Swinging for the Fences

Last week I attended the Small Business Success Conference in Pasadena, California. The Conference was the brainchild of my good friend, Ken Keller. Ken is not only a colleague but also a prolific writer. He has penned two business books, writes a weekly "Brain Food for Business Owners" column that goes out to over 10,000 subscribers, and also writes columns for a number of Los Angeles-area publications.

Ken's idea was to craft a conference geared strictly to small, entrepreneurial business owners. The conference offered:

• Personal access to a number of vendors, including AFLAC, Microsoft, Cingular, Bank of the West and Staples
• Speakers on a variety of topics, from succession planning to financing
• Keynote address by Lawrence Haughton, author of It's Not the Big That Eat the Small, It's the Fast That Eat the Slow
• A speed networking session offered by BNI
• A dedicated area where a dozen experts were available to answer business questions

The conference was well-conceived, equally well-run, and offered Pasadena and Los Angeles business owners a unique opportunity to improve their businesses by "sharpening the saw." Two radio stations broadcast from the conference and the Mayor of Pasadena performed a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the doors.

Why didn't business owners and entrepreneurs break down those doors to attend?

That's a question many of us were asking ourselves the day of the conference. There should have been 5,000 people in attendance instead of 800 who showed.

Ken has already conducted a thorough review, and true to form, shared his observations. The media campaign, heavily reliant upon print advertising, did not produce results. He will focus more on viral marketing, the Internet, and his vast referral network to insure that his next conference, October 3, 2007 in Long Beach, California is a huge success.

Here's my observation. Ken swung for the fences. He dared to dream that he could put on an exciting event that would help small business owners. He did. He took great risks, and while the immediate reward was not there he is re-grouping, refining and planning to make the next event even better.