Below is a collection of episodes from the live broadcast at the summit as well as what the summit was about with links on how you can get involved with the next one!!

HOW CAN FLORIDA GOVCON HELP SMALL BUSINESSES WIN MORE FEDERAL CONTRACTS?

• Host representatives from NASA, PEO-STRI, SOCOM and Prime Contractors, to discuss improving your readiness to become a prime contractor.
• Close the gaps between subs and primes, and find ways to leverage technology trends such as  Machine Intelligence, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Sensors, Manufacturing, Cyber-Security and Autonomous Vehicles.
• Address growth issues expert panels to discuss joint ventures, business valuation, pricing and compliance strategies, contracting and HR issues, and the cybersecurity elements that cross all areas.
• Include a Veteran Connections session to improve collaboration among the veteran transition and entrepreneurship communities.
• Engage leaders like Sid Fuchs of MacAulay-Brown to share his thoughts on building strategic relationships and Jeff Piersall of i4 Business and Space Coast magazines to discuss how collaboration and partnerships drive growth across Florida.

The Florida GovCon Summit provides the opportunity to bring all these topics together in a two-day event on Wednesday and Thursday, March 29-30, 2017 at the DoubleTree Westshore, Tampa.

The 2017 Florida GovCon Summit will be collaborative and interactive. Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with peers, primes, and federal agencies at this premier teaming event!

Wednesday, March 29

9:00am Panel: Technology Trends

We’re bringing together subject matter experts in machine intelligence, virtual reality, sensors, space, autonomous vehicles, manufacturing, and software to discuss opportunities and overlaps for federal and commercial markets, and how your company can participate. This panel will feature overview and breakout sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

With John Morrow of Morrow Consultants, Sean Carey of HD Interactive, Michael Ferris of Abacode, John Lambert of Nexutech, Julio Morris of BRIDG, and Jeff Young of Marjau Systems

10:45am Panel: Taking Care of Your Team

With potential changes in the Affordable Care Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal regulations, you could have risks you don’t even know about related to your 401K plan, benefits packages and employment law.   It’s so hard to find qualified employees, and it can be even harder to keep them, and to achieve results for both employees and the organization.  Learn how it all begins with the recruiting and onboarding process, and continues with mentoring and other programs including veteran employment. This panel will feature overview sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

With Michael Valdez of Synergy Wealth Alliance, Mike DeVaux of Keystone Benefits Group, Sheryl Hunter of Hunter Business Law, Carmen Scanlon of Insperity, and Marnice Miller of HCRC

12pm Keynote & Lunch with Jeff Piersall

Jeff Piersall, CEO of SCB Marketing, and author of Dogs Don’t Bark at Parked Cars, shares how to create partnerships and trust to develop a vibrant, collaborative entrepreneurial ecosystem.  SCB publishes i4Business Magazine and SpaceCoast Business Magazine.

1pm Panel: Target to Execute

Figuring out your strategy, determining what to go after and developing a process to manage your pipeline is critical to success in federal contracting.  This panel includes business development, capture and proposal management strategies to help you win more federal contracts.  Panel also includes experts in contract management and security clearance topics.

With Kevin Lancaster of Winvale, Darrell DeLoatch of FHM LLC and David Touchton of Forensic Innovation Center

2pm Panel: Growing your Business Through Joint Ventures

Recent changes in federal regulations have made Joint Ventures and Mentor-Protégé programs more attractive for teammates, and this panel will discuss options and strategies. This panel will feature overview and breakout sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

with Matt Stavish of Republic Capital Access, Donna Huneycutt of Wittenberg Weiner, Todd Overman of Bass, Berry & Sims, and Carolyn Dragseth of DC Contracting Group

3pm Panel: Cost, Pricing and Compliance for Federal Contractors

Every RFP that comes out has a more complicated spreadsheet for your pricing. You keep getting asked about DCAA approved accounting systems, and how you came up with your indirect rates, and where are your policies and procedures. You haven’t been able to find an accountant that understands federal contracting. You’ve got both federal and commercial work, plus a combination of software, training, services and OCONUS work, and the DCAA auditor keeps questioning how you’ve allocated your overhead costs. You’re worried about how to keep up with payroll and billing, you aren’t making the profit you should, and you aren’t sure where to get help with the DCAA issue.

