The Governor's Entrepreneurial Business Conference - Social Media Recap

I've heard nothing but great feedback from the Governor's Entrepreneurial Business Conference! We heard from

• Wilmington Mayor James Baker
• Delaware Economic Development Office Director Alan Levin
• Warren Brown, Founder and Owner of Cake Love
• University of Delaware President Patrick Harker
• Brian McGowan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development with the U.S. Department of Commerce
• Thomas O'Malley, Chairman of Petroplus
• Delaware Governor Jack Markell

Here's a few things we heard:

1. Delaware is on track to be the first state out of the recession
2. Delaware had three potential blows to our economy recently (closing of Chrysler Plant, closing of GM Plant, closing of oil refinery in Delaware City) - and all three have been turned around - UD purchasing Chrysler land to develop awesome stuff, Fisker purchasing GM plant, O'Malley purchasing the refinery
3. Follow Your Dreams and Passions!
4. The economy coming out of this recession will be vastly different from the economy we are used to
5. Economic Development needs to take a long-term, regional approach - not a short-term "only-in-my-back-yard" approach
6. Delaware's elected officials (esp. Governor Markell) "get it" when it comes to business
7. Delaware is working on some exciting new ideas to attract more business to the area

Then came the afternoon sessions.

Darnyelle Jervey, Director of the YWCA Center for Women's Entrepreneurship led a panel discussion on the Entrepreneurs' Tool Box with:

• Chris Burkhard, President, CBI Group, Inc.
• Ernie Dianastasis, Managing Director, CAI
• Barbara Hines, President, SSD Technology Partners, Inc.
• Margie Johnson, President, Shoptalk
• Mark Stellini, President/CEO, Virtual Resources, Inc.
• Dr. Devona Williams, President/CEO, Goeins-Williams Associates, Inc.

Oh, check out the Twitter Feed from the day by clicking here (more than 25 pages of content!)

Then, there's the Social Media experts!

Many, many thanks to Rodney Jordan for shooting and posting these videos! Here's the list of awesome speakers:

• Whitney Hoffman - Social Media 101 - let's get this party started!
• John McKown - Getting Started Action Plan - complete with cheat sheets
• Lee Mikles - how to join the social media party and not be “that guy”
• Maya Paveza - Why and how you should be there - discussing business strategy
• Jayla Boire - Content is still King - providing great content for your strategy
• Phil Woods - Measuring your social media campaign effectiveness
• Brenda Cheeseman - social media as the new chamber of commerce
• Laurie Bick - the job connection in social media 
• Major Highfield - Mobile Tactics
• Laurie Gelb - Be DelAWARE for Fun & Profit
• Rodney Jordan - We're building a community here