2022 Small Business Week in the Pikes Peak Region
2022 Small Business Week for the Pikes Peak Region was June 4 – 8th! We kicked off our annual event with with the Business Bash and Awards Celebration at Red Leg Brewing Company following by impactful workshops and the State of Small Business annual event designed to educate, celebrate and champion local small businesses.
Co-hosted by Pikes Peak Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado (BBB), Small Business Week in the Pikes Peak Region is the largest Small Business Week celebration in the State of Colorado (and the U.S.A. in 2020).
We look forward to celebrating the Pikes Peak Region Small Business Week in June 2023!
Saturday, June 4: Business Bash & Awards Celebration
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event description:
Join the Better Business Bureau and Small Business Development Center for a business party of EPIC ’80s proportions!
Join us at Red Leg Brewing Company for a Business Bash with beer, food and friends as we kick off Small Business Week 2022! At this family-friendly event, enjoy delicious food, music, activities, lawn games and themed zones: Sports & Rec., Tourism, Business Resources, and Arts & Creative small businesses.
Don’t forget to wear your best RAD 1980’s outfit to potentially win prizes and get a shout out from the Small Business Week stage! (*must be present to win)
Please note: No pets are allowed – service animals only.
Come join us for fun and festivities as we honor the finalists in the following award categories!
award finalists:
Small Business Person of the Year
- A Music Company Inc. – Amy Whitesell
- Arlene’s Beans – Arlene Padilla
- Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort LLC – Torie Giffin
Small Business Champion of the Year
- Joe Aldaz – Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Mitchell Cohen – Anthem Music Enterprises
- Reanna Werner – HR Branches
Veteran-Owned Business of the Year
- LaVida Massage Colorado Springs – Monique Walkes
- PureLee Redefined – Kenya Lee
- Winds of Change Remodeling, Inc. – David Thompson
Family-Owned Business of the Year
- Angler’s Covey – David Leinweber
- Bob Penkhus Motor Company
- Spice Island Grill LLC – Claudette Hutchinson
Young Entrepreneur of the Year
- Felipe’s 109 – Robert Velasquez
- Kinship Landing – Bobby Mikulas
- The Nonprofit Makeover & Boss Babe Networking – Kristen Sharpe
business bash activities include:
- Tourism Tent: Get your ‘80s photo taken and posted to Visit COS social media. Meet with reps from the Space Foundation Discovery Center and Flying W Ranch.
- Sports Tent: Get your picture taken with Vibes mascot, Toasty, and visit with reps from Olympic City USA, United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum, Pride Soccer, and Sports Corp. Try your hand at cornhole, rowing, and mini soccer. Check out the 1996 Atlanta Olympic torch and buy Olympic City merchandise.
- Arts Tent: Get a free poem written for you “on the spot” using old typewriters, courtesy of the poets from Becoming Poetry. Experience live body painting by local artist Sadie Welsh.
- Kids’ Corner: Enjoy yard games with the kids.
registration:
A limited quantity of VIP tickets (150) are available and include:
- Special release beer
- Free pint and take-home beer
- Commemorative mug and shirt
- Red Leg Brewing Company brewery tour
- Patio seating with premier view of the awards presentations
Don’t miss this opportunity to reconnect with your small business community and support small businesses in the Pikes Peak Region! We hope to see you there!
SUPPORTING SPONSORs:
Monday, June 6: Marketing Trends 2023
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Social media is constantly evolving and keeping up with the trends can be difficult. Companies who deliberately made marketing plans for 2021 had to continually pivot and adapt to quickly changing market. 2022 will be no different. Join us as we talk about key marketing strategies for your company to focus on this year and into 2023.
- Produce campaigns that evoke emotion
- Are you using video-based content and live streaming correctly?
- Talk about what matters: sustainability, social impact, climate change and more
- Content is King-What content are you creating? Is user-generated content part of your strategy?
- Use Keywords to increase website traffic
- Start getting comfortable with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
- Cybersecurity is critical
- Be inclusive- Representation in marketing is the importance of catering to your target market. The more inclusivity you have the more appealing your brand will be.
Moderator:
Panelists:
Alexea Veneracion, Director of Communications for Visit COS
Tuesday, June 7: Modern Leadership
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Do you have what it takes to be a Modern Leader?
Cultural revolutions from social justice movements, the great resignation, climate changes and other relevant topics, are revealing a new generation of modern leaders who don’t see leadership as something that establishes and protects power. They want power to be shared as a means of creating change for all. This democratization of leadership is rapidly gaining momentum, and few leaders and companies are prepared for it.
According to Forbes: Modern leadership involves sharing information, creating a higher level of trust, and promoting a sense of inclusion and belonging. These leaders care and invest more time into their team members’ wellbeing, career goals, contributions, and accomplishments.
Becoming a modern leader requires redefining and reshaping what leadership means. Here are some areas that this important discussion will focus on.
- Connect to Purpose– What is your Why? People deliver better results and with more passion when they understand why and how their work advances their company’s or team’s higher purpose.
- Connect to Accomplishment– Modern leaders communicate clearly and regularly what success looks like. Modern leaders don’t let work become defined by tasks, but rather by outcomes.
- Connect to One Another– Traditionally, leaders disseminate information on a need-to-know basis, creating silos among team members and sowing seeds of distrust. Modern leaders share information broadly to encourage collaboration and motivate employees to help each other succeed, creating a sense of teamwork and inclusion.
Moderators:
Panelists:
Wednesday, June 8: State of Small Business
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The pandemic has not stopped business. Entrepreneurs are innovative, gritty and empowered to see continued success for their existing businesses or even starting a new one. Between 2020 and 2021, over $73 billion was spent on funding small businesses, and that funding supported over 1.2 million jobs. Customers are purchasing services and products based on finances but even more importantly, on emotional connection. There is also a new breed of business owners called social entrepreneurs, that are using business to solve social and environmental issues as well as make a profit. Using data from the SBA and SBDC, we’ll take a look at what’s happening in the small business sector and what we can expect with rising prices, workforce shortages and a weakened supply chain. In addition, the SBDC and BBB will be providing a report to the community on the impact of services on the Pikes Peak Region.
Agenda:
- 11:00 – 11:30: Networking
- 11:30 – 12:00: State of Small Business & Lunch
- 12:00 – 1:00 pm: Speaker & Panelists
Speakers:
Aikta Marcoulier
Regional Administrator, Region VIII (Rocky Mountain Region), U.S. Small Business Administration
Jonathan Liebert
CEO, Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado
Did you miss last year's event? Stream it here!
Monday
EPIC Marketing
Tuesday
Optimizing the Value of your Business
Wednesday
EPIC Purpose
Wednesday
EPIC Minority Business
Thursday
Small Business Week Awards Celebration
2022 Small Business Week in the Pikes Peak Region Read More »