This panel will provide answers with Juli Lopez of Streamline Defense, Jenny W Clark of Solvability, Traci Rowland Shepps of Cordia Partners, Wayne Leland of nPerspective, and Rich Wilkinson of Unanet.

4pm Panel: Business Growth Through Digital Media

How are you using social media for your corporate and social branding? How can you use LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to raise your profile. How are you positioning yourself against competitors with SEO strategies? How are you using contact management and automation tools like Salesforce, Contactually, HubSpot, and other CRM tools to communicate with partners to boost your marketing to clients. profiles, and prospective employees? This panel will feature overview and breakout sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

with Keith Hoffert of Catalyst Group International, John Hamerlinck of Wescat, Pete Blum of Solvability, and Brook Borup of My Clone Solution.

5pm Speaker & Reception

What is the future of the federal community across Florida? How are we connecting our federal contracting organizations, our economic development groups, federal agencies, military bases, our military and veterans to create a strong and sustainable economic base?

with Tommy Simon of Technology Brokers & Advisors, Lisa Monnet of Tampa Bay Defense Alliance, and Beau Higgins of Amazon

VETERAN’S CONNECTIONS DAY (Wednesday, March 29th)

9am Veteran Connections Keynote: The Value of a Veteran

Paul Huszar, President and CEO of VetCor, Army Veteran, and Veteran advocate will kick off Veteran Connections with the story of The Value of a Veteran.

9:30am Veteran Connections: Getting in Touch with the Community

One of the main issues Veterans face is getting in touch with the companies looking to hire them. Find out what is going on in the community and where to find the movers and shakers!

10am Veteran Connections LinkedIn Workshop: How to Find Veterans

If you’re searching but can never find the right Veteran candidate that you’re looking for then you need to learn how to laser focus your searches. LinkedIn expert Pete Blum will show you how.

10:30 Veteran Connections: Veteran Entrepreneurship

Jeff Goble, Principal at JeffGobleSpeaks.Com and Veteran Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Tampa Bay WaVE will talk to us on the process and challenges of entrepreneurship. We will also learn about programs and opportunities in Tampa to get started.

11am Veteran Connections: Veteran Resources Panel

There are many resources in our community. Everyone knows about some of them. We want to establish the resource road map you need in order to succeed. This panel breaks down many of the resources Veterans are looking for and stands ready to support our Veterans. Stay tuned for even more on the Veteran Connections Network!

11:30 Lunch Break

1pm Veteran Connections Revolver

Have you come locked and loaded to network? This speed networking session will spin you through several tables of Veterans and businesses where you get  a chance to introduce yourself, tell everyone what you do and what you are there for! Bring your business cards!

2pm Veteran Connections LinkedIn Workshop: Building a Better Profile

LinkedIn expert Pete Blum takes you through building a profile that will attract attention and communicate what is really needed to gain an edge.

2:30pm Veteran Connections: Veteran Opportunities

This panel will talk about career opportunities for Veterans.

3:30pm Veteran Connections LinkedIn Workshop: Networking

LinkedIn expert Pete Blum takes you through networking essentials for success.

4:00pm Veteran Connections: A Healthy Mind and Body Panel

Taking care of our Veterans and making them part of the community is about more than just helping them find a job. This panel talks about programs that are about healing, health, and fitness. Getting Veterans active and engaged with community after returning home is something we all need to be a part of.

Thursday, March 30

9am Panel: Success Strategies

What are your strategies for success in federal contracting? How do you leverage GSA schedules? Should you put all your energy into becoming a prime contractor using 8A, Hubzone, SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB and other small business credentials? How can you use Cost Plus Contracting to expand your business?

with Billy Hogan of AC4S,  Sherilyne Dougherty of DAI Solutions, Brian Butler of VISTRA, and Rod Duke of Qualis Corporation.

