Bixpo 2006 Speaker Series gets down to business

LOVELAND – Bixpo 2006 features a speaker lineup that promises to provide business insight and direct access to innovative business ideas on Wednesday, Sept. 13 and Thursday, Sept. 14 at the Budweiser Events Center at The Ranch in Loveland.

Attendees will have the opportunity to glean knowledge from prominent business speakers, including: “Blue Ocean Strategy” expert Ralph Trombetta, Lisa Ford and Lucinda Yates on Sept. 13; and “Freakonomics” author Steven Levitt and Terry “Moose” Millard on Sept. 14.

Trombetta will lecture on the strategy created by professors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne from the business school INSEAD. Blue Ocean Strategy is based on their study of 150 strategic marketing moves spanning more than 100 years and 30 industries. In today’s overcrowded industries, head-on competition results in nothing but a bloody “red ocean” of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Kim and Mauborgne contend that while most companies compete within such red oceans, this strategy is increasingly unlikely to create profitable growth in the future.

Lisa Ford, author of “How to Give Exceptional Customer Service,” the No. 1 selling business videotape series for the last three years in the United States, is a professional business industry speaker who uses lots of energy, humor and enthusiasm to deliver practical techniques and common sense messages. She speaks throughout the United States and internationally on topics of customer service, leadership, team issues and change.

Ford’s experience includes working with Pfizer, Viacom, Edward Jones, CSX, Kaiser Permanente, Morton’s of Chicago, Citgo, American Gas Association, American Diabetes Association and American Veterinary Medical Association. In 2002, Ford was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame by the National Speakers Association
Lucinda Yates reveals her personal rags-to-riches story to help explain what it takes to make your business successful. After a divorce, she was homeless and living under a bridge with her daughter.

A jewelry designer by trade, she created a pin that was a simple, geometric representation of a house. Yates’ pinnacle came with her realization that she could use the pin as a fundraiser for The Preble Street Resource Center, a community breakfast program in Portland, Maine. Yates hoped to raise money for the organization and a greater awareness of homelessness in the community. She was successful on both fronts. She now heads Designs by Lucinda, and the company operates with 50 employees and is growing.

Steven Levitt, author of the best-selling “Freakonomics,” will use his seemingly outlandish theories to model how out-of-the-box thinking can put you a step ahead in your industry. Though Levitt’s statistics have spurred some controversy and much discussion, he has a unique perception of the world, and the statistics to suggest seemingly implausible cause and effect.

A 37-year-old self-effacing Midwestern father of four, Levitt has an enormous curiosity and is set on course by personal experiences and the incongruities he sees in everyday life. He has been known to sift through a pile of data to find an unknown story, and devises ways to measure an effect that veteran economists have declared immeasurable.

Terry “Moose” Millard, a retired Southwest Airlines pilot and leadership expert, uses humor and his passion for excellence to share the story of what has made Southwest Airlines so successful for so long in such a competitive industry. Millard learned about leadership through his passion for flying, and since 1990 he has shared his experience and research as a seminar leader, consultant and public speaker.

Bixpo 2006 is the largest business exhibition in the Northern Front Range with more than 200 exhibitor booths, a regional Business After Hours and a speaker series that draws thousands of attendees.

“We expect this year’s lineup to draw an exceptional crowd,´ said Chris Wood, Northern Colorado Business Report co-publisher. “The messages from the speakers this year will prove to be beneficial to everyone who attends.”

A one-day pass to the Speaker Series is $99, and a two-day pass is $198. To purchase tickets by phone from the Budweiser Event Center box office, call 877-544-8499. The box office is open Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets also may be purchased 24 hours a day, seven days a week by visiting www.comcasttix.com. Discounted group tickets or corporate tables of 10 are available by calling Jim Rath, marketing director, at 970-221-5400, ext. 202.

Bixpo is presented by the Northern Colorado Business Report, Boulder County Business Report and Wyoming Business Report. Event sponsors include Bank of Choice, Banner Health, EKS&H, Water Valley, Sam’s Club, Kennedy and Coe LLC, Qwest, Hewlett-Packard Co., Poudre Valley Health System, KUNC 91.5 FM and KFKA 1310 AM.

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