This fourth annual event is a major collaboration between the Small Business Advocacy Council (SBAC) and Jewish B2B Networking (JB2BN) organizations. The SBAC is the Greater Chicagoland’s premier advocacy and networking organization for small and mid-market businesses. JB2BN is the larger Jewish networking group in the Metro Chicago area with over 12,000 subscribed small business networkers online, and satellite groups in Milwaukee, Detroit, and St. Louis.

This year, The Business Event attracted over 100 vendors, 5,000 business networkers, and 30 employment recruiters. In addition to the exhibit hall, there were four feature panels:

• Funding Resources for Your Business
• LinkedIn to Profitability
• Starting a Business
• Marketing and Branding

Glenn Kapetansky, Senior Principal and Chief Security Officer at Trexin Consulting, was on the “LinkedIn to Profitability” panel. Glenn joined Beth Rosen, Dave Ritter, and moderator Elliot Richardson, explaining to an overflow crowd how to effectively and safely leverage LinkedIn for business and personal use. The feedback from the spirited crowd was that they learned a lot, and enjoyed the personal interplay between the panelists.