On November 18th, 2010 just a few days before Thanksgiving, I attended the Orlando B.I.G. Summit conference. The event was full of entrepreneurial leaders willing to share a few tips of advice form their experience with success. And there were even more budding entrepreneurs who were anxiously waiting to soak in every bit of information they could. I was one of these fortunate attendees to pick the brains of some of today’s most influential leaders who have broken the mold of traditional business tactics and who hold the keys to the trends of tomorrow.
My attributes of high efficiency as I described when I began my EBMS program were attitude, vision and people. An event made specifically for entrepreneurs clearly emulates my attribute of vision. I was originally drawn to the B.I.G. Summit because I am always looking for ways to gain information with which I can use to better solidify my entrepreneurial visions. As a result, my attitude was positive as usual. Although I had to wake up extremely early for the Summit knowing I still had class afterwards, the anticipation of whom I could possibly meet, what I could learn, and the information I could gain for my own business purposes was extremely motivating and started me off with a great attitude. Lastly, my comfort level of meeting and interacting with new entrepreneurs made it easy for me to make some very useful contacts.
The B.I.G. Summit event certainly catered to the attributes I had listed as needing improvement. The entrepreneurial leaders who spoke at the conference largely focused on the areas of problem solving, creating positive change, and influencing others. Being a dreamer makes me no different from these successful speakers. However, it is the execution of making these dreams a reality that is the difficult part. Problem solving is was an often-discussed topic at the B.I.G. Summit. As every entrepreneur knows, encountering problems is just another part of daily life. I was able to gain some great insight on what kinds of problem-solving techniques are successful and which ones do not work. The more one can learn to solve problems on the fly, the better off you and your Entrepreneurial venture will be. Creating positive change is usually in the heart of today’s great entrepreneurs. It was extremely interesting to see how in most of the successful businesses analyzed throughout the day had actually begun on the premise of creating a positive change and helping others. For example INC. Magazine, which caters to entrepreneurs, was started because the CEO had struggled so much in his entrepreneurial pursuits that he felt he should start helping others in the same situation by creating a community that ties entrepreneurs together. Lastly, Influencing others was obviously another B.I.G. Summit core concept, since it is known amongst entrepreneurs that running a business is great until you have to deal with the people in it. I learned a great deal about why it is important to not only influence your customers to like your product, but why it is even more important to influence your employees. Happy employees create happy customers.
I found the B.I.G. Summit to be very beneficial in being able to network with likeminded individuals. The atmosphere was extremely positive and welcoming and you never knew whom you were standing next to. There were entrepreneurs ranging from amateur to expert and from poor to rich. However, everyone had something to offer and gain regardless of whom you were speaking to or what your background was. I will certainly attempt to attend next year’s B.I.G. Summit meeting and may even look into additional networking conferences after realizing the potential for countless opportunities that can be created in one day’s work.
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