Training Seminars & Events
The Western Regional Office offers a full calendar of business training. Seminars are offered at no charge or for a nominal fee and held at locations throughout Western Massachusetts. This calendar is subject to change. Pre-registration is required for all events. If you do not register, we cannot notify you in the event of changes and/or cancellations.
Please view our payment and cancellation policies.
For information on other MSBDC seminars offered throughout the state, visit the MSBDC's statewide training calendar at www.msbdc.org/training.
We would like to thank the following agencies for cosponsoring
our training events.
Premier Sponsors:
Sponsors:
Berkshire Bank |
Easthampton
Savings Bank |
Freedom Credit Union |
Greenfield Cooperative Bank
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2019 Training Calendar |
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| MARCH | |
| 20 | QuickBooks Desktop: Introduction for Beginners (Springfield) *cancelled* |
| APRIL | |
| 1 | Basics of Starting a Business (Springfield) |
| MAY | |
| 2 | Basics of Starting or Growing Your Business (Greenfield) |
| 6 | Basics of Starting a Business (Springfield) |
| 15 | Understanding Your Company's Financial Statements (Springfield) |
| JUNE | |
| 3 | Basics of Starting a Business (Springfield) |
| 3 | Business Legal Primer (Springfield) |
| 19 | Powering Your Exports: A Program for Manufacturing and Tech Companies (Springfield) |
| JULY | |
| 11 | Basics of Starting or Growing Your Business (Greenfield) |
Program Descriptions
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Topics will include: introduction and need for planning; basic business plan format; choosing your legal form of organization; marketing, market planning and research; cash flow projections; financial statements; and financing. In addition, there will be an overview of the U.S. Small Business Administration's programs and services. The presentation will help you gain a better understanding of the various SBA programs and services available to prospective or current entrepreneurs who need assistance in starting or expanding their businesses, and will include capital, counseling and contracting information. Oreste Varela, branch manager of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Springfield, will be a speaker. In addition, Allen Kronick, senior business advisor with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network's Western Regional Office, will speak. There is no charge for these workshops, but pre-registration is required.
To register, click on the appropriate date below. If you have
questions or problems registering online,
please contact the MSBDC Western Regional Office at
lshedd@msbdc.umass.edu
or 413-577-1768.
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Basics of Starting or Growing Your Business Learn the whole nine yards of starting a business! This free workshop will help entrepreneurs write a business plan and provide structure to starting/managing their venture. It will also focus on business fundamentals; from startup considerations to business plan development and funding sources. Both those who want to start a business and existing business owners looking for guidance on creating a business plan and securing financing to grow their business will find this session helpful. Topics will include: introduction and need for planning; Basic business plan format; choosing your legal form of organization; marketing, market planning and research; cash flow projections; financial statements; and financing. In addition, there will be an overview of the U.S. Small Business Administration's programs and services. The presentation will help you gain a better understanding of the various SBA programs and services available to prospective or current entrepreneurs who need assistance in starting or expanding their businesses, and will include capital, counseling and contracting information. Bonus: If your business is food-related, you are invited to attend a guided tour of the Franklin County Community Development Corporation commercial kitchen following the workshop. Please follow these guidelines when visiting the commercial kitchen: no open-toed shoes, tank tops, or strong perfumes/colognes and limited jewelry. Anyone under the age of 18 is not permitted in the commercial kitchen area. Oreste Varela, branch manager of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Springfield, will be a speaker. In addition, Anita Eliason, senior business advisor with the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network's Western Regional Office, will speak. There is no charge for these workshops, but pre-registration is required.
To register, click on the appropriate date below. If you have
questions or problems registering online,
please contact the MSBDC Western Regional Office at
lshedd@msbdc.umass.edu
or 413-577-1768.
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Legal Clinic for Small Business
Participants will receive a general waiver statement prior to the meeting and are eligible to attend a 30-minute legal clinic only once. If you have already taken advantage of this opportunity, please do not register again. Appointments are in 30-minute timeslots with the first appointment starting at 12:30 p.m. Appointments are required and subject to availability. As a courtesy to the attorneys, if you cannot attend your appointment, please contact our office at least 24 hours in advance. To register for a session, please click on a date below and
complete the registration form. If you have
questions or problems registering online, please contact the MSBDC
Western Regional Office at
lshedd@msbdc.umass.edu
or 413-577-1768.
