The amount of tech conferences in the United States has been growing for several years. In 2015, there will be a wide variety of tech conferences to choose from where you can meet new industry contacts, learn about the latest innovations and ask questions of the people making a difference in the tech community.

Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2015
Location: Aspen, CO
Dates: July 13 through 15, 2015

This is a conference that has continually brought together the brightest minds and most influential people in the tech community. From advice for tech entrepreneurs to the latest in business innovations, this conference is a mandatory event for tech professionals.

Some keynote speakers for past conferences have included:

• James Lee – JP Morgan & Chase Co
• Jim Breyer – Accel Partners
• Les Moonves – CBS Television

DeveloperWeek 2015
Location: San Francisco, CA
Dates: February 7 through 8, 2015

This is an annual tech event that regularly attracts over 4,000 attendees from around the world. It is a conference where tech job hunters can meet companies that are hiring and innovative technology developers can meet manufacturers for their latest ideas.

Keynote Speakers for 2015 Include:

• Doris Chen – Microsoft
• Brian Sullivan – Netflix
• Joshua Carr – IBM
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Small businesses in the United States employ a large majority of American workers, which is just one of the reasons small business conferences in the United States are becoming more and more popular. Below you will find some of the top business conferences for SME’s for the coming year.

USASBE 2015

Location: Tampa, FL
Dates: January 22 through 25, 2015

The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship holds its annual conference in Tampa, FL in 2015 and the organization looks to expand on the agenda from 2014. The group focuses on bringing together business innovators and small business owners who are looking to expand. This is also one of the more popular conferences for family-owned businesses as well.

Keynote Speakers for 2015 Include:

• Mary Jo Jackson
• David Rahn
• Jim Hart

Small Business Institute 2015 Conference
Location: St. Pete Beach, FL
Dates: February 12 through 14, 2015

This will be the 39th annual gathering of the members of the Small Business Institute and the goal this year will be to get more resources into the hands of small business owners. Some of the topics being covered are marketing, global entrepreneurship and accounting.

Past Keynote Speakers Include:

• William McDowell – East Carolina University
• Ron Cook – Rider University
• Nic Steele – Obsidian USA, LLC

America’s Small Business Summit 2015
Location: Washington, D.C.
Dates: June 8 through 10, 2015

The United States Chamber of Commerce puts on this annual event that brings together small business owners and some of the lawmakers who affect commerce. There are also speakers from the technology world, human resources and an array of speakers who can offer small business owners practical advice to grow their businesses.

Keynote Speakers in 2015 Include:

• Thomas Donohue – U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Colin Powell – U.S. Military
• Bob Woodward – Journalist

Networking is vital for any small or medium sized business. It provides business owners to build relationships and partnerships, as well as gain insights into best practices and emerging trends. Conferences are an ideal forum to learn about how to start or grow a business, as well as form new business relationships. The following are just some of the UK’s best small business conferences in 2015.

StartUp 2015

StartUp 2015 will bring together more than 500 aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs on 17th January at Somerset House in London. The free event includes workshops, drop-in sessions and networking opportunities, as well as keynote speeches from leading entrepreneurs and business experts. Speakers will include chef Skye Gyngell, social entrepreneur Melody Hossaini, Felipe Alviar-Baquero and Solomon Akhtar of Apprentice fame, and top entrepreneur Mary Portas. The conference is an opportunity to learn about how to get financing, form a company, build a brand, use social media, and more. Participants can also get feedback on their business ideas and get free advice from experts.

The Business Growth Show

The Business Growth Show will be staged at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham on 12th March 2015. The free one day event is expected to attract thousands of businesses from across the UK. The national conference is an opportunity to get business advice, hear from industry speakers and experts, and get information about growing start-ups and SMEs.

Student Enterprise Conference

Organised in partnership with Santander and Liverpool John Moores University, the Student Enterprise Conference 2015 is the largest student enterprise conference in Europe. It is an initiative of NACUE, a membership organisation focused student entrepreneurship. The conference brings together students and graduates from across the UK to learn and network, as well as build entrepreneurial skills through practical workshops. The event will be staged from the 31st of January to the 1st of February 2015 at Liverpool John Moores University.

Elite Business Event National Conference and Exhibition

The 2015 Elite Business Event National Conference and Exhibition will be staged on the 18th and 19th of March at the Old Truman Brewery in Shoreditch, London. The event attracts more than 1,000 business owners, directors and professionals looking at how to create strategies that promote business growth. Organised by Elite Business Magazine, the free conference’s programme includes talks by professional speakers, thought leaders and industry experts. Topics look at barriers facing fast track start-ups and high growth small and medium sized businesses. Planned speakers include Jim Cregan, Shaa Wasmund, Richard Tyler, Derek Mills, Will King, Lara Morgan, Michelle Carvill, Ian Dormer, and Clive Rich.

The Great British Family Business

The Great British Family Business 2015 is a master class in family business. The event will be put on at One Great George Street in Westminster, London, on 19 March 2015. The programme features a wide range of speakers and topics related to family businesses, including a panel discussion with family firms. Scheduled speakers include Adrian Maxwell of cappuccino and espresso coffee machine maker Fracino, Derrick Potter of Potter Logistics, Christopher Nieper of clothing company David Nieper, Tony Fish of AMF Ventures, and Charlie Mullins of Pimlico Plumbers.

