Seminars

St. Louis Business Expo & Business Growth Conference Seminars, Oct. 29

ALL Seminars are FREE and open to the public.

Seminar Times and Titles (detailed descriptions below)

ROOMS 104-105

KICKOFF PRESENTATION

10am-11am

Plan Your Next 12 Months Like a Fortune 500 Company, Stop Drifting - Take Control

Room 104

SMART GROWTH & LEADERSHIP — Grow Yourself and Your Company

11:30-12:20

Growth Intelligence: How Smart Companies Are Finding Customers Earlier

12:30-1:20

TBA

1:30-2:20

Leadership and the Power of Peers

ROOM 105

SALES, MARKETING & BUSINESS VALUE — Find Customers and Build Value

11:30-12:20

Make the most of LinkedIn's new AI-powered algorithm to grow your business

12:30-1:20

Stop Me Before I Steal Your Customers with a $20 Ad

1:30-2:20

Building Generational Wealth: Aligning Family, Business, & Advisors

Room 101

BUSINESS ACCELERATOR — Build a Better Business

10-10:30

Building a Vision For Your Growing Business

10:30-11:00

Designing A Sales Story That Differentiates Your Company From Others

11:10-noon

Building A Winning Marketing Plan

Marketing Maps - How to choose the most direct path and stay on track

12:10-1:00

 "Know Your Numbers"

1:10-2:00

From Chaos to Clarity: Your Journey From Spreadsheets to Systems

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ROOMS 104-105

KICKOFF PRESENTATION

10am-11am

Plan Your Next 12 Months Like a Fortune 500 Company, Stop Drifting - Take Control

Most people spend their year reacting—putting out fires, chasing opportunities, and never taking control of their future. What if you could step out of your daily grind and design a year that actually works? In this high-energy session, you’ll learn the planning practices top companies use.      

Whether you’re a business owner, manager, or sales/professional looking to get ahead, you’ll learn how to:

-Turn a chaotic year into a clear, focused plan

-Align your time and energy for maximum impact

-Avoid the biggest planning mistakes that hold people back

-Create momentum that carries you through the entire year

Carpe' Annum - Seize the Year! 

Presenter: Karlos Bledsoe Sr..

Karlos Bledsoe Sr. is a FocalPoint business and executive coach.  He uses his 25+ years with large companies; Anheuser-Busch, Edward Jones, and BJC, where he wrapped up his time as Director of Strategy and Operations—to help companies overcome challenges, grow, and succeed.  

With strong and successful experience leading strategic planning, strategy execution, data warehousing, data analytics, project management, and lean-six sigma, he has led in IT, manufacturing, internal consulting/coaching, and sales training.

Karlos is a husband and the father of four sons, where he enjoyed the crazy fun of sports, band instruments, academics, and navigating this hurried world. He’s learned to balance professional and personal time, which is also part of his coaching.

Karlos is a founding member of the St. Louis chapter of the Society for Information Management (SIM), the founder of the St. Louis Gateway to Innovation IT conference, served on the boards of City Academy School, and Great Circle – an organization dedicated to the treatment and care of emotionally disturbed children. Karlos is also an ordained minister at the First Baptist Church of Chesterfield.

Room 104

SMART GROWTH & LEADERSHIP — Grow Yourself and Your Company

11:30-12:20

Growth Intelligence: How Smart Companies Are Finding Customers Earlier

Today's business leaders have access to more data than ever before, but most of it never turns into actionable insight. The companies pulling ahead aren't collecting more information, they're using technology to identify opportunities sooner, make better decisions and focus their sales efforts where they have the greatest chance of success.

This session will show business owners how today's AI tools, public data and buying signals can work together to identify opportunities much earlier in the buying cycle. You'll learn how to uncover companies that are expanding, investing, hiring, acquiring or changing leadership, recognize the signals that indicate a need for your products or services, and use technology to prioritize the opportunities most likely to become customers.

We'll also look at practical examples of how businesses can build a repeatable Growth Intelligence system that helps them stay ahead of competitors, spend less time chasing cold leads and focus their sales efforts where they matter most. You'll leave with ideas and tools you can begin using immediately, regardless of your industry or company size.

Presenter: Alex Reed, Jump.

