Jon Schallert Jon Schallert

Summit Business Conference

Poken makes USA debut at Summit Business Conference in Boulder, Colorado with retail technology & electronic networking tools
October 4, 2011 in General, Poken, Small Business Advice, Summit Business Conference by

A future-is-now business card replacement and electronic shopping tool will debut at the Summit Business Conference October 18-19 in Boulder, Colorado.

Participants will wear Pokens, whimsical devices that use near field communication (NFC) to retrieve and store information from fellow attendees, and then, electronically network with their connections from their computers.

The conference, organized by The Schallert Group of Longmont, Colorado, brings eight headline speakers to a single stage, providing independent entrepreneurs and small businesses access to insights usually available only to Fortune 500 companies.

Rather than exchanging business cards, Summit attendees can collect contacts by holding the Pokens close, – a “high four” from the four-fingered hand of playful characters such as a kitten or panda.

The green glow signals that the connection has been made.

In a first-in-the-U.S. pilot, conference-goers can visit Boulder businesses equipped with Poken technology and will experience this two-way NFC exchange of information. For example, information and videos about fine wine for sale can be passed to customers, while the store receives information about the prospective purchaser.

“Boulder will be the first city in the country where Poken Sparks and Poken Tags are demonstrated,” says Jon Schallert, president of The Schallert Group and a speaker at the conference. “We’re going to put them in different retail stores and conduct a Downtown Boulder treasure hunt.”

Poken devices, created in Switzerland and just now coming to North America, are popular for social networking – a paperless way to collect more than phone numbers at parties – and are finding application in more fields.

This fall, Indiana State University became the first college to distribute Pokens to all incoming students, easing introductions and potentially boosting retention for the school.

Schallert, arranged to introduce Pokens at the Summit Business Conference after he discovered the technology in an in-flight magazine article.

The cutting-edge application fits the event’s aim to elevate small businesses, he says.

“Our conference is really a way that any size business can play on a level playing field with some big companies that would normally get this expert advice. There’s a synergy that comes from combining new technology and these top business experts together to teach independent entrepreneurs.”

In addition to Schallert, speakers are Michael Kerr, a humor expert; Debra Fine, a business networking expert; Terri Norvell, a leadership development expert; Andy Core, a wellness expert; Marti Barletta, author and worldwide expert on marketing to women; Henriette Klauser, an author and authority on writing productivity; and Shawne Duperon, an Emmy-winning TV producer and publicity strategist.

 

Writing Expert Dr. Henriette Klauser to Speak at Summit Business Conference
September 25, 2011 in General, Summit Business Conference by

Once you’ve listed your dreams, the handwriting isn’t just on the wall, says Dr. Henriette Anne Klauser. It’s in the filter at the base of your brain, the reticular activating system (RAS) that helps direct your attention.

That’s why Klauser, author of Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want, And Getting It and four other books, advocates list-making to achieve your goals.

It worked for her 10-year-old son Peter, even though he forgot the list for two years. When he discovered it while cleaning his room, every item, including learning karate, sleeping overnight in a park and getting a pet bird had happened.

It also worked for Lou Holtz when he lost his job at 28 and his wife urged him to record his dreams. At last report, 91 of the 107 goals, including coaching at the University of Notre Dame, winning a national championship, meeting the Pope, dining at the White House, appearing on the Tonight Show and making a hole-in-one have happened.

It can work for anybody, Klauser says.

“When you write up your list, write what you would do if money was not an object and time was not a factor,” she advises, insisting that each record include the date. “Then I tell them money is not an object and time is not a factor.”

Klauser is among nine headline experts appearing at the Summit Business Conference (www.SummitBusinessConference.com) Oct. 18-19 in Boulder, Colorado, a rare gathering that brings Fortune 500-level advice business entrepreneurs and community leaders.

Her focus on writing started when she noticed that some of her university students and some of her fellow Ph.D. candidates suffered writing anxiety. Her first book, Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, is in its 39th printing.

“I wanted to put in concrete evidence about how the brain is functioning,” she says. “It was a natural thing when I heard about the RAS. I want to change the nature of people’s relationship with writing, to recognize that writing is a tool that can help us.”

Another book, With Pen in Hand, describes how writing can help deal with tragedy and loss, with a chapter about a Vietnam veteran who recorded his experiences because he couldn’t talk about them. Put Your Heart on Paper tells the stories of people who enjoyed improved relationships from sharing written thoughts.

In Write It Down, Make It Happen, Klauser explains that brain-heightened attention triggers “go-incidences” (rather than co-incidences) by gaining a sharper focus on the world.

Examples come easy: your ear catches your spoken name above the chatter across a crowded room; a mother awakes to her baby’s cry and no other sound; after Klauser bought a “eucalyptus” Honda, she began to notice how many other green cars are on the road.

