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Preconference Certification Courses
Maximize Your Experience
April 22-23, 2023
Register for Preconference
The ICBI37 Preconference offers the opportunity to get in-depth professional development and earn industry-specific certificates.
Entrepreneurship Center Management (ECM) Certification
For the first time ever, you can earn the ECM certificate in a single event. Save both time and money – registering for all four courses at once is $200 less than taking them one at a time. The Entrepreneurship Center Management (ECM) Certificate is the premiere credential for professionals who work at Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESO).
Advanced Mentor Development Certification
The Advanced Mentor Development Certification provides the information, resources, and knowledge needed to set up a thriving mentor network for an entrepreneur support organization. Take this two-day course in person during the Preconference to get the benefit of connecting with peers and interacting with the instructor face-to-face.
Preconference Course Descriptions
ECM Course 1: Fostering Your Entrepreneurship Center’s Role in Your Community
Saturday, April 22
This course begins with a baseline lesson plan around Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development 101- attendees will learn how their existing or new centers will fit within the greater context of their communities’ existing assets while meeting gaps identified by funders and entrepreneurs. Once clear differentiations and value propositions to the communities are established, attendees will develop or refine their business models. Additional topics from these elements will then move on to potential client targeted outreach campaigns, community relations with a number of stakeholders, setting graduation criteria, and the development of critical metrics/key performance indicators.
Pricing: $550 InBIA members, $650 nonmembers
ECM Course 2: Building Profitable Programs That Serve Entrepreneurs
Saturday, April 22
This course enables entrepreneurship center managers to implement best practices from throughout the industry to ensure their center is providing high-impact programs and services. This course focuses on the development and deployment of relevant services and programs to various target client portfolios (i.e. sector-specific, focused on a particular demographic, etc.), as well as how to establish effective resource or mentor networks. Program managers will be able to show stakeholders and potential clients the connection between the services they offer and the value they provide startups. They will also learn how to properly allocate resources across programs to aid companies in various stages, and receive an introduction on how to set up various small business fund mechanisms.
Pricing: $550 InBIA members, $650 nonmembers
ECM Course 3: Finance and Operations for Sustainable Entrepreneurship Centers
Sunday, April 23
This course helps entrepreneurship center managers find the right mix of diverse funding sources to best keep operations running smoothly and sustainably. Participants will learn about and receive sample templates of member/tenant, private corporate sponsor/donor, and self-funding models, in addition to introductory content on how to tackle grant or other government funding pursuits. Attendees will also learn to develop or refine their budgets to meet their major operational expenses. Major operations topics include methodologies for onboarding, then tracking the progress of clients; best practices for maintaining client/tenant interactions; and how to create documentation around these concepts. Finally, course attendees will work through the creation of staffing plans and learn employee retention tactics.
Pricing: $550 InBIA members, $650 nonmembers
ECM Course 4: Space Design, Software, and Other Ways to Streamline Operations
Sunday, April 23
No matter what provisions you offer or where in the world your center is located, this course will teach you how to design and streamline your behind-the-scenes operations and, in most cases, the physical location and space itself, to help you deliver the experience that ensures your participants thrive. Whether you are offering services in your own brick and motor, at partner or public locations, or a hybrid of these approaches, this course will teach you how to select, manage and maximize your location(s) and your processes for management and monetization. Topics covered include creating your culture with space, leveraging multiple locations, client relations and communications infrastructure, best practices for site selection, space monetization, translating your business model into space requirements, design considerations, furniture/fixture/equipment (FF&E) selection for all budgets, software solutions and IT, metrics that matter, KPIs, and meaningful reporting. Course participants will have access to sector-specific catalogs of recommendations from experienced peers for the specific needs of cleantech, biotech, ICT, advanced manufacturing, and more, enabling them to high growth through the use of shared capital equipment. The course will conclude with a capstone workshop where participants will share their most pressing challenges and engage in a collaborative discussion where everyone benefits as they learn about real life solutions to problems they may currently share, or may encounter in the future.
Pricing: $550 InBIA members, $650 nonmembers
Advanced Mentor Development Certification
Saturday & Sunday, April 22 & 23
Become a certified Mentor Program Manager through this certification course. Whether you are planning to launch a new mentoring program for your clients or looking to increase the impact of your existing program, this certification will give you the tools, resources, knowledge, and credibility to have a successful mentoring program.
The course will be ready to implement at an online program for your mentors and clients due to the Covid-19 situation. It will guide you through strategies for recruiting, selecting, and training mentors, as well as for retaining them in the program. The course will also introduce techniques of matching the right mentors with the right mentees for the right purpose as well as effective ways to measure client outcomes. Finally the course how mentors are easily rated by your clients to ensure the quality of your program.
Pricing: $900 InBIA members, $1,100 nonmembers*
*Please note: registration fee includes both days.