Thank You For Participating
On
January 27, 2021, Hawthorne Business Expo 2021 had a Virtual Town Hall, held
online from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.! Yes, we
made some changes too, like we asked our businesses to do, to re-invent the
ways they provide service to the public during the pandemic. Our theme was Reinventing
Your Business in 2021. We got very
positive responses to our Zoom format, which included panel discussions, a
keynote speaker who is known world-wide, as an expert in business planning, and
even some entertainment, to brighten the mood.
Our
keynote speaker, Tim Berry, founded Palo Alto Software, after a successful
career working for a hightech research firm and writing business plans for tech
giants like Apple and Borland International. He founded Palo Alto Software to
make business planning accessible to all entrepreneurs. At Hawthorne Business
Expo 2021, Tim discussed the elements of Lean Business Planning and how
businesses can use this concept to pivot during tough economic times.
We
had two Panel discussions, both of which were very popular with the attendees. Panel 1 discussed Community and Government
Resources Assisting Businesses Survive COVID-19. The panel was led by
Deborah Shepard, a Special Projects Coordinator for the South Bay Workforce
Investment Board (WIB). This panel consisted
of members who are experts in their own fields, discussing the numerous
resources available to businesses, from such sources as the WIB, the City of
Hawthorne, the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, and the Financial
Services Industry.
Panel
2 was a hard-hitting, frank discussion called “How My Business Reinvented
Itself After Covid-19.” It was led by Larry Johnson, Program Lead Advisor
of the Small Business Development Center at El Camino College. The panelists
were business owners in the City of Hawthorne, who discussed how much they have
had to adjust their business models in order to survive the double whammy of
loss of revenue and lockdowns over the past year.
Overall,
our Hawthorne Business Expo Committee is very proud of the business planning
skills and strategies our event was able to provide to the business community,
even in a limited virtual format. We
look forward to seeing you at Hawthorne Business Expo 2022, where we hope our
event and our community will be back to normal. Watch our website for the date!