First off, Eric Shinseki looks bigger in person.
Just kidding. (He is rather tall, however – or maybe that was the big screen on which his image was projected during the plenary luncheon).
From August 6th through the 8th, I attended the National Veterans Small Business Conference in St. Louis. As a first-time attendee, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Because I’m sure there are others out there considering whether to attend next year’s conference, I wanted to blog on my experience. Maybe this can help them decide whether the trip is worth the investment.
In my perspective, the conference was entirely worthwhile. I found the breakout training sessions very informative. Many sessions take place concurrently, so I had the choice of six or seven sessions. For veteran business owners, many networking opportunities were offered – both at the social functions that took place and at the networking roundtable with procurement officials. (A professional associate of mine, however, told me there were some issues with the organization of these – he registered for a roundtable and was the only one to show up).
Also, of course, we were fed – three lunches and two breakfasts. This was included with my $270 fee.
In general, the conference was well-run with few organizational mishaps. In terms of criticism, I will say it would have been nice to have received my schedule of training sessions earlier than the first day of the conference. Also, rather than having almost a dozen networking roundtables with procurement officials, veterans would have been well-served by having several sessions of speed networking. After all, many of them were there for purposes of finding teaming partners. Last, the organizers should have required attendees to RSVP for the two plenary luncheons, as I saw a lot of food go to waste.
I also wasn’t a big fan of the conference’s experimentation with VetGovPartner. There were two main parts to this. First, conference-goers were given a “poken,” which looked like a flash drive with a handprint on it. By holding the poken over the sign outside the door of a training session, the materials would later be made electronically available. Also, by touching one’s poken with another’s, contact information was electronically exchanged. Second, attendees were able to “build their agenda” by picking and choosing events from an online schedule. In the morning of each day, they received an email containing the details of their agenda.
The elements of VetGovPartner were relatively easy to operate; I just found them unnecessary. I have no trouble figuring out my own schedule without electronic assistance, thank you very much; and I prefer old-fashioned business cards. To each his own – I’m sure others thought the poken and the agenda builder were convenient.
Small hiccups aside, I very much look forward to next year’s conference. With the slashing of government spending (particularly on conferences), I hope to have the opportunity!
