Senator Holds Fifth in a Series of Small Business Forums held across New Jersey
Proclaiming that “we are in a new era” Senator Cory Booker addressed a full auditorium on the Stevens Institute of Technology’s campus for his latest small business forum that attracted New Jersey entrepreneurs from around the state. The event entitled “Small Business Tech and Social Innovation Forum” was presented by Senator Booker in partnership with The Internet Association.
Senator Booker fired up attendees with a humorous, yet inspirational talk about the “transformation” underway that is being driven by technology. With small business as the overarching theme of his forum series, Senator Booker sought to inspire entrepreneurs by sharing how new technology empowers themas never before. With great gusto about the power of technology, he stressed, “You are defined by the courage of your imagination”.
To exemplify his point Senator Booker included a very humorous anecdote about how he decided to become an “entrepreneurial mayor”, while taking on “challenges” and “changing the trends” for Newark, a city that he describes as having “a brand that was not all that positive”. He linked his use of technology to outcomes that previously would not have been possible during prior era when technology was less accessible to small business and even city governments.
Senator Booker described how he creatively used the internet to engage with late night talk show host Conan O’Brien. Following O’Brien’s jab about Newark during his monologue, Senator Booker initiated a twitter exchange that eventually went viral—-touching millions of twitter followers in a positive way about Newark. Senator Booker rhetorically challenged the audience to find a better example of free marketing!
SEE VIDEO: Senator Booker Speaks at Small Business Tech Forum
Again, as in his earlier forums around the state, Senator Booker brought in star power for his panel discussions. This day’s panel included representatives from the top of social media that included Carely Graham Garcia-head of Global Industry Relations at Google, Bess Yount-Small Business Program Manager at Facebook, and Darnell Holloway-Senior Manager of Local Business Outreach at Yelp. The panel was moderated by Michael Beckerman, President and CEO of The Internet Association who emphasized that “The Internet is vital for New Jersey businesses”.
The panel also included two successful New Jersey entrepreneurs who provided their perspective about the use of the internet and social media by small business, Cardcash.com and Websignia. Cardcash.com Co-founder and CEO Elliot Bohm shared his company’s experience with digital marketing that served as an exclamation point to Senator Booker’s inspirational introductory remarks about small business being in a new era with the use of technology. Bohm noted how their company scaled very quickly, recently reaching $100 million in revenues, by being savvy about digital marketing. He encouraged entrepreneurs to “get on line and engage your customers” and “be on top of your industryand be on top of social media that you know your customers are using”.
Following the main panel attendees were given the opportunity to attend a range of workshops led by the top social media panelists. By bringing these resources to the forefront in his Forum series, Senator Booker feels he is championing entrepreneurs and startups to compete against their more established competitors, take greater control over their brand and engage their current and future customers more cost effectively through use of current technology.
