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March 2025 by Lovely Marshall—Forbes Icon— Eventbrite Millionaire
Attending the Small Business Expo has been one of the most game-changing decisions for my business! As a Forbes Influencer, top e-learning industry provider, and global speaker, I am always seeking high-value collaborations and clients—and this event delivers every time.
I’ve personally attended three expos and already have six planned for 2025 in New York, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and my home base, Houston. Each event has been a powerhouse networking experience, and here’s why I keep coming back:
✅ Speed Networking: The best $25 investment I’ve ever made—it has paid dividends for a lifetime!
✅ Diverse Industry Leaders: Whether you’re looking for bookkeepers, workshop providers, marketing experts, bakers, photographers, or even healthcare professionals, the connections are unmatched.
✅ High-Impact Learning: The keynotes and workshops provide insider strategies from top experts, helping me elevate my own events.
✅ Exclusive Vendor Access: When you register, vendors get direct access to attendees, making this an incredible lead-generation opportunity. I’m even considering becoming a vendor in 2025 because of the sheer ROI potential—just a few conversions could make the investment beyond worth it!
✅ Well-Organized & Engaging: The team is easy to identify, food venues are available, and the happy hour networking adds the perfect spark for deeper business relationships.
If you’re serious about scaling your business, attending the Small Business Expo should be a non-negotiable part of your 2025 strategy. It’s free to attend for the first time—so why not experience it yourself? Like me, you’ll quickly realize this needs to be a permanent rotation in your business growth playbook!
**Recognized with honor by Lovely Marshall, Forbes Influencer, top e-learning industry provider, and global speaker. Your service inspires greatness! Follow me for insights, business highlights, and tips to elevate your everyday experiences**
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February 2025 by PenikamFilms Video Production Company
The Texas SBE in mesquite: As a vendor at the event, 90% of the people attending my booth were interested in selling to me. I had many good conversations, but no leads. If you are tight on funds I would not recommend the $3,000+ something it cost to be there.
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July 2024 by Sly S
Do your self a favor and use temporary email address . Small Business Expo automatically shares your contact details with every single vendor attending . We have been spammed by vendors none stop and most don’t have unsubscribe option. Super annoying and frustrating ,I’m sure it’s buried in their TOS when you signup to go to their expo. Due to this practice we decided not to attend.
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February 2024 by Cecilia Cortes
I attended SBE in Orlando and I was happily surprised by the amount and variety of exhibitors. I picked up a few new suppliers and they have worked well for my company. The Staff at the expo was extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Also, I attended 2 of the workshops, both very informative and helpful. I paid for the Happy Hour which helped with more networking, and I made two great contacts that I have been working with. Bonus! The food was amazing!!! I love the variety of Hors d’oeuvre and the taste was superb. I will definitely come back.
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September 2023 by Dan G.
Don't waste your money! Not at all worth the investment! Paid just under $5,000 total for one of SBE's trade shows in Burbank, CA. There wasn't nearly enough foot traffic to justify the cost. The people that visit your booth are mainly other vendors also exhibiting there at the expo.Speaking of the cost, the registration/reserving a booth is just the tip of the iceberg. Be prepared to pay a lot more. The registration cost just reserves you a spot. You want internet? $95 more. Plus, the Internet stopped working for me midway through the afternoon. You want power/electricity? That will be another $500. On top of that, the moment after you register, you start getting harassed by an insurance agency...and you're required to pay for that too - a cost that was never once mentioned beforehand. That was over $100. They nickel and dime you every step of the way. It got to a point where you might expect there to be a fee to use the bathrooms.If you're looking to exhibit, there are other companies out there that you'd be better off going with.
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July 2023 by Miguel Angel Davila
This b2b event was not managed well. Staff not knowing where things are. Lackluster exhibitors. Non-local companies pitching to me in local business event. I paid for a ticket that included hors d'oeuvres and I did not get any food at all. Over 7 hour event and I did not receive food included in my ticket price. They had alcohol; did not run out of that but food for non-vip attendees who paid to eat hors d'oeuvres did not get. Imagine serving only alcohol and no food to people in public professional venue while having the lights off in hotel event space everyone drinking. I was not the only one told no food for you either while for VIP attendees they did not break down that food table until end of event. While non-vip paid attendees got told food ran out and they did not order enough. Really? I paid the extra money just to have hors d'oeuvres but Small Business Expo does not care if you pay them for hors d'oeuvres and you go hungry at their events. They are not going to refund me either. The disparity is real, wow. No food for non-vip paid tickets, and wasted food served in abundance VIPs getting 3 or more plates of flatbread pizza. That is another thing, they only had flatbread pizza. Hors d'oeuvres is plural! And I did not even get one. I will never spend money on this event again. I told them I would right a bad review because of this and the event staff just thanked me for attending after telling me there is nothing they could do about it. A business owner expo and they have horrible customer service and fail to provide the value promised. The irony. And I am a b2b consultant. Bad user experience here and it was my first time attending. Tarnishes the image of the expo and minimizes the perceived credibility of any and all of the individual exhibitors/partners met there who also paid Small Business Expo expecting attendees have good user experience. Consume this.
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June 2023 by Miguel Angel D.
