Building Community: An Overview of Impact Hub’s Small Business Mini-Summit
On June 24th, 2022, Impact Hub Baltimore hosted a Small Business Mini-Summit. This half-day event included over 200 attendees and consisted of various networking opportunities, panels, skill shares, and resources for small-business owners in Baltimore.
It’s 8 am on Friday, June 24th and the excited energy thrumming throughout Impact Hub Baltimore is palpable. Vendors from Dooby’s, Southeastern Roastery, and Treehouse Juicery are setting up their displays along the long wooden bar at the entrance of the Impact Hub space. The Impact Hub team is finalizing a few last minute details before the event begins. Team members hang up signs to guide attendees through the space, go through check-in procedures, and test the Youtube livestream. Others chat with the vendors themselves before the rush of the morning events.
The Impact Hub Baltimore team is preparing for the Small Business Mini-Summit to begin. This is the largest event the team has hosted in the space since 2020 at the start of the global pandemic. The half-day summit is packed with networking opportunities, resources, and skill shares to support small business owners to help them build and grow their businesses. The event commences at 9 am with coffee and networking, before an introduction to the day given by Co-founder and Executive Director Michelle Geiss. The rest of the day contains a myriad of panels and presentations from community members, funding experts, and accomplished microbusiness owners.
Geiss opens the event by exclaiming, “Can we clap it up just for being here?” A chorus of applause breaks out across the room as Geiss continues to welcome everyone to the Impact Hub space by stating, “It’s been awhile since we’ve had so many folks in this space, and this is really what this space is built for: to host community and have good conversations.” She goes on to declare, “I would say looking around that these are some of the really hardest working people that we know… the most committed to bringing your ideas to life and supporting communities and supporting neighborhoods. So much gratitude for everything that you all put into your work every single day!” In this opening statement, Geiss provides a wonderful introduction into this event while reinforcing the event’s true purpose: building community. In a time where for so long our communities have been restricted to a screen, in-person community building has become increasingly valuable.
The first panel of the day is the Baltimore Business Assistance & Support for Equity (BASE) Network panel. The panel features BASE Network partners including Ben Seigel of Baltimore Development Corporation, Andy Cook of Made in Baltimore, Jay Nwachu of Innovation Works, Javier Rivas of The Latino Economic Development Center, and Cydni Stewart of the Black Arts District. Erika Seth Davies of the Racial Equity Asset Lab, moderates this panel and begins with introductions from each panelist. One introduction in particular particularly stands out. Cydni Stewart describes the mission of the Black Arts District as “a way of us building our own communities.” She emphasizes how they are rebuilding art communities through emphasizing that “We are here to create a new sound, a new atmosphere in those areas. We do it through our businesses, we do it through our creators.” Creating community is essential to create connections and build trust between businesses and individuals.
The BASE Network panel is followed by the Empower Baltimore panel. This panel features insights from select program alumni about the structure and benefits of the Empower Baltimore program. The Empower Baltimore program is derived from a partnership between Impact Hub Baltimore and GoDaddy, who organize free six-week cohorts to instructs microbusiness owners in Baltimore that have been in existence for at least two years to create, reboot, or refresh their business’ website. The panel itself is moderated by Q Ragsdale, Impact Hub’s Director of Acceleration, and Bakari Jones, the Empower Program Manager. They field questions about program specifics, and also discuss the personal benefit provided by the program. One panelist, Olivia Fields of Olivia & Co describes how the program taught her that “we forget about ourselves in business, we really do. But, it starts with us taking care of ourselves first.” While this panel gives a lot of beneficial information about the structure of the Empower Baltimore program, it also impresses upon attendees the importance of safe space, freedom to be vulnerable, and strong community facilitated through the program.
The rest of the afternoon consists of a multitude of skill shares in an effort to create what Geiss describes as a “choose your own adventure” feel to the day’s summit. The event’s attendees flow in and out of each side of the building, sitting in on a bit of each event, grabbing mini hot dogs from Sporty Dog for lunch. Many attendees head to the back of the space to sign up for free headshots by Tatiana Mullin of As Seen By T. People also split off to network and greet old friends, many of whom have not seen each other in-person since before the pandemic. As I walk through conversations, the feeling that seems to characterize the spirit of the event more than anything is community.
The skill share sections of the afternoon run from 11am to 2pm and begin with a ARPA Business Grants & Vendor Directory skill share, given by Eric Lin, the Managing Director of Impact Hub Baltimore, and Ben Seigel of Baltimore Development Corporation. In this skill share they offer important information about ARPA grant funding and field funding questions from attendees. Next is the Empower Marketing & Branding skill share taught by Mariah Phillips and Simone Phillips of Makari. Their skill share shares with attendees the importance of creating a brand, web presence, and the do’s and don’ts of social media. This skill share is held in parallel with the skill share given by Jay Nwachu, the CEO of Innovation Works, on Preparing for Capital Investment. Finally, the summit concluded with two more skill shares. First, a skill share on Empower Vending & Sales given by Audrey McCann of GoDaddy. She teaches the importance of video marketing, as well as what to focus on in marketing videos. At the same time Nicholas Mitchel and Chris Landrum, the founders of Noisy Tenants offer a skill share on “How to Tell your Business Story.” They detail the many different avenues of their own business, and how they market themselves with such multi-faceted projects and aims. These skill shares were exceedingly helpful because they gave attendees the space to ask for specific advice about their own businesses.
The event had a phenomenal turn-out, with 250 registrants. It was attended primarily by Baltimore small business owners, with a total of 180 small business attendees registered. Attendee also included BASE Network Partners, ARPA Grantees, and members of their Vendor Directory. Affiliates of the BASE network made up 50 of the event’s registrants. Other prominent attendees included Empower Baltimore participants and partners (28 registrants), as well as Made in Baltimore members (22 registrants), and Impact Hub Baltimore members (17 registrants).
Impact Hub Baltimore’s Small Business Mini-Summit created a half day of networking, informative panels, and skill shares. However, at its core the event worked to grow and shape the existing community of small business owners, partners, and supporters within the Impact Hub space. At the beginning of the morning event, Q Ragsdale emphasized the community built within the Impact Hub space. He stated “As a small business owner myself I know the sacrifice, I know the late nights… the sacrifices that our friends and family have to make to support us and there’s also the joy that all that brings. What I love about being in this space is just being able to be with a group of people that understand that and know that there are also organizations and resources out there to support us.” The Small Business Mini-Summit did exactly this: it showcased Impact Hub’s space, programs, and networks as an opportunity for connection, support, and community.
For further information about Impact Hub Baltimore or to get connected to future events and hub happenings, use the links provided below!
Event Livestream- Watch the first half of the Mini-Summit now!
Impact Hub Newsletter — Subscribe now!
Empower Baltimore — YouTube — Follow us on Youtube to hear more accounts from Empower Baltimore alumni!
@impacthub_baltimore- Follow us on Instagram!