Cosponsored by SCORE and SPARK |
|
Topics include:
The instructor will be Kelly Tiedemann, business assistance coordinator with Common Capital. Computers will be provided. Registration is required as space is limited. Dates: Tuesdays, March 5, March 12 & March 19, 2019
Cosponsored by SCORE - Western MA Chapter |
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QuickBooks Desktop: Introduction for Beginners Sorry, this event has been cancelled. This is an introduction to the popular accounting program QuickBooks. This session will cover setting up a new company, invoicing and receiving payments, writing checks and paying bills. The session will end with a brief introduction to and overview of reports. This session is suitable for those who have recently started using QuickBooks and those planning to use it. The basic principles of QuickBooks remain the same for the Windows, Macintosh, and on-line versions of the program although specific details of how to accomplish a task may differ slightly. It is not required, but if you have a laptop or tablet and have QuickBooks loaded on it, feel free to bring it and follow along. NOTE: This workshop is designed for training on the Basics of QuickBooks and is not intended to troubleshoot problems individuals may currently be experiencing. Those types of questions are better suited to a one-one consulting session. Presented by Don Lesser, President, Pioneer Training, Inc. Don has been a consultant and business owner for 30+ years. Don has been using QuickBooks since version 2.0 for MS-DOS. He has taught QuickBooks for over 20 years, as well as consulted in its use for a wide range of clients. Don is not an accountant and does not provide accounting advice, but focuses on how to use QuickBooks to track your company’s income and expenses. Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2019 |
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Understanding Your Company's Financial Statements If you are in business, financial statements are an essential tool. Knowing how to read your financial statements will help you to understand what happened last year in your business and what is likely to happen this year. This workshop will include information on balance sheets, income statements and profit/oss. The presenter will be Robb Morton who has 30 years of experience in public and management accounting. As both a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Robb offers an excellent source for not only technical accounting and tax issues, but for management advisory support as well. He has extensive experience working with family owned businesses both as advisor and as a member of their management team. Robb works with many of the area banks and finance companies to assist his clients with their working capital and equipment financing needs. He also has extensive experience in business planning including projections and forecasts. Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Cosponsord by Boiselle, Morton & Wolkowicz, LLP |
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This presentation will help you gain a better understanding of the core legal concepts impacting your business.
Pre-registration is required. Register online with link below. Date: Monday, June 3, 2019
Cosponsored by SCORE |
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Powering Your Exports: A Program for Manufacturing and Tech Companies
This program is about taking your sales and operations to the next level – we’ll discuss the steps to take for international expansion, implementation of export operations, and some of the potential pitfalls to be avoided. We will also review the many government resources, including grants and other supports, that are available to help supercharge your exports! Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Cosponsored by the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce |
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Payment Details: Please print and mail a copy of your registration email along with a check payable to the University of Massachusetts to the address below. Your payment must be received prior to the seminar date. We do not accept credit cards or purchase orders. We cannot guarantee your place in a workshop without full payment in advance. Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Attn: Lynn Shedd Scibelli Enterprise Center One Federal Street, Building 101 Springfield, MA 01105-1160 Cancellation/Refunds/Materials Policy: The MSBDC reserves the right to cancel or reschedule a training session. Registration fees will be returned or credited towards future programs. Cancellations received by noon the day prior to the workshop will be entitled to a refund. No refund will be given on notifications received after that time or in any no-show situation. Seminar materials are for attendees only. |
Learn the whole nine yards of starting a business! This free
workshop will focus on business fundamentals, from start-up
considerations to business plan development and funding sources. It will help entrepreneurs write a business plan and
provide structure to starting/managing their venture. This workshop
is appropriate for anyone who wants to start a business and existing
business owners looking for guidance on creating a business plan and
securing financing to grow their business.
The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center's Western
Regional Office is pleased to announce that we are once again
offering free legal clinics for small business owners. Entrepreneurs
and small business owners can meet one-on-one for 30 minutes with an
attorney to discuss general legal questions such as corporate
structure, leases, contracts, insurance, employment, franchising,
and various other business related issues. 
Join
us for this three-part series on QuickBooks Online. This series will
provide a general review of the software, in tandem with basic
accounting practices. We will identify how best to use the program
for your specific needs and each participant will receive a private
session with the instructor to cover the specific needs of their
business. 
If you are a manufacturing or technology company in
Massachusetts, you should be connected to the global market. Many
successful exporters derive more revenue from outside the U.S. than
from within it. How do they do it? What steps can you take to do
the same? And how can you build export operations that are both
effective and compliant?