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Opportunities Abound for Small Company Owners

The AFCEA International Small Business Committee’s programs are developed with two small business needs in mind: access and education. The committee provides opportunities to interact with key individuals in government and industry for networking and relationship building. Educational offerings address the skills necessary for small businesses to work more efficiently and grow their organizations.

AFCEA’s Doing Business with the Federal Government Small Business Conference in Philadelphia, taking place this week, is an offering that combines the two goals. This conference is structured to assist small businesses in cultivating the federal government customer. Content focuses on the stages in the business development cycle, including identification of the best-fit opportunities for a business’s core competencies, management of the capture process and continued growth of the business.

The conference consists of four separate educational sessions that illuminate key elements in the business development cycle. This is followed by a government panel to offer attendees insights to improve their chances of success by knowing how to approach agencies in the most efficient and effective way.

Content offerings continue on a regular basis throughout the year in the form of an afternoon speaker series sponsored by the AFCEA International Small Business Committee and programs sponsored by local chapters. Some recent educational topics included market research, capture planning, proposal writing, accounting issues and process improvement certifications. Government speakers have included representatives of the National Security Agency, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Industry access programs have featured “Doing business with” offerings with industry prime contractors as well.

The AFCEA International Small Business Committee’s offerings are generally hosted in the association’s headquarters building in Fairfax, Virginia. This venue adds to the value of these opportunities because the group is relatively small, which reduces the attendee-to-speaker ratio. The limited audience size lends a feeling of informality to the sessions and generally translates to a more relaxed, conversational tone. A high level of interaction between speakers and attendees often results from question-and-answer periods, and follow-on discussions flourish. Speakers enjoy the more casual setting and often deviate from their prepared remarks and adapt to the group’s interests and dynamic.

One example of this interaction is a recent program featuring Jodie Paustian, small business specialist for the IRS. Paustian shared much pertinent information about doing business with the IRS specifically and the U.S. Treasury Department in general. Since the group was small and manageable, Paustian was able to respond to individual questions in a more unstructured manner and to focus on the attending companies’ concerns. But the value of the meeting increased substantially for attendees as Paustian, provided with a guest list of the 27 attending companies in advance, personally pulled Central Contractor Registration (CCR) information on each, provided written feedback and offered to consult individually with each company following her presentation.

Another advantage of the afternoon speaker series is the timing. The events are typically held at 3 p.m. EDT on the second Tuesday of the month. At this time of day, speakers and attendees generally aren’t rushing to get back to the office.

Visit AFCEA’s Small Business Committee Web site to find podcasts and presentations from the speakers. Contact Tammy Goehring to be placed on the Small Business e-mail distribution list to ensure advance notice of upcoming offerings.