This b2b event was not managed well. Staff not knowing where things are. Lackluster exhibitors. Non-local companies pitching to me in local business event. I paid for a ticket that included hors d'oeuvres and I did not get any food at all. Over 7 hour event and I did not receive food included in my ticket price. They had alcohol; did not run out of that but food for non-vip attendees who paid to eat hors d'oeuvres did not get. Imagine serving only alcohol and no food to people in public professional venue while having the lights off in hotel event space everyone drinking. I was not the only one told no food for you either while for VIP attendees they did not break down that food table until end of event. While non-vip paid attendees got told food ran out and they did not order enough. Really? I paid the extra money just to have hors d'oeuvres but Small Business Expo does not care if you pay them for hors d'oeuvres and you go hungry at their events. They are not going to refund me either. The disparity is real, wow. No food for non-vip paid tickets, and wasted food served in abundance VIPs getting 3 or more plates of flatbread pizza. That is another thing, they only had flatbread pizza. Hors d'oeuvres is plural! And I did not even get one. I will never spend money on this event again. I told them I would right a bad review because of this and the event staff just thanked me for attending after telling me there is nothing they could do about it. A business owner expo and they have horrible customer service and fail to provide the value promised. The irony. And I am a b2b consultant. Bad user experience here and it was my first time attending. Tarnishes the image of the expo and minimizes the perceived credibility of any and all of the individual exhibitors/partners met there who also paid Small Business Expo expecting attendees have good user experience. Consume this.
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August 2022 by Itguys T.
If you're thinking of growing your customer base by visiting the small business expo, think again. After recently exhibiting at a cheap convention center near the airport, I could count on one hand the amount of actual small businesses at the small business expo. It's mostly big businesses handing out candy and trying to sell you THEIR services, or attendee's trying to sell your THEIR services to help your small business. I would normally say it's highly inappropriate to distract someone with a pitch when they're trying to market themselves to others at an expo like this, except those were the only people there. You'd be marketing yourself to people that didn't care to begin with. Also, if you were contacted by a salesman to present at the expo because you work in a specific field, chances are other people in your EXACT SAME FIELD were contacted as well and given the EXACT SAME PITCH. You'll be along side your direct competitors offering the same service or product as you. And it wouldn't be so insulting if it didn't cost thousands of dollars and days of time to setup and prepare your booth or marketing materials for the hope of garnering new clients. Also EVERYTHING is an up-charge. If you want internet, that'll be $95. Electricity, oh that's only going to set you back (get-this) $400. I was surprised the cups for tap water were free. This is not an experience I would care to repeat.
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August 2021 by TJ D.
The Small Business Expo has been great to work with. Every members of the staff has been professional, personable, and great to work with. Thank you to your staff and team for your support! I definitely recommend this organization.
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August 2021 by FinTech Capital Management
We have toured with the Small Business Expo for 5 years and it’s truly had an impact on our business. I would recommend to anyone looking to find business to business customer’s to add the Expo to their marketing plan.We would like to send a special shout-out to Steven and Jonathan two of the most professional, well organized, and friendliest managers of the tour.American Business TV is happy to be apart of Team Expo!
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August 2021 by Linda Hollander
The Small Business Expo events are amazing. I’ve met so many people I can do business with, heard gems of wisdom from their Small Business University and the team is totally awesome.These people really care about helping you succeed in your business and life.I highly recommend exhibiting and speaking at the Small Business Expo and Small Business University to anyone who wants to get more leads and skyrocket their business. They are the BEST!
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August 2021 by Salyers Casting
Zach and his team are as top notch as it gets. We first connected over doing a Shark Tank open call at one of his events and that first event went so well we continued the partnership for several seasons. They are professional, organized and experienced. I highly recommend the Small Business Expo and will work with them again in the future.
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August 2021 by Patrick Burke
We have been working with the Small Business Expo since they pivoted to the virtual tour. In these challenging times, the Small Business Expo still provides a valuable opportunity to network and learn about new opportunities. We've had a virtual booth at a number of the shows and see it as a valuable lead generation opportunity. It is not a traditional type of experience of engaging visitors as they "walk by". There are a number of features which allows us to have information and links available to the visitors, in addition to a Chat feature. The post show metrics, allows us to see what visitors clicked on and downloaded information. We are able to see if they watched or viewed a couple of videos, we have part of our booth. We contact the visitors with an Email within 48 of the show and also a phone call. We are very satisfied with our alliance with the Small Business Expo! We will continue to work with them into 2021.
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April 2021 by Joe Smith
We have toured with the Small Business Expo for 5 years and it’s truly had an impact on our business. I would recommend to anyone looking to find business to business customer’s to add the Expo to their marketing plan.
We would like to send a special shout-out to Steven and Jonathan two of the most professional, well organized, and friendliest managers of the tour.
American Business TV is happy to be apart of Team Expo!
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August 2020 by Matt Prepis
It is difficult to describe how unique and exciting this event is. I randomly stumbled upon the event online and was intrigued by the more I read and the more videos I watched. If you have never attended a Small Business Expo, you need to experience it for your first hand. I have only been to the ones in the NYC area, but after last year I am considering hitting up as many on the east coast as possible.The event is surprisingly free considering the size and scale and perfect for any sized business looking to improve or hone their skills. Highly recommended and will definitely be returning.