Alex Reed is the Director of Client Solutions at Jump, an independent marketing agency based in St. Louis. She helps organizations solve complex business and marketing challenges by connecting strategy, technology and execution. Alex has been at the forefront of developing Growth Intelligence systems that combine AI, public data and buying signals to help businesses identify new opportunities before their competitors. Her work focuses on turning technology into practical business solutions that help organizations uncover new customers, prioritize sales efforts and make smarter growth decisions.

12:30-1:20

TBA

1:30-2:20

Leadership and the Power of Peers

Every business owner knows the pressure of carrying decisions, doubts, and responsibilities that few people truly understand.  In this session, Cindy McDaniel opens a candid conversation about the isolation leaders face and how it can quietly erode clarity, confidence, and decision quality.

If you’ve ever felt the sting of a tough call, the fatigue of constant problem‑solving, or the weight of leading while staying strong for everyone else, this session will resonate.  Through an interactive exercise, Cindy will reveal how trusting peer relationships can become a leader’s advantage — accelerating decisions, preventing mistakes, rebuilding confidence, and providing clarity you can’t get alone. Expect real conversations, fresh perspectives, and practical insights you can apply immediately to your leadership and your business.

Presenter: Cindy McDaniel, Vistage.

Cindy McDaniel is known for taking a targeted, no-nonsense approach to solving problems and inspiring others to do the same. Her career spans a senior management role with a national financial services institution, ownership of a national executive search practice, and since 2015, her role as a Vistage Master Chair for four high-performing Vistage boards and programs.  She brings a rare blend of strategic insight and business acumen, fosters bold thinking, challenges assumptions, and guides decision-making with clarity and conviction.

ROOM 105

SALES, MARKETING & BUSINESS VALUE — Find Customers and Build Value

11:30-12:20

Make the most of LinkedIn's new AI-powered algorithm to grow your business

LinkedIn’s new AI‑powered algorithm has rewritten the rules of being found on LinkedIn — and many small businesses have seen their engagement drop overnight. This session shows you how to turn this disruption into real opportunity. You’ll learn the new signals LinkedIn looks for, how to position your expertise so the algorithm amplifies it, and how to create consistent niche‑aligned content that attracts the right customers to you and your company. You'll walk away with a simple, repeatable system to increase your reach, build your authority, and grow your business faster than ever before.

Presenter: Kathy Bernard

Kathy Bernard is widely recognized as St. Louis’ leading LinkedIn trainer. She equips individuals and teams to prospect, sell, and stand out on the world’s largest business network — especially in light of LinkedIn’s new and highly disruptive AI‑powered algorithm. A gifted speaker, corporate trainer, author, and consultant, Kathy helps businesses maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, fundraising, and recruiting with 100% fully customized strategies. Her mission is simple: She will help you rank higher, get found faster, and win more business on LinkedIn.

12:30-1:20

Stop Me Before I Steal Your Customers with a $20 Ad
Most small businesses don’t have an advertising budget problem—they have a messaging problem. Polite marketing goes broke. Jargon kills sales. And listing your features, your awards, and your “years in business” only guarantees your prospects scroll right past you.
In this fast-paced, 45-minute masterclass, 25-year broadcast veteran and marketing strategist Tim Burt gives entrepreneurs the raw, David-vs-Goliath playbook to out-hook, out-message, and out-sell the competition without an agency budget.
What You’ll Discover:
• The 10-Second Advertising Audit: The instant diagnostic tool to prove whether your current marketing is making money or burning cash.
• The 5-Word Unbreakable Law: The single question every piece of your marketing must answer. Fail this test, and your ad is dead on arrival.
• The $20 Heist Formula: The 3-beat messaging structure that turns a pocket-change ad into high-paying, ready-to-buy clients.
• Why Madison Avenue Is Clueless: How to use plain, direct-response language that outperforms a $100,000 corporate campaign every time.
If you enjoy wasting money on ads nobody reads, skip this room. But if you want the lethal messaging advantage to protect your customer base and steal market share from the giants, get in the room early.
Presenter: Tim Burt. Tim Burt is a 25-year broadcast veteran, commercial producer, voice-over coach,and marketing strategist who spent 16 years as Production Director for CBS Radio KMOX/KEZK/Y98-FM). Having written and produced over 50,000 ads globally, Tim teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to stop burning ad budgets on worthless corporate noise. He is the author of 6 books, including A Kick in the Ads; co-founder of the public relations firm Tim & Bruce; and inventor of marketing tools TheQRMarket.com, Cybermall.tv, and AESidekick.com

1:30-2:20

Building Generational Wealth: Aligning Family, Business, & Advisors

Why do successful families fail to create lasting wealth across generations? Usually not from lack of success, but from poor coordination. This session examines how successful families align business, investments, governance, and family decision-making to preserve wealth and reduce risk across generations.

