DAY 1 REGISTRATION: OCT 11

The Country Music Hall of Fame
BMI Hall - 4th Floor
222 Rep. John Lewis Way
Downtown Nashville

The B2SMBI Partnerships Circle Best2SMB Meet-Up: 3 Full Hours Focused on B2SMB Partnership Success

We'll dive into Partnership Playbooks and forward plans from Best2SMB Nominees, then work together across 3 different tracks focused on 3 differing forms of Partnerships. Our single objective for the afternoon? To sell more to more Small Business.

SIGN-UP IN OUR FREE B2SMBI PARTNERSHIPS CIRCLE IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND!

Partnership Leaders from...

Wells Fargo
Salesforce
Alignable
Visa
Wave
Wix
and more!

INTRO OF DAY 1

Dave Walker, Co-Founder of B2SMBI, introduces the the theme of the conference, and the intense focus on B2SMB Partnerships for Day 1's agenda. And he'll talk about getting the most out of the day.

Dave Walker

INTRO OF PARTNERSHIPS CIRCLE MEET-UP

Partnerships in 12 Forms - A Primer: As a kickoff to our afternoon focused on collaboration between our B2SMB enterprises, we'll define and describe 12 different forms that partnerships can take. Using illustrations and demonstrations, we'll talk form, function and features for each as we elevate our collective knowledge of the possible and proven.

Kelly Benish

Best2SMB Partner Playbook #1

Team Verizon talks about their ongoing Partnership successes and future opportunities, updating us on their plans for Verizon Days in 2024.

David Brozo

Best2SMB Partner Playbook #2

If you've been following the progress of Alignable, you know that their organic network of over 8 Million SMBs in the US has become unrivalled in both scale and scope. Eric Groves talks about the carefully evolved and evolving opportunities for partnership with major B2SMB offerings.

Eric Groves

Best2SMB Partner Product Launch

B2SMBI is proud to host the announcement of new Member WriteforMe's latest product, Composer. Co-Founder and CMO Andy Steuer gives us a high-level overview of their offering, and the opportunity for partnerships across multiple fronts.

Andy Steuer

Break

Pitch for Partners

Back by popular demand: we'll invite 5 Attendees to stand and introduce their company, their partnership opportunities and what they're looking for.

PARTNERSHIP BREAKOUT PODS

Introduction: Past attendees agree: very small groups afford the best chance to network, to collaborate, and to maximize partnership opportunities. So we'll divide into 12-15 small groups, or "pods," of 6-8 attendees each as we rotate three different 20-minute workshops. Our objective is to give every attendee the chance to explore different forms of partnership and how we might apply them to our own enterprise objectives. Each small group will be facilitiated by a Member of the Partnerships Circle Advisory Board.

Dave Walker

Partnership Breakout Pod #1

Marketing Partnerships: We'll get into to how partnerships can deliver greater reach and engagement with SMB customers and prospects. We'll include different forms of marketing partnership, from direct lead referrals, to joint content creation and delivery, to collaborative events.

Partnership Breakout Pod #2

Selling Partnerships: There's nothing easy about qualifying and closing an SMB customer, so we'll examine how partnerships can ""open the door,"" fast-track trust, and multiply the value proposition. We'll include different forms of cooperative selling, from affiliate or agent to bundling or straight referral.

Partnership Breakout Pod #3

Distribution Partnerships: Our Members are selling at scale to thousands of SMBs every day, but how do we develop coverage across the millions of potential SMB customers out there? The answer might lie within the distribution footprint of a partner, and that's what we'll explore. We'll exchange what's possible in leveraging each other's distribution networks, channels, or retail outlets.

RECAP OF PARTNERSHIPS CIRCLE MEET-UP

We'll end Day 1 with summary take-aways and a commitment to meet within 14-days with prospective partners we've identified during the time together.

Kelly Benish

LEADERS' LEAGUE VIP RECEPTION & DINNER

Get your boots on ‘cause we’d like you to line-dance your way to our exclusive Leaders’ League VIP Reception and Dinner to end Day 1 of our event! We’re taking a big bite out of Music City at the legendary destination, The Valentine, a short walk from the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Valentine is “a four-story bar and restaurant located in the heart of Nashville’s famous Lower Broadway district. Unlike any other live music venue on Broadway, its New Age Eclectic SoHo theme puts a vibrant twist on the standard honky-tonk.” We’ll hold our VIP Reception and Bourbon Bar on the Valentine’s Rooftop (voted #1 in Nashville), with a terrific twilight view of Broadway’s party street. Then we’ll move inside for dinner overlooking the Valentine’s main music stage. The food? It’s a deep dish of Tennessee, from Fried Green Tomatoes to Hot Chicken to Brisket and Ribs. Join us, y'all!

