Last week was the annual B.I.G Summit put on by Orlando, Inc. at the Full Sail campus in Winter Park, FL.
B.I.G. standing for Business, Innovation, and Growth is the “biggest” event in Central Florida that attracts entrepreneurs and business leaders for a day of learning, sharing, and discovering new opportunities and relationships with others from within the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Keynote Gary Vaynerchuk delivered an awesome speech to a sold out crowd at the Full Sail Live stage.
Gary shared perspective on the necessity of engaging with your social network, reminding everyone that the rules are changing and interacting with your contacts is as important ever. ”Wake up to 2012 and the ROI of giving a crap about your customers!” Gary said.
To begin his keynote, Gary had asked the audience by a show of hands how many people had actually heard of Gary Vaynerchuk? Obviously, knowing the audience is much different from his normal speaking engagements – approximately 90% of the people raised their hands unaware of Gary and his style. In talking with attendees after Gary’s speech, it was evident that his message resonated with the audience. Many of them said it was one of the best they had heard and felt that they could immediately implement some of his strategies into their business to help them engage with their clients.
Other highlights of the B.I.G Summit were a mock “Shark Tank” with Kevin Harrington where 3 companies got to go head to head in a demo face off competing for bragging rights of being the most shark tank qualified.
Grooveshark Co-Founder Josh Greenberg sharing his insight on competition and the hard work put into making Grooveshark what it is today.
As well as the B.I.G. “Judges Choice” Award that was taken home this year by one of my favorite companies, GroundFlights, Inc. out of Orlando. To qualify, GroundFlights had to participate in a video submission contest that went before a panel of judges to decide who was this years top company. Below is the video that took the honors:
It has been a lot of fun being a part of the B.I.G. Summit the last 2 years. I’m not sure what Orlando Inc. has in store for 2012, but you will definitely not want to miss it! The event continues to sell out, and it’s easy to see why.
For a recap and notes of this year’s event. Michelle Royal, Founder of HDYI (How Do You Innovate) has provided us with a sketch representation of the days activities that you can download here: (big_2011visualizations)
Talk soon…
