Big Omaha!

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend one of the most talked about new tech/business events around. It's called Big Omaha, and its mascot is a cow with little stick people doing cool things on top of it. I think there's some symbolism there.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh at Big OmahaBig Omaha was founded last year by a couple of Omaha entrepreneurs. As described on the Big Omaha web site, "This event brings together the region's best and brightest to motivate, challenge, excite and connect with one another, and in turn raise the bar on the level of work we're producing." People from all over the midwest, and actually all over the country were in attendance at Big Omaha.

Although I make my home in Travel and Transport's marketing department, I am what you might call a "technology enthusiast". I get excited about all the latest gadgets and devices, and I am way too interested in social media and its impact on our lives and the way we do business. So any event that brings Tony Hsieh (of Zappos), Gary Vaynerchuk (of Wine Library TV), Robert Scoble (of the internet), Matt Mullenweg (of Wordpress), Jason Fried (of 37signals), Scott Harrison (of charity: water), Dennis Crowley (of Foursquare) and many other great innovators and smart people to my hometown is an event that I would never miss.

Big Omaha is primarily geared towards entrepreneurs, and the question that I received most when I talked to people and told them that I worked at Travel and Transport was, "What are you doing at a conference about entrepreneurship?"

Here is my answer: We're living in a world that is led by entrepreneurs. Much of the innovation that we see today comes from smaller, more agile and flexible companies. Travel and Transport was a start-up in 1946. As we covered in a previous series of posts, our founder, Lawrence Youngman, had to figure it all out for himself. He kept working at it, kept pursuing his ideas, and overcame a lot of doubters to build his company.

The times have changed, but I heard similar stories from countless others at Big Omaha - both presenters and attendees. I don't think that Travel and Transport would be where we are as an organization today, without that entrepreneurial spirit, dedication, and passion. As a 100% employee-owned company, I think that we are all entrepreneurs on some level.

But it's more than that. The discussions and networking that occurred at Big Omaha were simply about good business. Whether you're a two- person start-up, or an established corporation, it's always good to keep your eye out for "what's next". From marketing your business and your products, to staying organized, to providing great customer service, this is fundamental. That, in my mind, is what Big Omaha is really all about.

The other thing that I got from this event is this: Omaha is a pretty great place to be for business and innovation, and there is a ultra-motivated, growing community that is totally dedicated to making it even better. At Travel and Transport, we have people and customers from all over the nation and world. But we're headquartered in Omaha, and we're proud of that! I have never been more proud of that than I now am, as a result of the people I interacted with at this conference.

There are plenty of great recaps of the event already online, so I won't try and do better (a couple of the best are here and here). I will simply say that, if you ever have a chance to see Gary Vaynerchuk speak, do it! He is brilliant and I've never seen anyone more motivated. Just be prepared for swearing. Lots and lots of swearing. Really. A lot of swearing. And if you are an easy crier, you may want to prepare yourself before you see Scott Harrison of charity: water tell his amazing story about the work that they're doing unearthing clean water and creating new opportunities for people in Africa.

Thanks so much to Dusty Davidson and Jeff Slobotski for organizing this great event, as well as all of the people who helped put it on. And thanks to a Travel and Transport client, The Kauffman Foundation, for being a sponsor of it!