Small business roundtables are cohorts of entrepreneurs and business owners that come together to share and learn from one another. The University of Mary Washington Small Business Development Center (UMW SBDC) currently hosts two bi-monthly roundtables: one for women business owners and one for food manufacturers in the Fredericksburg area.
Each meeting is dedicated to a different business theme where either a guest speaker will present or business owners share what works and does not work for them. These conversations inspire or aid their small business neighbors.
Last month, the roundtables focused on marketing and featured two guest speakers, Jaime Garza, owner of Ignite Cinemas, and Emily Whittacre, from CVTV, who spoke on video marketing.
Jaime’s business specializes in video marketing and video production for small businesses. He shared four types of videos that every business owner needs: customer testimonials, frequently asked questions, live streaming video, and video business cards.
Emily Whittacre, Program Manager for CVTV, educated the nine small business owners in attendance about another means of video promotions: small business owner’s could have their own show, be a guest on a show, or advertise their business on the local television station.
“What really resonated with the business owners is that videos do not have to be perfect. Striving for perfection may getting your message to potential customers,” says Susan Ball, Director of the Fredericksburg UMW SBDC office.
The University of Mary Washington Small Business Development Center (UMW SBDC) is a resource center that provides assistance to the small business community via management training, industrial and demographic research, and confidential one-on-one consulting with two offices located in Fredericksburg and Warsaw.
Interested in becoming part of the roundtable? Fill out our Request for Consulting.
UMW Center for Economic Development
The University of Mary Washington Center for Economic Development is in the College of Business, an AACSB accredited business school. The Center for Economic Development operates the UMW Small Business Development Center, the UMW EagleWorks Business Incubation Center, the Government Contracting Assistance Center, and StartUpUMW. The Center is located at the Eagle Village Executive Offices. Learn more at https://economicdevelopment.umw.edu/.