EMERGING NETWORKS

The third and final workshop allowed registered emerging businesses more hands-on training than before

By Hy Cotten

Thursday, September 9, 2010 - 1:44am

Yet another huge turnout Tuesday for Workshop III has very likely assured that the Emerging Business Program for Super Bowl XLV will outdo all predecessors in NFL history.

Some 700 North Texas minority- and women-owned business partners showed up at the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. They listened to panel presentations explaining how their businesses can get involved in Super Bowl XLV activities, and they attended breakout sessions for specific groups.

This third Workshop was by invitation only to those businesses that met the March 31 deadline to register for Super Bowl XLV’s Emerging Business Program. Earlier workshops in Fort Worth and Arlington also drew huge numbers.

Frank Supovitz, the NFL’s Senior Vice President of Events who oversees all Super Bowl matters, attended the Dallas function. Referring to the interest shown by North Texas businesses, Supovitz confided, “The Workshops that we’ve seen so far have been equally double the size of anything we’ve seen in the past.”

He added, “I think that really demonstrates just how regional this event really is. We’re not concentrated on one side of the Metroplex or the other. We’re really trying to be as sensitive to the geography and to the different cultures here as we possibly can, and I think the fact that you’ve seen literally hundreds of people come to these, whether they’re on one side of I-30 or the other side of I-30, really demonstrates just how excited people are, regardless of whether they’re in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving or wherever.”

Robbie Douglas, the Host Committee’s Director of Business Development, has been the catalyst for the North Texas Emerging Business Program from its inception, along with Co-Chairs Gina Puente-Brancato and Emmitt Smith.

Now that the public workshops are completed, Douglas said, “It’s definitely been beyond my expectations. There’s been so much enthusiasm for the Program. What I’m delighted about is that there are so many dedicated businesses that have stuck with each Workshop.”

But the Emerging Business Program remains in high gear. Most importantly: Minority- and women-owned businesses must still get certified by one of four agencies by May 31. (Please see the Emerging Business icon on this website for more specifics because there’s a major difference between registering and being approved for certification.)

Meanwhile, it’s full speed ahead.

“We’re actually entering into the second phase of the Program,” Douglas said. “We are only talking to those businesses that are in the database that registered by our March 31 deadline — the online registration deadline.

“In this next phase, we’re no longer promoting the Program externally. It’s all about working with the 3,000 businesses that have already registered. The next step is to make sure as many of them as possible are certified.”

That’s not all. The Emerging Business Program has already planned a number of additional events in the coming months.

“We have a Playbook Workshop Series that will start in the fall,” Douglas said. “That will be for these businesses, and it will cover topics to really help elevate their business even beyond the Super Bowl. It’ll be about how to help them build their business here in North Texas. We’ll have a business forum around Super Bowl week, and we’ll have some trade shows and events through this calendar year.” 

The day of the third Workshop marked exactly 10 months from the day that Super Bowl XLV will be played at Cowboys Stadium. The clock is ticking for everybody who will be involved.

“This is really when we want to have our best businesses step forward,” Douglas said. “We had another great attendance for this third Workshop. Folks are very engaged. They’re asking the right questions. Everybody’s ready to go.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: KIM KONRADI