Go for it! Going for the greens with NAWBO at Walt Disney World
Yesterday, I had the privilege to participate in the “Go for the Greens” conference held at the Disney Boardwalk Hotel on the Walt Disney Resort property. The conference was hosted by the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, UPS and Walt Disney World. Diane Sears, the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee, was kind enough to invite me to speak. Participants were welcomed to the program with an ambitious agenda: “This conference is all about access. It’s about giving women business owners access to people who can help them grow their businesses at a faster rate, and giving corporate, government and nonprofit leaders access to terrific, women-owned businesses….The conference’s programming is designed at a 303 level, rather than 101, to show our respect for your experience. We know you’re not interested in training wheels. You want to rev up your economic engine and take off.”
I joined Molly Gimmel, a fellow NAWBO member and CEO of Design to Delivery Inc., in leading a breakout educational session “What Your Competitors Don’t Know About Contracting”. One of the key messages to differentiate yourself from the competition is to think about your the reliability and resilience of your business. Many Fortune-500 companies and government purchasing agencies, as part of their disaster preparedness efforts, are evaluating the resilience of their supply chains. As part of their vendor due diligence, they are examining the disaster preparedness of prospective suppliers. Show the procurement officer that you have a credible disaster plan in place to help you meet your deliverables in the event of an unexpected disruption and you are better positioned to win the business. This was a particularly appropriate topic to discuss at this time, as September is National Disaster Preparedness Month. Preparing your business is part of growing your company and taking it to the next level.
In addition to leading this breakout educational session, I participated in a number of matchmaker events with corporate procurement executives. But most important of all, “Go for the Greens” afforded me the chance to connect with old friends while enjoying the hospitality as a guest of Disney.