A Day Without Business: Continuity Summit

How long could your company go without doing business and still survive?  It is an important question as one in four small businesses closed by a disaster never reopens.  On March 15, A Day Without Business: A Business Continuity Summit will assist business owners in developing their own personal business continuity plans. 

The Summit will be held at the Holiday Inn-City Center in downtown Tulsa, and hosted by the Tulsa Partners Disaster Resistant Business Council, A Day Without Business will help the business owner increase the odds of surviving a disaster or a business interruption.  

Last held in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, this significant conference was a resounding success; not only in terms of effectively communicating the importance of business continuity planning combined with the how-to, but also in terms of results.  Businesses which had no emergency plan left with the ability to create a plan specific to their organization.  

Tonya Sprenkle, Vice President of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, attended that first Day Without Business and, as a result, developed a business continuity and emergency plan that was recognized by the U.S. Chamber as a best practices document.  She and Rob O’Brian, President of the Joplin Chamber, will be keynote speakers at the March event this year.

“Each year seems to bring more numerous disasters with greater impact, and 2011 was no exception,” said David Hall, Operations Manager for State Farm Insurance, and Chair of Tulsa Partners’ Disaster Resistant Business Council.  “Without knowing what 2012 will bring, it appears to be the right moment to once again reach out to our business community with information on how they can better prepare for and mitigate against disasters than can impact lives, property and our economy.”

The lead sponsors for this event are the Tulsa Partners Disaster Resistant Business Council, State Farm Insurance and TRC Disaster Solutions.

Other participating organizations for A Day Without Business include the Institute for Business and Home Safety, and the Tulsa Health Department.  

Tulsa Partners, Inc. is a non-profit organization working to build a disaster resistant and sustainable community.  The Disaster Resistant Business Council is made up of citizens, business, and agency partners working together to reduce risk and assist businesses and nonprofit organizations in being prepared for all hazards.  

Registration is $65.  For more information, and to register for A Day Without Business, call Tulsa Partners at 918-632-0044 or visit  online at www.TulsaPartners.org.