Whatcom Community College
Heiner Center
237 W. Kellogg Rd.
Bellingham WA 98226
Campus Map
Google Map - For Direction to Campus
The Story of ThinkBiz:
ThinkBiz was created from a simple desire to help the local small business community. The economic situation has been tough on everyone. Whatcom Community College and the Small Business Development Center wanted to provide training that could help business survive and grow. We wanted to make it as cheap as possible and get businesses talking and helping each other.
Basically, our staffs and instructors wanted to facilitate helping business gain knowledge to grow, make connections to expand their network, and work together as a community.
We had one additional goal... To have the conference focused on the learning.
At most conferences, the sessions are not the focus of the conference. Sponsors, expo booths, keynotes all overshadow the learning going on in the sessions. The sessions themselves are also really short and taught by sponsors or inexperienced people thrown into the room at the last minute.
ThinkBiz is different. ThinkBiz is about effective learning to help your business. The sessions are one hour long, the minimum effective length to learn anything. All the presenters were hand-picked for their ability to train. All are experienced trainers with many years of presenting in their area of expertise. The best of the best.
We also implemented the Take-Away Ten program. You will leave each session with ten items that you can implement immediately. By the end of the day you will have over fifty items that can change your business.
With the 2011 conference we implemented two new features. The first were hands-on help and how-to's where you can get answers to specific questions on a variety of topics or even get a new picture taken for your web page or social media site! We also implemented Cafe Table sponsorships which replace the boring sponsor tables with smaller tables mixed into the crowd to provide more interaction and networking opportunities.
Come experience a new type of conference. Your business will thank you.
PS - If you have any suggestions for future sessions or speakers, please feel free to contact me at gmarshal@whatcom.ctc.edu
