The Small Business Summit is a dynamic, one-day event designed to inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs, small business owners, and startup enthusiasts from across the region. This summit brings together innovative minds, experienced leaders, and resource partners to explore key topics in business growth, innovation, funding, and more.

We’re looking for engaging speakers who can share real-world insights, practical strategies, and inspirational stories that empower attendees to take their ventures to the next level. If you have expertise, experience, or a unique perspective that can benefit small business and startup communities, we invite you to apply to be a part of this exciting event.

We welcome a variety of presentation styles that create meaningful engagement and spark conversation. Sessions may include traditional PowerPoint-style presentations, interactive workshops, moderated panels featuring multiple experts, roundtable discussions that encourage peer-to-peer learning, or hands-on activities that allow participants to apply new concepts in real time. Whether your approach is highly visual, conversational, or experiential, we’re seeking formats that energize attendees, foster collaboration, and deliver clear, actionable takeaways.

Summit Details: 

Summit Date: Thursday, November 12th, 2026, 8:00AM – 5:00PM

Location: Bien Venu Event Center, Cedar Falls

Length of Session: 45 Minutes (Please plan time for Q&A to be included in your session)

Track Details:

We are offering four topical tracks to guide content for the conference and to create the best experience possible for the attendees. The track descriptions are below; please keep these in mind when submitting session ideas.

Track Definitions:

People, Culture, and Vision: This track is designed to strengthen their leadership skills and enhance their strategic visioning skills. Sessions could explore effective leadership practices, decision-making strategies, instilling accountability, and methods for managing and inspiring teams. We are looking for sessions that are designed to help small businesses gain insights on setting a clear vision, fostering innovation, navigating challenges, and sustaining long-term growth.

Marketing & Sales: This track is targeted at helping entrepreneurs and small business owners elevate their brand, connect with customers, and drive revenue through effective marketing and sales strategies. Sessions on this track could cover a range of topics such as building a strong brand identity and leveraging digital marketing tools, to mastering the sales funnel and closing the deals. The committee is seeking sessions that will offer practical insights, real-world examples, and expert tactics to help you attract the right audience, convert leads, and build lasting customer relationships.

Challenges in Small Business Ownership: Running a small business comes with challenges beyond finances and operations such as your mental health, relationships, and personal well-being. This track sheds light on the more hidden struggles business owners face, including stress management, managing change, work-life balance, isolation, burnout, and the impact on personal relationships. Through expert-led sessions, and peer support, attendees will gain strategies for maintaining mental wellness, setting boundaries, and building a support system.

Finance/HR: This track is tailored to enhance operational efficiency and financial acumen, managing people and learning the technical skills to run your business. Sessions could cover key topics such as financial planning, cash flow management, budgeting, HR processes, onboarding, training, and team management. We are looking for sessions that will help participants learn practical strategies for improving profitability, managing risks, streamlining workflows, and leveraging financial data for informed decision-making.

Speaker Expectations: Please review the attached speaker’s expectations to understand the commitment and quality that we are striving for. Speaker Expectations

If you have questions regarding this speaker application, please reach out to Erin Langenberg via email at erin@growcedarvalley.com.

FAQs:

Timeline: 

Application Opens: 12/15/2025

Application close: 3/13/2026

Committee Selection: 3/27/2026

Speakers Invited/Notified: 4/3/2026

Speakers Announced: 5/1/2026

Summit Date: 11/12/2026

Session length: 45 Minutes (Please plan time for Q&A to be included in your session)

Can I submit more than 1 session idea? Yes, feel free to share more than one idea but please submit them on separate submissions.

Are speakers paid? For our breakout sessions, As a speaker, you will receive the following in-kind benefits:

• Promotion on Grow Cedar Valley’s website and social media platforms, including headshot, bio, and area of expertise
• Event signage recognition including your name and topic displayed outside session rooms
• Complimentary event registration, including access to other sessions throughout the day
• Lunch provided on the day of the event

Expected audience size: As this is our second annual summit we are estimating break-out session sizes to be between 25-40 attendees.