“The world cooperates with the plan,” she says. “It activates part of your brain. You start paying attention. You make a commitment to its possibility and things start happening. Once you write down a goal, your brain is working overtime to see that you get it.”

For more information on Klauser’s presentation and how to register, visit www.SummitBusinessConference.com

 

There are going to be 10 Winners: Shouldn’t one of them be your Community?
September 16, 2011 in Free Webinars, General, Proactive Communities, Summit Business Conference, Summit Contest by

The Summit Business Conference Contest

This is Jon Schallert.  Our company loves contests, especially ones that motivate communities to support local businesses. That’s why we’re awarding $22,000 in our company’s consulting services to those communities who send the most people from their city or town to the Summit Business Conference in Boulder, Colorado, October 18-19 (where I’m one of the 9 speakers).

If you are not familiar with the Summit Business Conference, it’s an amazing, one-of-a-kind gathering of nine (9) business experts and authors who typically conduct keynote speeches for major international conferences or consult with Fortune 500 companies. But for the Summit Business Conference, they’ll all be presenting on one stage, over 2 days, united together to help independent business owners, entrepreneurs and anyone who supports local businesses.  You can read more about the Summit Business Conference at their website www.SummitBusinessConference.com

But back to our Summit Contest.  Here are the details:

The top two (2) communities that have the most people attending the Summit Business Conference from their city or town will receive a free Destination Business workshop, presented by me (Jon Schallert) in their area, to be scheduled in 2012. The value for each workshop is over $8,000. Better yet, if you’re one of the winning communities, when I come to speak in your area, charge admission to this event and use my workshop as a fundraiser!

The next three (3) communities with the next highest attendance will receive a free Destination Business Live Webinar, broadcast from our Destination University studio for up to 500 of your members. The value of each Live Webinar is $1,500.

The next five (5) communities having the next highest attendance will receive a free community membership to our online training network, Destination University. This annual membership is valued at $360.

In the event of a tie in any of the above categories, a random drawing will be held to determine the awarding of the prizes.

How to Enter

It’s very simple: Publicize the Summit Business Conference in your city, town,  downtown, or Main Street district and encourage your local business owners to register. Send a representative from your organization too, if you want them to learn the advanced business skills that are going to be discussed at the Summit Conference.  But remember: Since there are a limited number of seats, once the 250 seats are sold, attendance will be closed. Obviously, communities that register the most people earliest will have the best chance to win.

Encourage your community leaders and business owners to learn about the Summit Business Conference by visiting the Conference website, www.SummitBusinessConference.com, and the Summit Conference blog on the website. You can download digital PDF brochures of the conference by clicking here. Once downloaded, you can email them to your community leaders and entrepreneurs. If your group would like hard-copy brochures to distribute to your local businesses, just call our office. We will ship them to you so you can pass them out.

We have structured this contest so both large cities and small towns have an equal chance to win.

Good luck!  We look forward to seeing you in Boulder, Colorado on October 18-19.

Jon Schallert

PS:  Some communities like Phillips County, Kansas have created scholarships for their business owners to help them pay for the costs of attending the Summit Business Conference.  If you want the businesses in your community to improve, you have to be proactive!

 

Are You Creating Breakthrough Success? Ask Terri Norvell
September 14, 2011 in Competing in Today's Economy, Summit Business Conference by

I want to share with you Terri Norvell’s article on creating “Breakthrough Success”.  For those who are constantly focusing on the economy as the reason things aren’t better, it’s more complicated than that. I meet business owners every day who are slamming the brakes on their own success.

I especially like this section of her article, where she talks about why we limit our success:

“In my most recent surveys, findings indicated that the fear of failure is one of the most notable obstacles that people feel limit their success. This fear of failure shows up in many forms. It includes lack of self-confidence, holding back rather than speaking up, feeling insecure, and dealing with too much change. Certainly our economic fluctuations are cause for challenges.”

You can read the rest of Terri’s article at our Summit Business Conference blog (www.SummitBusinessConference.com)

Terri will present her Breakthrough Success keynote at our Summit Business Conference, next month in Boulder Colorado on October 18-19. Read about Terri and a full description of her presentation by clicking here.


Mike Kerr is excited about going to work. How excited are you?
August 30, 2011 in General, Small Business Advice, Summit Business Conference by

Mike Kerr is the opening keynote speaker at the Summit Business Conference.

Mike is going to teach all of us how we as leaders of our businesses and organizations can stamp out daily stress, boost the morale of our teams, infuse creativity into our lives, and create an inspiring business and work environment, one that’s loved by our employees and also our customers.

You can read more about Mike at www.MikeKerr.com but you can also see how excited Mike is to begin his Monday workday by clicking on the link below to watch the video on our Summit Business Conference blog.

Mike Kerr is excited to go to work?  Wouldn’t it be great to feel this way?