Philadelphia and Verizon Team Up to Create Region’s 1st Small Business Week

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and Verizon will present Greater Philadelphia’s inaugural Small Business Week May 13—17, celebrating and recognizing the critical contributions of the Greater Philadelphia region’s more than 150,000 small businesses.

Every year since 1963, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small-business owners. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

“Small and local businesses are the foundation of our region’s economy,” said Rob Wonderling, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. “The chamber is dedicated to facilitating a business-friendly climate that allows owners and entrepreneurs to grow and create jobs. We look forward to celebrating the success of the region’s small businesses throughout this week.”

The 2013 Small Business Week will feature a series of events allowing small-business owners to gain insights to better run their business and opportunities to network, including:

• May 14: Small Business Week Educational Workshop — GPCC offices, DiBona Room , 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., Delivering Exceptional Customer Service.  The panel discussion will focus on the best techniques to connect with clients and deliver exceptional customer service. The workshop is free for chamber members and $35 for nonmembers.
• May 16: Small Business Webinar presented by Verizon — Denise Hart , author and executive momentum coach, will host a free webinar, Defining Your Don’t Quit Attitude — For Business Owners, at 2 p.m.  The webinar, part of the Verizon Live Business Webinar series, will be accessible anywhere there is broadband access.  Anyone interested in participating can register online at www.verizon.com/webinar.
• May 17: Keynote Event: Create Contagious Content for Your Business — Jonah Berger , author of “Contagious: Why Things Catch On” and one of the world’s foremost experts on what goes viral and why, will deliver the week’s keynote program, Create Contagious Content for Your Business.  Berger, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, studies social epidemics, or how products, ideas and behaviors catch on and become popular. He is an expert on how individual decision-making and social dynamics between people generate collective outcomes such as social contagion and trends. The event will be held at the WHYY Studios in downtown Philadelphia from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.The registration fee for the event is $45 for Chamber of Commerce members and $90 for nonmembers.  Attendees also will receive a free copy of Berger’s book.

Tim Smith, Verizon region president of consumer and mass business markets for Pennsylvania and Delaware and a member of the chamber’s executive board, said: “We’re excited to help bring this first-ever, week-long celebration to the greaterPhiladelphia region to bring together small businesses in this market, provide them with resources and encourage their growth.”

More information about the GPCC Small Business Week can be found online at www.gpcc.com/smallbizwk.