Show : Microsoft's Small Business Summit
Guest : Frederic De Wulf, Microsoft Web Director for SMBs
Aired : Sunday March 23rd, 2008

We're back! After taking the first break in almost a year and a half, TFBS is back in action.  And we're glad to have Microsoft's Frederic De Wulf on to talk about the 3rd annual  Microsoft Small Business Summittaking place online March 24th-27th.  Frederic tells us what's in store this year and how it differs from the previous two.  He also fills us in how the role small businesses will play in the event, how they can participate from the comfort of your office, and what kind of takeaways you can come away with after the event is over.

 Plus Brent talks about his travels to Infusion Software's user conference as well as his experiences at Microsoft Convergence.  Plus he covers his thoughts on participating in Oracle's first ever blogger's call.

Frédéric De Wulf is a 15-year veteran of Microsoft, and has spent the past 11 years in capacities serving small-business customers. Prior to joining Microsoft,  he accumulated firsthand experience running his own small business film-production company, and running an interactive division for a 250 employee mid-size company. He has served as the host and overseer of the Microsoft Small Business Summit since its inauguration in 2006 and oversees Microsoft's Small Business Center site, the Microsoft Startup Center, The Microsoft Small Business Show, the Microsoft Mid Size Business Center and the Microsoft Business site. 

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Show : Building an Effective Web Presence in 2008 for Your Small Business
Guest : Michael Schultz, Marketing Director - Microsoft Office Live
Aired : Sunday January 13th, 2008

Even now in 2008, many studies still show only half of all small businesses have a website.  Those small businesses without a real presence on the web still perceive it to be to difficult and costly to create and maintain a website.  Others still don't see where a website would be of any real value to their businesses.  Our featured guest, Microsoft's Michael Schultz, gives any small business thinking along these lines many reasons to reconsider.  Michael explains why it's more important than ever before for small businesses to get on the web.  He fills us in on how much easier it is to get started than many small business owners may think it is, some best practices for getting started, and how a great web presence can improve the image of any small business.  And if you think only targeting local prospects means you don't need a website, Michael points out why you're probably wrong with that assessment.  Plus check out the free 64-page ebook from Microsoft and Startup Nation on how to create a successful website.

Plus we have a great conversation with the organizers of the upcoming third annual Small Business Summit taking place in New York next month.  Marian Banker, president of Prime Strategies, and small business technology evangelist (and friend of the show)  Ramon Ray of SmallBizTechnology.com share with us in why this year's summit will be a can't-miss event for small businesses looking to put technology to use in order to compete, thrive and survive.  Marian and Ramon fill us in on all the scheduled topics, speakers, networking opportunities and demonstrations that will help the expected crowd of 400 small business people get a jump on figuring out which tools and services are right for them.  To learn more about the event, please go to http://www.smallbiztechsummit.com.

Michael Schultz is passionate about helping small companies take their business online. Michael currently leads U.S. Marketing for Microsoft Office Live Small Business (http://smallbusiness.officelive.com), a Microsoft service for small business. Since the beta launched in February 2006, Office Live now has over 500,000 customers. Michael has deep expertise in online marketing and customer acquisition, where the team recently won an OMMA award for best Interstitial Ad.

Michael has written a number of articles and given radio interviews and presentations on how to build successful Web sites and generate business online. At Microsoft he has worked in various worldwide Sales and Marketing roles for a number of real-time technology solutions.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Michael was Senior Director of Product Marketing and Channel Development for PlaceWare, Inc., which was acquired by Microsoft in 2003 (now called Microsoft Office Live Meeting), and the Senior Director of Product Marketing at Voxeo, a startup company that offered hosted IVR, speech recognition and call center solutions for small- and mid-sized companies.

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