The 2020 Washington Small Business Fair (Biz Fair) is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 and will be held virtually for the first time.
The Washington Small Business Fair (Biz Fair) is a free, one-stop-shopping event for new and existing business owners. The purpose of the fair is to provide a wide spectrum of information that small business owners need, in a non-sales environment. Historically, the fair has been held once a year since 1997 on the Renton Technical College campus, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, it is being held virtually for 2020. About 35 exhibitors participate each year, providing information to small business owners and answering their questions.
About 40 free seminars are offered throughout the day, with topics such as marketing, financing, import/export, record keeping, legal issues, taxes and licensing, building a website, and more. To register to attend the 2020 BizFair,
visit our registration page.
There are two types of exhibitors: the Resource Center and Digital Marketplace. The Resource Center exhibitors are government agencies or non-profit organizations, such as trade or business associations and chambers of commerce. This year, we’re pleased to add the Digital Marketplace, where for-profit companies who have critical services for small businesses can engage in “chats” with attendees, provide product demos and promote their products and service offerings.
To keep the event free to the public and cover the costs of the virtual platform there is a fee to exhibit this year please visit the
sponsorship and exhibitor page to learn more.
The
seminars are taught by a variety of local business experts from both the public and private sector.
No. Speakers volunteer their time and expertise. Speakers are allowed to tell attendees which business they work for (or own). However, speakers are strictly prohibited from making their seminars a sales pitch for their (or any) company’s products or services.
After 23 successful in-person events with attendance averaging between 250-600 attendees, the virtual event will allow access to over 300,000 small businesses in the state of Washington as well as those unemployed workers seeking self-employment opportunities.
The
BizFair planning committee puts on the fair. The planning committee is composed of 10-20 representatives from federal, state and local government agencies, business and trade organizations, and small business owners. Without the generous contributions of our sponsors, this free to attend virtual event would not have been possible.
Evaluations on the overall quality of the fair are distributed to all participants. Most participants have been in business less than two years, and the majority are between the ages of 30 to 50. See our
Testimonials section for reactions to the fair from some of the participants.