10am Panel: Cyber 360

Everything we do has a cyber risk, with new regulations and standards coming out from all areas. Panel includes Cybersecurity, Cyber Law, HIPPA and FISMA requirements, DFARs 252.204.7012 Compliance, and network security practices. This panel will feature overview and breakout sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

with Lisa Shasteen of Shasteen & Percy PA, Jonathan Hard of H2L Solutions, Michael Whitcomb of Loricca, Rick Roman of Gulf Coast Underwriters, Michael Ferris of Abacode, Angel Rojas of DataCorps

11:30am Keynote & Lunch with Sid Fuchs 

Sid Fuchs, President and CEO of MacAulay-Brown, and author of Get Off the Bench discusses how to create value through relationships. 

12:30pm Panel: Maximizing Your Value for Exit

1:30pm Co-opetition Strategy Session

Success in federal contracting requires creating a team of partners watching the market for opportunities. This collaborative session provides discussion of how to create a peer alliance focused on growth.

• Partnering with commercial organizations (in a role as Sub or as JV partners)
• Business Model Innovations
• Better leverage the SBIR program
• Changing Industry/Company Cultures

Hosted by Mark Swanson of Lane Five Ventures

2:30pm Panel: Are You Ready to Prime?

You’ve got the past performance, the teams, GWACs, GSA Schedules and are working on Mentor-Protégé and Joint Ventures.  It’s frustrating not to hear back from prime contractors as you are trying to develop relationships and teams.  Is it you?  Are you begging for work, or are you finding the need and the agency’s budget and determining how to carve out a new program and revenue?  Discover what agency and prime contractor representatives expect from you, before you can be considered “Ready to Prime.” This panel will feature overview and breakout sessions with the speakers for a more intimate environment.

 With Tara Wagner of PEO STRI, Chris Harrington of SOCOM, Joyce McDowell of NASA-KSC, Carolyn Fries of Doolittle Institute/Eglin, Garth Arevalo of Lukos, Rob Watson of Northrop Grumman, Pete Davis of MacAulay-Brown, Tony Land of Ironclad Technology Services, Bob Yuill of Yuill Strategic Solutions, and Terry Meier of Raytheon. 

Vendor Marketplace All Day Includes 1:1 time with our event partners listed below.

Let’s make it Fun, Interactive and Productive:

No one can set aside all day for both days. Attend the sessions you can. Set up meetings with your own partners during the event – there is pleanty of room to host your own small groups.

• BUSINESS RADIO-X: Keith Hoffert of Business Radio-X will be in attendance again this year.  We’ll be adding a link so you can join the show. Get more exposure for your company by being on the air with Keith, and sending links to the show out afterwards.
• Teaming Talks – your target areas, your socio-economic statuses, your past performance – and let’s share that information so you can have some teaming discussions.
• Shared Capabilities PDF – will provide a downloadable document with your company profile for Small Business VIP registrations.
• This is NOT the same old conference – we’re looking for your ideas how to make the best use of your time. Contact Listing in excel format – will be provided to all attendees after the event.

You Can’t Miss This

Focused exclusively on small business strategies for the federal marketplace, Florida GovCon Summit will broaden your thinking and provide actionable insights. Just as important as discussions with the thought leaders in attendance will be the opportunity to pursue these and other issues with your peers—fellow defense and aerospace contractors from companies with $500K to to $30 million in Revenue.

You’re NOT A STARTUP, and you don’t want to hear the same old stuff:

You’ve got active subcontracts, you’ve set up teaming agreements and even part of the way through Joint Ventures, Mentor-Protege and GSA Schedules.  You’ve got great past performance and you’re building your pipeline.  You’ve got most of your infrastructure in place.  But every time you get past one obstacle, you find out about another one!  You’re especially worried about being locked out of the market because you can’t get on the right contract vehicle!  And all this is costing so much time and money.  We’re determined to help you find the answers you need so you can walk away with an action plan and a broader range of teammates and opportunities.

Don’t miss out – space is limited.

To see what happened last year go to www.i4govcon.com

BRX Studios Pensacola – Contact khoffert@businessradiox.com  or visit www.pensacola.businessradiox.com

Get in on the discussion -Click to join the Florida GovCon Community on LinkedIn.

Sponsor your own Radio In My Booth with BRX- Pensacola  — See what it looks like here  contact Keith @ 8502889959 or khoffert@businessradiox.com