. 14: 7:30-8:30 a.m. registration; 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. conference.
Location: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa
Registration: $99 before Friday and $149 afterward
Keynote speakers: Dan Danner, president of the National Federation of Independent Businesses; Anthony Mulligan, CEO of Advanced Ceramics Research and inaugural member of the Small Business Innovative Research Hall of Fame.
Register: 918-280-2611 or www.okgovcon.com
Small business by the numbers
- 76 percent of all businesses in Tulsa metropolitan statistical area have fewer than 10 employees.
- These businesses support a total economic impact of $2.8 billion.
- Small businesses provide more than 50,000 jobs and an estimated payroll of $1.3 billion.
- Small business creates two out of every three new jobs in the Tulsa MSA.
- Overall, small business drives the local economy and represents more than 99 percent of all employers.
