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📅 MEETING PLANNER RESOURCES

Keynotes, breakouts, and workshops for small business audiences

A small business speaker your members will actually remember

High-energy keynotes, breakout sessions, and workshops for Chambers of Commerce, small business associations, entrepreneur conferences, and organizations that support independent businesses.

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Shawna Suckow delivering an energetic keynote presentation

Your members do not need another speaker telling them to post more often, chase every new platform, or somehow find an extra 20 hours in their week.

They need practical ways to earn attention, build trust, and attract more of the right customers without a massive budget or marketing department.

Shawna Suckow, CSP is a small business marketing keynote speaker, consumer behavior expert, and author of Small Is Your Superpower! She helps business owners understand how customers are changing and how smaller companies can use their size, personality, flexibility, and human connection to compete more effectively.

Her sessions are funny, fast-paced, interactive, and filled with strategies attendees can use immediately.

Built for the people who keep small business moving

Perfect for

Shawna’s programs are designed for audiences filled with independent business owners, entrepreneurs, sales professionals, local leaders, and the people responsible for growing businesses without enormous teams or budgets.

She understands what small business owners are up against. They are stretched thin, overwhelmed by conflicting marketing advice, and tired of being told to copy strategies created for companies with completely different resources.

Shawna gives them a clearer path. She shows them how to stop blending in, build stronger customer relationships, and use the advantages big brands spend millions trying to imitate.

Chamber annual meetings and member events
Small business conferences and summits
Entrepreneur and economic-development programs
Association conferences and educational events
Women-owned and minority-owned business programs
Main Street and downtown business organizations
Sales, marketing, and customer experience tracks
Leadership retreats and member workshops

Choose the right session for your audience

Three ways to help your members stand out and win

Each program gives small business audiences clear strategies they can apply without a giant team, an enormous budget, or a marketing degree.

Session 01

Small Is Your Superpower!

How to Win More Customers in a Shifting Marketplace That Finally Favors You

Shifting consumer behavior is finally giving smaller businesses new leverage. Customers want to know the humans behind a business, and smaller companies are better positioned to provide the personality, flexibility, and personal connection they increasingly value.

Shawna shows attendees how to turn their size into a competitive advantage. They will discover manageable ways to stand out, build trust, and give customers solid reasons to choose them, even when they are not the lowest-priced option.

Available as a 45 to 90-minute keynote or breakout session, or a half-day workshop.

Session 02

Microstories™

How Small Stories Help Customers Trust, Remember, Choose, and Refer You

Most businesses make the same claims about quality, service, experience, and trust. When everyone sounds alike, customers struggle to remember anyone.

Shawna teaches attendees how to find the small, meaningful stories already hiding inside their businesses. These Microstories™ help customers understand who they are, why their work matters, and what makes them worth choosing and recommending.

Available as a 45 to 90-minute keynote or breakout session, or a half-day workshop.

Session 03

Customer Brandships™

How to Out-Human the Competition and Build the Trust Customers Are Craving

Customers want relationships with businesses that feel more like friendships. They want to feel understood, valued, and confident that the people behind a company will do what they promise.

Shawna’s research found that 98 percent of Americans distrust businesses more than they did 10 years ago. That trust crisis creates an opportunity for smaller businesses that know how to show up with more humanity.

Attendees learn how to create Customer Brandships™, strengthen customer loyalty, and become easier to trust, remember, choose, and recommend.

Available as a keynote, breakout session, workshop, virtual program, or on-site training.

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The Buyer Insider™ Experience

Not another boring business lecture

Shawna does not believe audiences should sit quietly while a speaker talks at them for an hour.

Her Buyer Insider™ Experience combines consumer-behavior insights, audience participation, practical exercises, humor, and immediately useful strategies. Attendees do not simply hear good ideas. They work with those ideas during the session and leave knowing what to do next.

Programs can be customized around your members’ industries, current challenges, event theme, and desired outcomes.

We talked about your small business marketing session until midnight! It gave us so many ideas!
Florian Grünwald

What your members will take home

Ideas they can put to work immediately

Recognize how customer expectations and buying behavior are changing
Turn the advantages of being small into stronger marketing
Stand out without spending like a national brand
Build trust in a marketplace filled with skepticism
Identify everyday moments that can become memorable Microstories™
Create stronger emotional connections with customers
Explain what makes their business different without generic claims
Give customers more reasons to choose, return, and refer

Flexible conference formats

Keynotes, breakouts, and hands-on workshops

Need both a keynote and a breakout session? Shawna can create a coordinated experience that gives your full audience a strong central message and provides a smaller group with more time to apply it.

Opening or closing keynote
Conference breakout session
Half-day workshop
Full-day workshop or training
Leadership or board retreat
Virtual member program
Multi-session conference package

Trusted by organizations serving small businesses

Experience your planners can trust

Shawna has delivered programs in 18 countries across five continents for associations, cooperatives, industry conferences, and organizations serving independent businesses.

“We talked about your small business marketing session until midnight! It gave us so many ideas!”
Florian Grünwald
“Shawna has the ability to hook you, engage you, and call you to action. You leave not just inspired, but empowered.”
Julien LeBlanc, International Foodservice Distributors Association

Minnesota and nonprofit events

Special consideration may be available

Shawna is based in Minnesota and wants to work with more Chambers, associations, and small business organizations close to home.

Reduced fees may be available for qualifying Minnesota events and nonprofit organizations. Availability, event format, travel requirements, audience size, and program scope will all be considered.

Contact Shawna to talk through your event and explore what may be possible.

Choose a time to talk through your audience, event goals, and the best format for your members.

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Frequently asked questions

What meeting planners want to know

What does Shawna Suckow speak about?

Shawna speaks about small business marketing, consumer behavior, customer trust, storytelling, differentiation, and building stronger customer relationships. Her programs help small businesses understand how customers are changing and how to compete using advantages that larger brands cannot easily duplicate.

Is Shawna a good speaker for Chamber of Commerce events?

Yes. Shawna’s programs are designed for small business owners, entrepreneurs, local leaders, and organizations that help independent businesses grow. Her content is practical for companies across many industries and does not require attendees to have a marketing background.

Does Shawna offer breakout sessions and workshops?

Yes. Shawna offers keynotes, 45 to 90-minute breakout sessions, half-day workshops, full-day training, leadership retreats, and virtual programs. She can also deliver a keynote and breakout session at the same conference.

Can Shawna customize her presentation for our members?

Yes. Shawna can tailor her examples, activities, research, and takeaways around your audience, industry mix, event theme, and organizational goals.

Are reduced speaking fees available for Minnesota events?

Reduced fees may be available for qualifying events in Minnesota. Pricing depends on the date, location, program format, travel requirements, and overall scope.

Does Shawna offer nonprofit speaking rates?

Reduced fees may be available for qualifying nonprofit organizations. Contact Shawna with information about your event, audience, budget, and preferred session format.

Where is Shawna based?

Shawna is based in Shakopee, Minnesota. She speaks throughout Minnesota, across the United States, and internationally.

How do we find out whether Shawna is available?

Use the inquiry form to share your event date, location, audience, preferred format, and goals. Shawna will follow up to discuss availability and the best program for your members.

Give your members something they can use Monday morning

Bring Shawna to your next Chamber event, small business conference, association meeting, or member workshop.

CHECK SHAWNA’S AVAILABILITY