"Social Media" in Focus at I & E Meeting on September 8th:

Join Us Sept. 8 for a Great Program on Social Media!
Twitter This: What Social Media Can Mean for Your Small Business

Word-of-mouth advertising has leap-frogged to new levels with social media venues like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Instead of telling two friends about a cool new invention and 10 friends about the worst service ever, social media broadcasts enable a user to rant or rave to hundreds and thousands of connections.

What this means to inventors and entrepreneurs will be discussed Wednesday, Sept. 8, at the next monthly meeting of the Evansville Area Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club. These monthly meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. and are hosted in the lower level of the historic Eager Economy Building at 7 E. Main St., Evansville.

Speaker Gary Smith has two decades of business consulting experience, and better than a decade of “hanging out” with college students, who are among the most prominent users of social media. Smith is director of the Southwest Wisconsin Small Business Development Center at the University of Wisconsin in Platteville. His background includes working for Toyoda Machinery, Litton and PriceWaterhouseCooper, as well as teaching college-level business management classes and developing custom training programs. One of his current projects is promoting entrepreneurship to elementary students through a partnership with the University of Wisconsin Extension.

After Smith’s presentation and follow-up questions have concluded, participants will have a minute each to introduce themselves and talk about their business, invention or other relevant matter. Refreshments will follow, sponsored by Susan Marks Francis, a full-service realtor with a long Evansville history. She is a broker associate with Stark Company Realtors, which has a 108-year tradition of serving south central Wisconsin.

Meetings of the I&E Club are free and open to the public, thanks to sponsors and donations. To become a sponsor or to inquire about the club, contact club President John Gishnock at 608-882-6656, or Sue Berg, vice president of marketing and outreach, at 608-882-0986.