LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
16
FOCUSES ON RESILIENCY AFTER PANDEMIC
TCBusiness.com
The Jim Moran Institute for Global
Entrepreneurship, part of the Florida State
University College of Business, hosted its
10th annual Small Business Leadership
Conference June 9-11 at the JW Marriott
Orlando Grande Lakes.
This year’s conference focused on
business resiliency and sustainability in
the aftermath of the pandemic. Attendees
learned about innovative strategies and
techniques that will help them resume
operations and adapt their business
models in the event of future crises or
business interruptions.
“Challenges arise when you’re a small
business owner, but resources and insights
always spring up in response,” said Melissa
Roberts, managing director of the Jim
Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship.
“We’re proud to provide one of the
first in-person opportunities since the COVID
19 pandemic began for small business
owners to gather and network with each
other and our expert speakers.
“With 2020 reinforcing the need for strategic
planning and collaboration among
entrepreneurs, our conference was the
ideal opportunity to help our attendees
re-focus on long-term, sustainable development,”
she continued.
Matthew Griffin, co-founder and CEO of
Combat Flip Flops, opened the conference
with a session on values-based leadership.
His presentation highlighted how to
simplify the managerial and leadership
process.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Thursday’s first keynote session featured
a presentation by Scott Price, founder
and CEO of A-LIGN, a cybersecurity and
compliance solution provider based in
Tampa. Price shared how small businesses
can take a proactive approach to improve
their cybersecurity strategy through risk
avoidance, risk mitigation and accepted
risk with a breach incident response plan.
Scott was followed by Amanda Brinkman,
the creator, producer and host of
Small Business Revolution, which streams
on Hulu and Prime Video and was named
among Inc. magazine’s top shows for
entrepreneurs. Brinkman offered advice on
best practices in marketing and communication
while sharing insights on the most
important areas of a company’s brand and
digital footprint.
The day concluded with a Fail Festival
— a panel discussion celebrating failure
as a mark of leadership and innovation
in pushing the boundaries of what is
possible and profitable. The session was
led by Wayan Vota, a digital development
entrepreneur, who worked through
each participant’s past business fails,
encouraged them to share how they
overcame those failures and helped them
explain why their failures shaped them for
future success.
The panelists included Lennise Germany,
CEO of Livy O’s Catering Co.;
David Moshier, founder of Oasis Creative
Resources; Jeff O’Hara, owner of PRA Business
Events New Orleans; and Bob Thornton,
partner at O’Donnell Impact Windows
& Storm Protection.
The conference concluded with a
panel session on diversity and inclusion
BY CALVIN BURROWS
Emcee Ramon Ray welcomed
attendees to the 10th annual Small
Business Leadership Conference
hosted by the Jim Moran Institute
for Global Entrepreneurship.
COLIN HACKLEY PHOTOS
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/TCBusiness.com