Hello,
I hope that you are healthy and doing well!
I haven’t spoken to many of you since our OVF Awards, and I want to assure you that our incoming Chairman Danny Slusarchuk, our dedicated Board of Directors and the Executive Committee and I, have all been extremely busy determining what is next for OVF.
COVID-19 has obliged us to closely examine OVF’s important role in diversifying Oklahoma’s economy. OVF develops Oklahoma’s economic ecosystem providing quality content, venture investment opportunity, pitch presentation practice, industry specific networking. OVF recognizes the achievements of successful Oklahoma companies. Our members include entrepreneurs, colleges, incubators, accelerators, venture investors, service professionals, and just about every other person who is interested in the advancement of small business in Oklahoma.
Impressive isn’t it?
It truly is impressive when you consider all the things that OVF does to connect, teach, and recognize. OVF offers purposeful networking for leaders of commerce. OVF programs create awareness of business opportunities and trends, and OVF annual awards spotlights outstanding Oklahoma success stories.
The world has changed significantly during the pandemic, and organizations like OVF continue to work towards diversifying Oklahoma's economy. OVF must continue to encourage and identify the importance of entrepreneurship in our state. We cannot do that without you, our members, and friends.
The OVF Board, Executive Committee and sub-committees have been virtually meeting often during the last several weeks looking for the best solution for our 33-year-old economic ecosystem. We could see from the annual surveys that the top three membership values of OVF are quality content in main speakers, investment opportunities in Pitch Presenters, and industry specific networking. With those core values in mind, we coordinated new programming for the 2020-2021 session that will deliver these three valued aspects of OVF to our members and friends safely!
The OVF 2020-2021 Session monthly Power Lunches will be delivered via Zoom. Since you will not be commuting to and parking at the meetings, we will be adding additional networking time. Each event will have three networking breakout sessions with randomly selected groups in each session. This will ensure maximum networking opportunities. Each event will have a Pitch Presentation by a company in a growth stage, and a Main Speaker who will share success experiences, exit stories or other educational subject matter just like our in-person events in the past. These events will also be uploaded to our website for later viewing by members. Our online event programming also allows for three sponsorship opportunities. If you are looking for a great way to introduce your company to OVF members and guests, this is a cost-effective way to say hello!
Your needs and your health are most important to us. We will continue to have virtual events until we can meet in-person safely. When we can meet safely, we will add after-hours networking events in open air locations. Face-to face meetings are important, and with our new programming layout we hope to double the number of after-hours events. If you have locations in mind, please share them with me.
While discussing how to proceed safely, we realized that our new programming would allow for statewide membership expansion. We have wanted to do this for a long time and have not been able to (do so successfully) for a variety of reasons. Virtual meetings have also revealed another opportunity for OVF - with the option of streaming and recorded events we will now be able to offer Incubator and Founder memberships that better suite their needs.
Wouldn't it be an amazing for small businesses, investors, incubators, colleges, and founders from all over Oklahoman to be able to access OVF’s quality content, potential venture investment opportunities, or the opportunity to pitch without driving to OKC? The COVID-19 situation has been disastrous for so many small businesses, founders, and citizens. OVF is very fortunate to have the ability to pivot and ensure our organization will continue to operate in its next 33 years as Oklahoma’s economic ecosystem.
We have also launched our online forum, please subscribe to it and use it to seek out information, share information, or to engage directly with OVF. There are so many (NEW) benefits to OVF membership. I hope that you have time to visit the website and see all of the new tools available to you as an OVF member or friend.
“Stay resilient, maintain the “Oklahoma Standard” and invite a guest to our upcoming membership drive. This will be incredibly important for the success of these new offerings to succeed. So please reach into your network. Find someone who you think would benefit from the many facets of the OVF economic ecosystem and all the new ways we are serving Oklahoma and let’s grow! When OVF grows, your state and local communities grow.”
~2020-2021 Oklahoma Venture Forum Chairman, Danny Slusarchuk
Regards,
Ché Loessberg
Oklahoma Venture Forum
Executive Director
