Tampa Engagement Dinner: December 2025

Registration now open!

NVSBC offers our Engagement Dinner event and keynote speaker for the veteran entrepreneur and federal small business community.  Come join us for the networking, dinner, and guest speaker!  All (NVSBC Members - Non-Members) are welcome to attend if interested in this government contracting focused event. 

• Location: Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Old Water St, Tampa, Florida, 33602
• Parking: Street Parking
• Event POC: Engagement Director, [email protected]

Tampa Engagement Dinner Agenda: 

• 5:30 – 6:10 PM Registration, Networking
• 6:10 – 6:30 PM Call to Order
• Opening Remarks: Lauren Masters, Special Events Director, NVSBC
• 6:30 – 7:00 PM Dinner Served (Plated)
• 7:00 – 7:30 PM Around the Room Introductions
• 7:30 - 7:35 PM Introduction of Speaker: Lauren Masters, NVSBC
• 7:35 – 8:15 PM Speaker Presentation + Q&A
• Speaker: Justin Cole, MBA, Operations & Strategy Executive (VA) & University of Tampa
• Topic: "From Open to Implementation: Turning Outside Insight into Real Strategy." 
• Four-Bullet Presentation Summary
  1. How Innovation Has Evolved — and Why Outside Insight Matters Now
  A brief look at the shift from closed, internal innovation to today’s open, collaborative models — and why small firms gain the most from tapping external perspectives.
  
  2. What Open Strategy Looks Like in Practice for Small Firms
  How transparency, inclusiveness, and receptivity show up during university consulting projects, and why these behaviors create strategic clarity for resource-constrained organizations.
  
  3. What My Research Reveals About Implementation
  Evidence on why some firms act on outside recommendations and others don’t — leadership posture, absorptive capacity, organizational routines, and the real-world barriers that shape execution.
  
  4. A Practical Framework SDVOSBs Can Use
  A simple, repeatable model for evaluating outside insight and converting it into executable strategy and measurable results.

• 815 – 830 PM Closing Remarks & Networking

REGISTER