DAY 2 REGISTRATION: OCT 12

Ole Red: The Hall & The Lookout Rooftop
300 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37201

FINDING OUR WAY BETWEEN TWO B'S

INTRODUCTION
Dave Walker, Co-Founder of B2SMBI, introduces the day mapping the 6 year-journey of the B2SMBI ecosystem, what "Best2SMB" means, and the many forces driving our ecosytem to what's next. And he'll talk about getting the most out of the day.

Dave Walker

BEST2SMB PLAYBOOK #1: THE REACH REVOLUTION

KEYNOTE: Where Oh Where Do Those Small Business Go?
It used to be we could at least count on an SMB ensconced in their place of business for a window of time during their workday. Not anymore. Reaching millions of Small Business to fill the top-of-funnel grows more inefficient and ineffective every day. How do we make reach work again? Our keynote, Eric Groves, has thoughts. As the co-Founder of Alignable, one of the largest networks of SMBs, Eric's team has built a highly engaged, inter-connected community of 8Mil+ Small Businesses. He describes what they've learned on the road to build a Best2SMB Hall of Fame nominee.

Eric Groves

ACTIVATION #1 BREAKOUTS

WORKSHOP:
Objective: to collaboratively build a Playbook on successfully reaching SMB customers at scale.

FACILITATED BY LEADERS' LEAGUE MEMBERS

ACTIVATION #1 REPORT OUTS

We'll ask each breakout group to highlight features of their collaborative Playbook on reaching SMBs

2023 Best2SMB Brand of the Year Award Finalists & Winner Announced

The Leaders' League of the B2SMB Institute announces the 3 finalists and winner of the 2023 Best2SMB Brand Award, citing "the B2SMB brand recognized as a champion in our industry based on current year market standing, overall leadership and Small Business Buyer preference.

Finalists:
Constant Contact
Salesforce
TikTok

BEST2SMB PLAYBOOK #2: AI to BUILD AI

KEYNOTE:
As we all astound ourselves with the extraordinary answers we get when we ask ChatGPT something - anything! - we are all equally challenged to evolve the ""tool"" of AI to produce better business results. If you know the leadership team of Best2SMB Offering nominee AWeber, you know they cliff-dive into innovation, and so has it been for Sean Cohen and Chris Vasquez with Artificial Intelligence. How to incorporate an AI-based virtual assist to the struggling SMB e-mail author? Well, they asked AI. Fed by thousands of customer interactions, usage behaviors and success/failure metrics, they made their offering smarter than smart, and they breakdown their playbook for us.

Chris Vasquez

Sean Cohen

2023 Best2SMB Offering of the Year Award: Finalists & Winner Announced

The Leaders' League of the B2SMB Institute announces the 3 finalists and winner of the 2023 Best2SMB Offering Award, citing "the B2SMB brand recognized for the most valuable & well-regarded product or service to SMBs."

Finalists:
AWeber
Honeybook
Wave

BREAK

Here's your chance to meet and mingle with even more Best2SMB event attendees.

2023 Best2SMB Innovation of the Year Award Finalists & Winner Announced

The Leaders' League of the B2SMB Institute announces the 3 finalists and winner of the 2023 Best2SMB Innovation Award, citing "the B2SMB brand recognized for the most innovative new product or service to SMBs.

Finalists:
ChatGPT
ClickUp
Walnut

BEST2SMB PLAYBOOK #3: THE INTRAPRENEUR'S PLAYBOOK

KEYNOTE:
Former VP/GM of Wayfair's Business unit (who oversaw growth from $100Mil in SMB sales to over $400Mil during his tenure) leads YesWare - an offering that "helps professionals communicate efficiently and authentically by integrating a powerful set of tools right inside their email inbox." He talks about his journey to build offerings inside large enterprises using the same tools and mindset of entrpreneurs - a perfect set-up for our workshop on intrapreneurship.

Joel Stevenson

BEST2SMB PLAYBOOK #4: THE ENTREPRENEUR'S PLAYBOOK

KEYNOTE:
While John Lawson may have started his career at Accenture, he grew into one of the most inlfuential of SMB Influencers, especially on technology. That journey across decades has included the kind of twists and turns that most entrepreneurs can point to as their daily journey to build a business, and John shares his story as inspiration on how each of us can "channel" our shared customer's entrepreneurial character to build and deliver - you guessed it - better offerings for SMBs.

John Lawson

ACTIVATION #2 BREAKOUTS

WORKSHOP:
Objective: to collaboratively build a Playbook on successful Intrapreneurship using the playbook of successful entrepreneurs.

ACTIVATION #2 REPORT OUTS

We'll ask each breakout group to highlight features of their collaborative Playbook on successful Intrapreneurship.

