Does your start-up, web or tech company have a product or service that’s geared for business? If so, you may be able to demo at the Business Smart Tools Conference on May 5!

Demonstrating companies will be invited to join the conference at no additional fee, but you must submit the following information for our consideration:

* Company name, URL and contact info
* A brief summary of your product / service
* An abbreviated business plan

Demos will benefit from both online and offline press, plus the opportunity to network with our social media-focused attendees and speakers. Whether you want feedback, business leads or increased visibility, drop us a line and see if your product or service is a match for the BST Conference!

Photo by Amit Gupta.

What a day, May 15th, at the Stamford Marriott!  Demos, speakers, food, networking and cocktails were all in the mix for the Business Smart Tools conference which is an event geared towards the business person who is trying to make their way through the new internet terrain.  New Media, New Rules, New Ideas….stories shared by experienced and passionate speakers and entrepreneurs!

Let me take you on a tour of the day.  Attendees walked in and grabbed some delicious wrap sandwiches only to be greeted by very cool demo companies: Confabb, Digicash, GoodConscience, iBakesale, Simulearn, Vivapop, and Totus and by our sponsor tables, The Feedroom and Marketwire.

Next on the agenda were the speakers and panels.  Patrick Quinn of PQ Media, spoke about Trends, Past and Future.  Very informative…people loved it.  Next up was a panel on New Media Business Basics featuring Scott McRae, Creative Change, Albert Maruggi, Provident Partners, Andrew DiFiore, answerYesInteractive, with David Vinjamuri as moderator, Thirdway Brand Marketers.  This was a very informative overview section on new media and how business is using social media tools to market themselves and connect with their audience.

Following was Rahul Sonnad, thePlatform, and Matt DeLoca, The Feedroom, talking about corporate video which is an area that is expanding quickly.  The Feedroom has very cool technology that allows search engines to pick up the videos….very important for any business.

Next up was the very exciting announcement of the Business Smart Tools Angel Award for the one demo company that showed the most promise.  Each demo company presented their answers to 3 questions:  what is your vision? what is your business strategy? where do you see yourself in 3 years? in addition to judges looking at their websites. 

A big thank you to the judges who came from Pepperidge Farm, Pitney Bowes, United States Tennis Association, Feedburner, and The Advocate/Greenwich Time.

And the winner was…..Confabb!!  Very exciting!!

The award was 2 hours of consulting time with amazing contacts from Hearst Interactive, Spencer Stuart, Cohen and Wolf P.C., U.S. Trust N.A., Agistix, Digitas, and Creative Concepts.

To finish up the program, we had Greg Verdino, Digitas, talking about Second Life for business…this fired up the audience….they got it or they didn’t…Greg’s presentation was very interesting and necessary to stay up to date with what is out there.

And finally we had last panel who spoke on The Real Story, Does New Media Work for Business.  Ron Stevenson, GE, Duane Schulz, Xerox, Ben Edwards, Economist.com, and Chris Barger, GM, spoke from their personal and corporate experiences about social media: what is working, what isn’t and what’s next for them and most likely the rest of the corporate arena!

After all the panels and speakers were finished, it was onto a cocktail party where many business cards were passed!

A big success owes a big thank you to many…from the speakers, to the demos, to the Creative Concepts staff, to the attendees, to the Stamford Marriott, thank you so much for teaching, sharing, talking and laughing…for a day well spent in Connecticut!

Totus is a powerful Sales and Marketing solution that allows your sales force and marketing department to quickly and effectively communicate with your prospects and customers. Totus combines multiple communication mediums like E-mail, Print-on-Demand, Electronic Greeting Cards, Premium Fulfillment, and Direct Mail Campaigns in one, easy-to-use interface.

We are excited to say that we have a demo company unveiling themselves at the Business Smart Tools conference.  We can’t talk about them now or reveal anything else because they are in stealth mode but join us at the conference to be a part of the excitement!

Business Smart Tools Conference, Digital Marketing, Interactive PR and more!

May 15th, Stamford CT…register here online!

We would like to welcome onCard to the demo mix.  A couple of Cornell grads who worked in investment banking had the idea to give back to the community or give back to your wallet by creating a points system with any credit card.  Buy from selected retailers, and you get money back…the clincher is instead of always taking the money (yes cash back to you), you can also give back to any organization…from little Jimmy’s soccer team to United Way. 

Choice is the name of the game with these guys….giving back is the goal.

Come and meet them at the Business Smart Tools conference (www.businesssmarttools.com), May 15th in Stamford CT.

