In today’s competitive Long Island business scene, companies are often scratching and clawing to gain any and every advantage they can in a tireless and endless bid for success; luckily for them, the BOOM of success is about to be lowered upon them in a big way.
The BOOM Business Network will be holding its first-ever BOOM Business to Business (B2B) Expo and Executive Speaker Conference on April 27, 2017 at The Huntington Hilton, incorporating networking opportunities and informational conferences that can assist business owners and professionals to develop and grow, according to Frank Gargano, the President of BOOM Business Network.
"Our focus as a regional business organization is to promote Long Island-based companies,” he said. “The BOOM B2B EXPO and Executive Speaker Conference on April 27 is a highly effective vehicle to accomplish that mission."
(L to R): Equity First/Equity First Foundation Founder Rhonda Klch, BOOM Business Network President Frank Gargano. Photo Credit: BOOM Business Network
The expo will feature 100 business exhibitors, 50 executive speakers, 50 partnering business organizations, 24 BOOM TV executive interviews, 10 partnering media organizations and 9 benefiting non-profit organizations. The Expo will feature all local Long Island businesses, executives and organizations.
Rhonda Klch is founder of both Equity First and Equity First Foundation, one of the non-profit organizations featured at the Expo; she holds a management position at BOOM and is the director of the Expo's Speaking Series. For the past 20 years, Klch said that Equity First has been working with consumers that are in financial distress, helping them to get back on their feet when things seem most dire.
“We do budget planning, we help them reset expectations and walk them through hardships in these economically difficult times,” she said. “We offer services such as debt settlement, credit restoration, budget planning, a variety of things to help the clients get back on track when they're not able to do it on their own.”
Very much a believer in helping others, about a year-and-a-half ago Rhonda decided to take that philanthropic leaning of hers and expand it into the realm of not-for-profit; that’s when she founded Equity First Foundation, through which she does workshops, training, development programs aimed at helping the less fortunate get on solid financial standing no matter what their setbacks.
Partnering with Frank Gargano and the BOOM Business Network, an organization with similar ideals to her own – as well as getting involved in the first-ever BOOM B2B EXPO and Executive Speaker Conference – was a natural outcome after the two first met a year-and-a-half ago, Klch said.
“My passion is education, public speaking, and big workshops, and Frank was putting together the Expo…he and I discussed what would make this show stand out above and beyond all the other shows that come to Long Island,” she said. “So, together we came up with having a speaker conference where we would bring the cream of the crop and Long Island business professionals into a platform to speak about who they are to the community. That, in essence, is the Speaker's Conference.”
Over the last several months of planning for this year's Expo, Rhonda noted the evolution of the BOOM Speaker's Conference concept; all nine of the speaking rooms at the Hilton have been reserved, and a non-for-profit has been attached to each room. When someone pays to see the speaker in one of the rooms, that money will go directly to the designated non-for-profit, she said.
“So if we have for example, an attorney speaking in room number five, whoever goes to see him will pay $20 each, and that $20 will go straight to the non-for-profit...there's no pass through,” she said. “That money goes directly to the non for profit as a donation...the goal is that each non-for-profit should be able to make between $5000 and $10,000 for that day by having people come and see their designated speakers.”
Equity First/Equity First Foundation Founder Rhonda Klch. Photo Credit: Rhonda Klch
Equity First Foundation is one of the speakers at this year's Expo, room number 9, and Rhonda noted that the theme of the speeches being given buy speakers on behalf of her organization that day will be entrepreneurship.
“We will have numerous entrepreneurs from Long Island who will be speaking and what they've done, and what makes them a little bit different in terms of their style or their approach, and how they created their success,” she said.
Currently over 2,000 people are expected to be in attendance at the boom business expo; still six weeks out from the event, pre-registration is already at 200 people and climbing fast. In addition, as organizations sign up to attend, prospective attendees can view the website to see which of their industry colleagues have already signed up, allowing anyone on the fence to see the high quality of those who have already made up their minds to be there on April 27th.
The itinerary for the Expo is as follows:
- 7:30 AM – 09:30 AM – Executive Breakfast: Executive breakfast in the Savoy Ballroom to recognize the 9 benefiting non-profit charitable organizations, greetings delivered by local elected officials (Huntington and Babylon Supervisors, Presiding Officers of the Nassau and Suffolk County Legislatures, NYS Senators, etc.) and a keynote address delivered by a senior level executive of the bank event sponsor from 7:30-9:30 am
- 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM – Executive Speaker Conference: The Executive Speaker Conference is to begin in the seminar rooms at 9:30 am
- 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM – Press Conference and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony: A press conference / ribbon cutting ceremony highlighting the “BOOM Long Island” campaign to promote increased investment in local Long Island businesses in front of the Grand Ballroom (expo exhibit floor) at 9:30 am
- 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM – EXPO Exhibit Floor Open: The expo exhibit floor opens at 10 am and closes at 3 pm.
To find out more, please visit boombiznet.com.