2023 Best2SMB Hall of Fame Inductions Winners Announced

The Leaders' League of the B2SMB Institute announces the 3 Member-Inductees to the 2023 Best2SMB Hall of Fame, citing "the B2SMB brand(s) recognized as a distinguished, highly-valued and long-term champion in our industry"

Finalists:
Alignable
Google
Kauffman Foundation
Microsoft
Oracle Netsuite
Square

Verizon Business and The B2SMBI Leaders' League Present 2023 BEST2SMB AWARDS & HALL OF FAME LUNCHEON

We'll celebrate the very best in Business-to-Small-Business for 2023 in each of our four categories: 2023 Brand of the Year, 2023 Offering of the Year, 2023 Innovation of the Year, and 2023 SMB Advocacy of the Year, as well as our 3 new Member-Inductees to the Best2SMB Hall of Fame.

The B2SMBI Advocacy Council Best2SMB Meet-up: 3 Full Hours Focused on Serving Today's Small Business Interests

The evolution of the B2SMB Institute's partnership with key Small Business Advocacy Organizations continues to grow, and we're taking a next critical step: ACTIVATION. Led by Members of our Small Business Advocacy Council, our meeting segment is built on the simple keynote/breakout/report-out format of our Napa Leaders' Forum, as we hear from key leaders impacting SMB policies and initiatives across the country and down Main street. Attendees will use a "SMART" goals framework to brainstorm cooperative SMB Advocacy Playbooks for 2024.

INTRO OF B2SMBI ADVOCACY COUNCIL MEET-UP

The Opportunity of Advocacy
It was a story frequently shared in early 2019: faced with the crisis of Covid, the world of B2SMB enterprise Leadership was shocked to learn how little they knew of the organizations and mechanisms of aiding their Small Business customers. Decades of big checks from big business to worthy causes did not create strategic relationships between those who sell and those who serve SMBs, and that gap needed to be filled. Delivering part-history lesson, part ecosystem diagram and part strategic manifesto, SMB-Advocacy icon Connie Evans sets our stage.

Connie Evans

Best2SMB Advocacy Playbook #1

Advocacy Through Offering
Can a successful B2SMB offering actually center on a Small Business Advocacy issue? Ryan McBride thinks it can, and he brings us the story of Bluebird Benefits, and his model to disrupt the SMB insurance marketplace by featuring mental health services as a key piece of Bluebird's value proposition.

Ryan McBride

Best2SMB Advocacy Playbook #2

Advocating Financial Health for SMBs:
Two veterans of Small Business financial aid talk about that persistent challenge: getting money. Christopher Johnson of Wells Fargo and Carissa Reiniger of Silver Lining talk about their collaboration to get money, and to use it with savvy.

Christopher Johnson

Best2SMB Advocacy Playbook #3

Advocating Business Skill for SMBs:
It's an old saw: SMBs are skilled at what they deliver (baker, architect, plumber) but often unskilled at how they deliver. Tasha Brown of Small Business Majority talks about how all of us in B2SMB can elevate entrepreneurs' skills to operate and grow, and to ensure we do so equitably.

Tasha Brown

Best2SMB Advocacy Playbook #4

Advocating Digital Readiness for SMBs
Verizon's commitment to digitally enable 1Mil SMBs within 10 years is perhaps the largest Small Business assistance program to date. So large it has become a dedicated platform within the enterprise. Carrie Hughes leads the initiative, and she talks about the challenges and opportunities of SBDR.

2023 Best2SMB Small Business Advocacy Award Finalists & Winner Announced

The Leaders' League of the B2SMB Institute announces the 3 finalists and winner of the 2023 Best2SMB Small Business Advocacy Award, citing "the B2SMB brand recognized for providing the most impactful SMB assistance program to support widespread SMB recovery.

Finalists:
Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)
The Second Service Foundation
Visa
Wells Fargo

ADVOCACY BREAKOUT PODS

Introduction:
Past attendees agree: very small groups afford the best chance to network, to collaborate, and to maximize partnership opportunities. So we'll divide into 12-15 small groups, or ""pods,"" of 6-8 attendees each as we rotate three different 20-minute workshops. Our objective is to give every attendee the chance to explore different forms of SMB Advocacy partnerships and how we might apply them to our own enterprise objectives. Each small group will be facilitated by a Member of the SMB Advocacy Advisory Board.

Carissa Reiniger

Advocacy Breakout Pod #1

Breakout Pod #1 - Advocating Financial Health:
Building off our Playbook presentation, we'll collaboratively workshop in very small groups how we can impact the money skill needs of SMBs.

Advocacy Breakout Pod #2

Breakout Pod #2 - Advocating Business Skill for SMBs:
Building off our Playbook presentation, we'll collaboratively workshop in very small groups how we can impact the business skills of SMBs.

Advocacy Breakout Pod #3

Breakout Pod #3 - Advocating Revenue Growth for SMBs:
Building off our Playbook presentation, we'll collaboratively workshop in very small groups how we can impact the revenue growth skills, capabilities and resources of SMBs.

RECAP OF B2SMBI ADVOCACY COUNCIL MEET-UP

We'll end our meet-up with summary take-aways and a commitment to meet within 14-days with prospective partners we've identified during the time together.

Carissa Reiniger

Connie Evans