(Fairfield, Conn., February 2007)  This is an invitation to all tech startups to present your product or service at the Business Smart Tools Conference, a professional and exciting forum where networking and learning are a priority.

If your company has a new (1-5 years old) tech based product or service that is geared for the business community, then please apply (deadline April 1.2007).  There is a judging process once you present your company, but if invited to demo, there is no fee, you will receive free publicity and you will also be in line to receive the Business Smart Tools Angel Award.

The Business Smart Tools Angel Award will be presented to the one demo company that shows the most promise as a much needed product or service that will also stand the test of time.  The Angel Award will consist of time spent with management, legal, public relations, marketing and financial gurus who can help the winner take their company to the next level of success.

Judges for the BST Angel Award will come from Microsoft, UBS, Pepperidge Farm, Feedburner, The Advocate/Greenwich Time, and the United States Tennis Association.

The highly acclaimed consulting team will consist of Mike Dunn, VP Hearst Interactive, Adam Kovach, Spencer Stuart, Karen Wackerman Myers of Cohen and Wolf P.C., David Fox, President and CEO, Agistix, Raghav Nandagopol, SVP, co-CEO Venture Funds, U.S. Trust N.A., Valorie Luther, CEO, Creative Concepts, and Greg Verdino, VP Emerging Channels, Digitas.

To apply, please send your company and contact information to info@BusinessSmartTools.com

About the Business Smart Tools Conference

The Business Smart Tools Conference will take place May 15, 2007 from 12-6pm at the Stamford, Connecticut Marriott.  Featured speakers will be emerging technology experts from  Xerox, General Electric, General Motors, Digitas, VPI.net, thePlatform, PQ Media and more.  Featured topics will include advice and trends from Fortune 500 companies, Advergaming as a marketing strategy, Viral Marketing “how to,” Internet TV, Video liquidity, how to align your web strategy with your business strategy and more!

For information about the conference or to purchase tickets at $75.00 per person, please go to www.BusinessSmartTools.com

To learn more about the presenter of this conference, go to www.Creative-Conceptsllc.com, a Fairfield, Conn. based Public Relations, Marketing and New Media consultancy.

Goodconscience is an interesting demo company.  They are a for profit helping not for profits via many web based tools.  Microsites, travel arrangements, corporate gift cards, artwork, online giving to the charity of your choice, arranging events that provide for many charities at once is just a sampling.  Gary, the President and visionary, ran another successful startup and sold and now he is onto something again.  Based in Southhampton, NY, this demo company is good for business and good for the soul. 

Come and meet Gary and his crew on May 15 in Stamford, CT.

We are excited to have SimuLearn on board as a demo company.  SimuLearn has a product call Virtual Leader which helps create more productive individuals and teams through improved use of their interpersonal skills and their ability to focus on corporate objectives.  With an 80% completion rate (very high for an e-learning module), users were found to be 22% more productive.  Virtual Leader, in addition to working with the corporate arena, has also been adopted by top business schools around the country (Yale, Penn State, and Tulane Universities to name a few).

Come and meet Ken Kupersmith, President, at the Business Smart Tools Conference, May 15, in Stamford, CT.

And did I mention that the first demo company invited was Vivapop.  Elizabeth Tarbell is the founder of this unique online community, family and small business calendar.  Based in Greenwich, Connecticut, Vivapop has content from just about every organization in town which can be popped into the user’s personal calendar which can be shared with friends and family, can be downloaded into Outlook, and has mobile access (changes and updates via cell) .  On top of that, Vivapop is now providing calendar capability to local organizations like the Greenwich Family YMCA and Allegra Dance Studio where they can load their calendars for the world to see so members can manage their schedules in an easy fashion (all schedule changes are made real-time!). 

Come and meet Elizabeth at the Business Smart Tools Conference, May 15, Stamford Marriott!

Happy to say that our second invite for the demo area has gone out to Confabb.

Summary of Confabb, The Conference Community

Confabb combines an aggregate database of major conferences, conventions, and trade shows sorted by industry with social networking tools designed to empower conference attendees to improve their overall experience.

Built into the site is a reputation management system to be used by conference attendees, speakers, organizers and administrators allowing people to plan for and attend conferences, and critique and review those they have attended and want to share with colleagues. No other resource contains such a comprehensive listing of events or as robust a tool set for maximizing the conference experience via the live Web.

Check them out, bookmark and sign up, or better yet, come to the Conference in May and get to know them one on one!