You’ll learn:

• Why 60%+ of family businesses fail after transition
• How to “de-risk” family wealth beyond the business
• A practical framework for aligning advisors, ownership, and family decisions

Presenter: James D. Maher, CEO & Founder

Maher, CEO and founder, Archford, a leader in the financial industry specializing in services including wealth management, retirement planning and philanthropy, said his personal mantra is, “Help others.”

Room 101

BUSINESS ACCELERATOR — Build a Better Business

10-10:30

Building a Vision For Your Growing Business

In this session, each business owner will gain the tools to build a vision for their business. Where is your business headed in the future? Building your company vision is one the most important components of building a successful business. We’ll show how to build your vision with 14 questions to get you started. If you don’t know where you are going, it will be impossible to stay focused on growing your business?

Presenter: Ron Ameln, SBM

10:30-11:00

Designing A Sales Story That Differentiates Your Company From Others

Nothing differentiates your business like your sales story. In this session, we'll help you build your unique sales story. Remember, it is not what you do that is important, it is what you do for others. We have a series of questions that will help you design your unique sales story. You’ll share your sales story in your sales pitches, website, social media posts and marketing materials.

Presenter: Ron Ameln, SBM

11:10-noon

Building A Winning Marketing Plan

Marketing Maps - How to choose the most direct path and stay on track

There are hundreds of marketing options and it's easy to go bankrupt spending on tactics that don't work together to generate results. Participants leave with 3 priorities that usually translate into a 90-day plan.

Presenter: Carolyn Green, C.Green & Associates

12:10-1:00

 "Know Your Numbers"

Your Income Statement and Balance Sheet will be explained in simple, easy to understand terms in about 20 minutes.

Then, during the next 30 minutes, you'll learn how to read, analyze and optimize your business' financial results. All in an engaging, entertaining way with no financial gobbledegook.

Presenter: Bill Collier, Arch Engraving and Business Coach

1:10-2:00

From Chaos to Clarity: Your Journey From Spreadsheets to Systems

In this no-nonsense session, small business owners will gain a practical, repeatable framework for making smarter technology decisions. We will identify the subtle operational bottlenecks caused by over-reliance on manual processes and spreadsheets.

Participants will learn why many technology projects fail—and how to protect their investments before they are made. Rather than pushing for a daunting "big-bang" overhaul, this workshop provides a realistic, phased roadmap for scaling from spreadsheets to integrated systems. Attendees will leave equipped with a vendor evaluation checklist and a clear, actionable next step to move their business forward confidently.

Presenter: Lovelina Bhagat, Kanalogic

With over several decades of deep-sector experience across the IT landscape, Bhagat has built a career at the intersection of technical innovation and business strategy. Her expertise spans multiple verticals, where she has specialized in embedding herself within business departments to uncover the hidden operational gaps that slow down growth. Her approach is holistic, ensuring that the adoption of technology is balanced with rigorous governance, data security, and ethical frameworks. By bridging the communication gap between business stakeholders and technology, she has empowered organizations to move beyond the hype and achieve measurable, secure digital transformation.

Interested in speaking at a future show, fill out our online application, click here.

EXPO FAST FACTS

-St. Louis Business Expo is Missouri’s largest business-to-business shopping mall.
-Ability to creatively sell yourself and your company to a very targeted qualified audience.
-Great opportunity to market new products, services and technology.
-Excellent ways to get name out and let customers learn about your company.
-An opportunity to meet top executives and business decision-makers in a positive environment.
-Person-to-person interaction. Fantastic selling, prospecting and networking opportunity!
-Best one-day networking available with leads and prospects surrounding you.
-Promotional mentions in the St. Louis Small Business Monthly announcing you as a participant.