Booth sales slow, but BC&S expects full house

by Jacob Barker

March 6,2009

For local businesses, the place to be this St. Patrick’s Day is the Columbia Chamber of Commerce’s Business Conference and Showcase. On March 17, hundreds of business professionals from Columbia and surrounding communities will gather at the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center to market their companies, network and hear speakers discuss business topics from time management to going green.
Since 1991, the chamber has put together the city’s largest gathering of local companies. There will be 131 booths for businesses in the mid-Missouri area, and organizers expect an attendance of more than 1,500.
Booths have sold more slowly this year than in years past, Victoria Brees, the chamber’s program development director, said. At the end of February, 13 booths remained available.
There will be four seminars. Topics include going green in the workplace, growing business while promoting community, maximizing time management and networking opportunities and online marketing strategies.
Dan Barker, Gibbons Basement Systems sales and marketing manager, will give a presentation beginning at 2:30 p.m. on maximizing advertising dollars through online marketing.
“There’s a lot of people who are kind of lagging,” Barker said. “Unless you have an in-house marketing department that’s real Web savvy, they’ll outsource to a Web design company that makes a pretty Web site, but no one sees it.”
Barker, who began speaking about online marketing strategies about three years ago, said his presentation will focus on driving traffic to your Web site and tracking the results.
“A lot of folks don’t have any idea how to do that,” he said. “They just throw up a Web site and hope it works.”
Paul Vitale, of Vitale Communications in Little Rock, Ark., will give the keynote address on growing business and community, a topic that focuses on the influence business leaders have on the community as a whole rather than just customers. He will also hold a seminar on maximizing achievement potential, which addresses time management and networking while also focusing on one key question: Are you doing something you are really passionate about?
Vitale has been speaking publicly for 15 years and currently gives about 100 presentations to various groups around the country each year. He’s written two books, one that focuses on finding your niche and passion in life and the other a compilation of inspirational quotes. His third book, “Sell With Confidence: Unlock Your Potential,” will be published in April.
Vitale said his presentations offer a strong dose of encouragement as people struggle with the realities and downbeat news of the recession.
“We need people to stand up and present a positive world,” Vitale said. “The optimism is still there, but you can tell it’s lagging in some places.”
A presentation on going green in the workplace by Ken Perdue, a sales manager for Staples, is also scheduled for the day.
The BC&S kicks off with breakfast from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m., and the first seminar begins at 10 a.m. Lunch is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. and will feature Vitale’s keynote presentation and the nominations for the Small Business of the Year Award. The afternoon seminars follow, and the BC&S mixer goes from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m.