(Editor’s note: This post was updated at 5:10 p.m. on December 13. The original version gave an incorrect title for Kelly McKnight.)
Jason Clark is still playing it close to the vest.
Clark, president of VIA Studio, is completing the final details ahead of a mid-January announcement about VIA’s Small Business Shamen Conference. Details he’s not quite ready to leak, unfortunately.
He’s hoping the full-day event will evolve into sort of the Forecastle Festival of small-business/tech/social media gatherings in Louisville.
He and staffers at the Louisville-based web design firm and interactive advertising agency will announce all the details Monday, January 16, with a lot of details still in flux including the speaker lineup, Clark said in an interview.
All details will be settled by then, and Small Business Shamen can start taking registrations, he said.
Insiders have told Insider Louisville Clark is trying to bring in top national speakers for Small Business Shamen, and he didn’t deny it could be a Chris Brogan or a Gary Vaynerchuk level speaker.
“I can’t say who yet, but it will be someone on that level,” Clark said.
The one name Clark did drop is Forecastle Festival founder J. K. McKnight, the son of Clark’s partner in VIA Studio, founder and CEO Kelly McKnight. But you have to read to the end to find out why.
Small Business Shamen is scheduled to be held at the Ice House’s new 12,000-square-foot meeting space at 217 E. Main St. downtown. The Ice House facility has a capacity of about 450 people, according to Clark. Which suggests he’s planning something considerably larger than a Louisville Digital Association-scale seminar.
Clark said he’s organizing the event because as a business owner and CEO, he has trouble finding events that are valuable.
VIA staffers have conference allowances to keep technical skills up to date “and to get pumped up. “But the trouble I have is finding someing I can attend where I’d be inspired or enlightened. I never really find anything, Clark said.
“So I decided to do it myself.”
Clark noted he’s not exactly a neophyte, having organized large music events including raves starting as a teenager back in the 1990s. “That expertise of logistics and organization are not new to me at all,” he said. Clark said he sees Small Business Shamen’s potential as being regional if the first year sells out.
In that vein, he said, he knows just breaking even on big events is tough. Clark added how he remembers people including Kelly McKnight trying talk J.K. McKnight out of trying to turn Forecastle into the regional music festival it is today.
Coincidentally, J.K. McKnight is going to speak at Small Business Shamen on the topic of “Trust Your Instincts,” Clark said. ”When J.K. started Foreclastle, there were 30 people in Tyler Park,and now it’s the biggest festival in town,” he said.
The takeaway?
“Don’t let other people tell you your dream won’t work.”
Here’s from the Small Business Shamen news release:
Louisville, Kentucky (December 8, 2011) – The world of business is continually changing, and with the advent of new technology and adverse economic conditions, it has become imperative that leaders become adept at navigating the changing landscape.
“I’ve searched for inspiration from many different sources throughout my career. I’m continually amazed at how much we can learn from others who have forged the way,” says Jason Clark, President of VIA Studio and founder of the Small Business Shamen Conference. “This is a culmination of gathering together noted speakers and fellow business leaders that will inspire, energize, and impart knowledge that will make a difference in your business no matter what the size.” The Small Business Shamen seeks to do just that.
The inaugural event will be held Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at the Ice House in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be a full day conference packed full of inspiration and practical business knowledge. The final speaker line up and registration process will be announced in January, 2012.
Sponsorships are available and include benefits such tickets to the event, recognition on all promotional materials and more. More information at http://smallbusinessshamen.com/ as well as event updates on Facebook and Twitter (@sbshaman).
Terry Boyd has seven years experience as a business/finance journalist, and eight years a military reporter with European Stars and Stripes. As a banking and finance reporter at Business First, Boyd dealt directly with the most influential executives and financiers in Louisville.
