Nice work by Gary to give us some insight into how to deal with local universities.

And his slides:

Kathy’s video from CenPhoCamp:

And her slides:

The schedule is set, the sponsors are happy and the after party has been reserved.

Now it’s time to get everyone involved. Below, you’ll notice three four things: 1) the boilerplate copy that you can copy and paste to your blog, your Facebook page or wherever else you live online; 2) a Word copy of the official press release; 3) a PDF copy of the same release; 4) a text copy for you to give to your non-press friends. Please distribute any or all of these to greater downtown Phoenix residents and business owners that you think might benefit from CenPhoCamp.

Boilerplate copy (just copy and paste, yo)
CenPhoCamp exists to teach greater downtown Phoenix businesses how to thrive in the new economy. From Kirk Yuhnke of ABC15 to Jose Gonzalez and Bill Binder of Torch Theater and Kevin Spidel of Gannett Local to Jonathan Kressaty of RipStyles and Betwext, we’ve gathered practitioners, not disassociated experts, together for an afternoon or learning and collaboration.

The event is free to anyone.

Please register at http://www.cenphocamp.com/register/

CenPhoCamp will be held at the Cronkite School at the downtown Phoenix ASU campus.

555 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85004

October 9, 2010
1–4:30pm (conference at Cronkite)
5–7:30pm (hosted appetizers at the District)

Downloadable press releases
Word press release (right click)

PDF press release (right click)

Downloadable friend invite
Text friend invite

Bill Binder
Bill Binder performs and teaches with The Torch Theatre in Phoenix and is the executive producer of the Phoenix Improv Festival. He has been performing improvisational theatre since 1994, starting with Michigan Tech University’s The Troupe.

Jose Gonzalez
Jose Gonzalez is a Phoenix native who has been studying and performing improv since 2001. One of the founders of The Torch Theatre and a producer of the Phoenix Improv Festival, he has been a supporter the downtown and central Phoenix art scene for nearly 20 years and active in it for the past decade.

Bill and Jose will present Create, Communicate and Connect at 2:10pm.
Overcoming the sprawl of the valley to connect with your community whether for business, fun, or progress can be a challenge. Bill Binder and Jose Gonzalez will discuss their experiences jumping into the downtown Phoenix art scene nearly 10 years ago and using improv-inspired ideas, we’ll explore how everyone can better create their own path, communicate it to the world around them, and connect with the community to make great things happen.

Drew Manusharow
Drew Manusharow has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona in Fine Arts with an Emphasis in Visual Communications & Graphic Design. His passion for creativity and the environment stemmed at an early age when his parents enrolled him and his brother in the Boy Scouts of America. Drew has grown to appreciate life and the environment. Since graduating College, he has worked in the field of graphic design, project management, and has also started a small business. He considers himself a philanthropist; passionate about helping others see the quality of life. Humbly on a tight budget, and fortunate enough to travel the world, he has realized he wants to bridge his creativity with his passion for sustainability. Cultivating education for people; Drew would like to help Phoenix, Arizona be a more sustainable city. When Drew is not doing some sort of project management, or enjoying Phoenix’s Mountain Preserves, he is figuring out a way to help residents, and business owners reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Drew will be presenting Green tips for small businesses at 3:50pm.
This will be an open discussion about how business owners can and should promote sustainability at their office. With an understanding that in this down economy and tight budgets, most business owners are thinking about the bottom line. This discussion will give you some tips and incentives to consider to justify the return on investment. Come prepared to change the world!

Catrina Knoebl
Catrina Knoebl gets around greater downtown Phoenix. From the Downtown Phoenix Journal to her business Urban Affair and Radiate Phx to the Cactus League, Catrina has her hands in just about everything urban. She spends her days at Coe House, a historic residence known for hosting small concerts and urbanite get togethers.

Catrina will be presenting How hyper local works at 3pm.

As large newspapers become out of touch with their communities, hyperlocal publications are filling the void. Smaller audiences means less topics to draw from, but enables writers to go to depths they’d never previously have time to. This presentation will show you how that process works, how it’s different than traditional news gathering and how to make your business hyperlocal-coverage worthy.

Kirk Yuhnke
Kirk Yuhnke is a morning news anchor for ABC15 Daybreak and the news/talk show Now@9. He’s worked as a journalist in various states across the country including Ohio, Michigan and Utah. Kirk specializes in technology and social media. He lives in Phoenix with his wife, son and brand new daughter.

Kirk will be presenting The business of local news: How we decide what’s a headline and how digital media is changing everything at 3:50pm.

Kirk has spent the past 10 years working as a news reporter/anchor and will share some of his insight into what makes the business of news tick. If you’ve ever wondered how a newsroom decides what to cover, how stories become the headlines and how you can get your event covered, now’s your chance to hear it from someone who is a part of that process. As one of 4 anchors on a new news/talk show that revolves around social media, Kirk will also discuss how digital media and social networks are turning the broadcast news world upside down.

Jonathan Kressaty
Born in Wisconsin and transplanted to Arizona at the ripe ol’ age of 11, Jonathan graduated with a degree in Economics from ASU in December of 2009. After starting Ripstyles (a media conversion and consulting company) at the age of 18, Jonathan determined that working in corporate America would never be for him and continued on his path of starting, managing, and growing small businesses. When not playing trombone and guitar or eating at all the great restaurants in the Valley, Jonathan spends his time at Gangplank working on Betwext, a small tech startup focused on developing incredible SMS marketing tools. You can learn more about Jonathan by visiting jonathankressaty.com

Jonathan will be presenting You’re not Mill Ave. Embrace it — How to get 20-somethings in the door at 3:50pm.
Calling all downtown businesses — you’re not on Mill Avenue, and you need to embrace it! Twenty-somethings are visiting downtown bars, restaurants, and shops more and more often, and there are lots of things you can do to try and attract this crowd without changing much (if anything) of your business. Bring lots of questions and a willingness to try some new strategies!

Chad Swaney
Chad Swaney is currently completing his doctorate in educational technology, with an emphasis on social media, at Pepperdine University and is part of the social media team at a national retailer. He’s a big supporter of local business, social justice, and collaborative technology. You can find his work at ChadSwaney.com.

Chad will be presenting Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad Yelp at 3pm.
Few things strike fear in the hearts of small businesses like the business review site Yelp. Tales of businesses destroyed by negative reviews seem to pass from small business owner to small business owner, not unlike a twisted combination of Sleepy Hollow and Telephone. There is good news, though. You can harness the power of the engaged, passionate user community on Yelp to build your business. In this session, Chad will show you the characteristics of businesses that succeed on Yelp, and tell you what to avoid to make sure that you have the Yelp community on your side.

Kevin Spidel
Kevin Spidel is the Community Architect at GannettLocal who builds community development and customer cultivation for small and medium sized businesses.

Kevin’s work can be seen at Gannett Local and KevinSpidel.com

Kevin will be presenting on Customer Loyalty 2.0, the new Small Business Branding at 2:10pm.
Customer Loyalty 2.0 is an evolution from not just providing loyalty programs, but engaging your customers as word of mouth marketing agents. Empowering your customer base to re-market for you. Building customer loyalty and putting tools in the hands of your customers to become brand advocates is the next evolution in small business branding.