Zoning in on the Bizzone Business Expo

Zoning in on the Bizzone Business Expo

This year’s Bizzone Business Expo, formerly Small Business Expo is New Zealand’s largest event for business and to handle the large crowds, speciality zones are being set up this year to make it easier for people to find information quickly.

The Bizzone Business Expo will be in Wellington from 22-24 July and Christchurch from 5-7 August.

Sarah Trotman, Bizzone’s managing director says that with more than 13,000 business owners who attend the Business Expo nationwide, it is important that they make the expo simple and easy for business owners to find what they need. “So to handle the numbers we have established expert zones so people can access business support quickly and efficiently,” she says.

“Research from our last expos found nearly 90 percent of business owners say they will return next year. Also 59 percent of business owners (according to a Touchpoll independent survey) who attend the Bizzone Business Expo do business at the expos– so people have to be able to move around the expo easily.”

This year’s expo theme is smart marketing. Trotman believes that smart and confident marketing is going to carry business owners through the recession. In addition to this there is also a $100,000 smart marketing prize on offer to everyone attending, one of the largest ever offered to business in New Zealand. The new Smart Marketing School will ensure business owners get the free up-skilling they need to proactively address these changing markets.

As well as the Smart Marketing Zone this year’s zones will include Unlimited Business Mentoring Zone, The Ministry of Economic Development Business.govt=Online Services Zone, Statistics NZ Business Information Zone, and The National Bank Seminar Series.

“At each zone organisations will be on hand to answer questions and provide useful information to people attending the expo,” Sarah Trotman says. “This expo is all about making a difference for the business people who come through the doors.''

Mentoring is a must for every business person, she says, and one reason why the Bizzone Business Expo has reintroduced a specialist mentoring zone – the Unlimited Business Mentoring Zone that will offer free 30-minute mentoring sessions for all visitors.

“Our mentoring zone has always been extremely popular and with the current economic climate people are even more likely to need mentoring,” Sarah Trotman says.

At the Ministry of Economic Development Business.govt=Online Services Zone she says people can learn about the fantastic free support from the new online portal www.business.govt.nz . Experts will be there to show you how easy it is to set up a company online. “They can also discover how you can invest in and protect your ideas and get information about the solutions available for creditors when you are owed money by a debtor.”

Last year one of the most visited stands was Statistics NZ. This year at the the Statistics NZ Business Information Zone people will be able to get valuable information on target markets, business activity by region, how to target new customers, import and export trends, changes in the cost of labour, living and the productive sector as well as regional market conditions.

The National Bank Seminar Series will be running for the duration of the expo with 40 experts giving free seminars on subjects of interest to business owners, from Cashflow to Smart Marketing, from sustainability to business planning.

Trotman says “It is important for business owners to develop and edge over their competitors and they can only do this by taking time out of their business. The expo is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of free information and support that is out there for business owners, often they just don’t know where to find it.”

The Bizzone Business Expo is being held
• In Wellington at the TSB Bank Arena from 22-24 July
• In Christchurch at the Convention Centre from 5-7 August
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Information on the Bizzone Business Expo is available through the website.

ENDS

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