BatchBlue Means (RI) Business
- Posted October 1st, 2008
- Filed under: Community, Events/Presentation
BatchBlue was a proud sponsor of Rhode Island’s second annual We Mean Business (WMB) conference, held last monday, September 29th. Since Stephanie and I tend to be more behind-the-scenesy here at BatchBlue, it was a treat for us to attend the conference.
In the organizers’ own words, here’s some info on what the WMB is all about:
We Mean Business is your connection to business success in Rhode Island. Get help connecting with the right governmental and non-profit business organizations to start or grow your business; access a network of public and private consultants that can give you advice based on your business needs and learn about financing programs especially for the small business owner.
The day’s presentations focused on networking strategies, marketing tips, and client acquisition and retention. Since we had to woman our booth the whole day, we palled around with the other sponsors, great folks like Precision Web Marketing (who ran a complimentary report card on BatchBlue’s marketing website – thanks, guys!), JobsInRI.com, and the RI Hospitality and Tourism Association.
The diversity of attendees really made this conference a fun and important one for BatchBlue, as it gives us insight into the range of industries ready and in need of some contact management luvvin’. Attendees ran the gamut from doulas (the lovely Kelly Klein of the newly-relocated Empowered Mamas), our best bud and people magnet “Uncle Jay” White from Best Buy, publicist & photographer Victoria Arocho of Rocka Rho Publishing, LLC, and Paul DeFruscio of Eco-FriendlyPackaging.com, our partner in green 
I even got to demo SuperTags to Governor Carcieri – this is why we love being a small business in Rhode Island!
Given that this event was both intimate and diverse, we took the opportunity to run some user tests of our marketing site. Both sponsors and Expo attendees participated in the testing, and as a result we received valuable feedback from them and they received a spiffy SuperTags t-shirt from us.
All in all, this was a great day of networking and listening to what a wide variety of business owners need and want in a contact management system. Stephanie and I received the unofficial Last Women Standing award, as we were literally the last people in the building to leave. Thanks to Little Rhody for providing such great opportunities and resources to its business owners and entrepreneurs! And thanks to WMB, Stephanie and I have one conference under our belts and are ready for the next one!
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