Bizwiki.com site has been relaunched with an entirely new look and feel.

For the last few months we have been working on incorporating greatly expanded and enhanced content. This new version of the site incorporates a number of new features and improvements that we’ve already tried on Bizwiki’s sister site Bizwiki.co.uk, and we are excited to get them pushed out in the States as well.

We expect our regular users to enjoy the new streamlined front-end and enhanced design, but the site’s upgrades are much more than skin-deep. The new site runs faster, gives quicker access to information, has improved search and display, and will provide a better overall user experience.

The new layout was designed from the ground up to offer intuitive navigation with a high degree of user-friendliness. We now feature over ten million US businesses, companies, charities, organizations and non-profits on the site, so the priority was to streamline the interface and ensure the site’s users can find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.

The new Bizwiki.com website has broadened the content available to users to include enhanced information about over a million new businesses. Information about companies includes user-edited content, maps and directions, vital contact and address information, messages from the individual companies, relevant text from websites, important links, competitor links and online contact details, all provided free of charge to the site’s visitors in a new streamlined front-end design.

“We worked hard to keep our visitors in mind at every step of the rebuild,” said Matt Aird. “A lot of the credit for the quality of the finish product goes to the site’s Chief Technical Architect, Keith Hinde, and lead developer Sruthi Krishna, who worked tirelessly to complete this project.”

Have a look around and let us know what you think!

The Bizwiki.co.uk site has been relaunched with an entirely new look and feel.

Demonstrating the new site, company director, Matt Aird, said, “We expect our regular users to enjoy the new streamlined front-end design, but the upgrades that have been made to the site are much more than skin-deep. For the last few months we have been working on incorporating greatly expanded and enhanced content. We believe the new site is both smarter and faster, and will provide a better overall user experience.

“The new layout was designed from the ground up to offer intuitive navigation with a high degree of user-friendliness. We now feature almost two million British businesses on the site, so the priority was to streamline the interface and ensure the site’s users can find what they are looking for as quickly as possible.”

The new Bizwiki.co.uk website has broadened the content available to users to include enhanced information about hundreds of thousands of new businesses. Information about companies includes user-edited content, maps and directions, vital contact and address information, messages from the individual companies, text from company’s websites, important links, competitor links and online contact details, all provided free of charge to the site’s visitors in a new streamlined front-end design.

“Visualising each section of the site with our visitors in mind and working to offer them a fresh, appealing design with clear access to the information they are seeking were key goals of the relaunch,” says Matt Aird. “It is a credit to the site’s Chief Technical Architect, Keith Hinde, and our lead developer, Sruthi Krishna, that even with the site having grown in both size and breadth of information, visitors can receive relevant information quickly and clearly with as few clicks as possible.”

Go to Bizwiki.co.uk to check it out.

Byte Night UK is less than 2 weeks away and the main chief technical architect behind Bizwiki, Keith Hinde, is taking up the challenge to sleep rough in order to help raise awareness and funds to tackle youth homelessness and give at risk teenagers help and security.

Youth Homelessness Statistics

Although official local council figures are lower (England: 15,000 homeless youth in 2013 / Scotland: 12,000 homeless youth in 2011/12), according to Action for Children many homeless youths do not register, and an estimated 80,000 young people a year experience homelessness in the UK – leaving them vulnerable to violence, mental health problems and addiction. Byte Night raises money for Action for Children services that work with young people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Why Sleep Rough

In his own words, Keith tells us why he’s willing to brave a chilly October night out in the open:

“Byte Night” has been a fund-raising event I’ve wanted to be involved with for some time and I’m very pleased to be taking part this year. It has always seemed a great event to both help some of the UK’s most vulnerable young people and help get the mission of Action for Children out there to a wider audience.

Growing up I feel I was very fortunate: a loving home and stable family. I never had to worry about violence at home, abuse of any kind, poverty, where I would sleep or indeed where my next meal would come from – these things I could (and did) take for granted. Thousands of young people in the UK are not so fortunate: they find themselves in desperate need and awful situations, often out on the street at one of most crucial times of their lives.

For almost 150 years Action for Children have made it their mission to help these young people in any way they can. My night sleeping out is nothing compared to the hardships they suffer, but I hope the efforts of everyone sleeping out on the 3rd October can go some way to help Action for Children in their mission.”

What is Byte Night

Byte Night started 16 years ago when 30 individuals from the IT industry slept out and raised £35,000. Byte Night is now the leading charity event for individuals and teams from the IT, technology and business sectors and the UK’s largest charity sleep out with more than 1400 sleepers who in 2013 raised over £1 million.

This year Byte Night will take place in 8 locations around the UK on Friday October 3rd and Keith will be one of them.

Get Involved

If you want to help Keith raise funds for this incredibly important cause you can donate to his JustGiving page here.

To find out more about the Byte Night event,  what it’s in aide of and how you can also get involved, have a look at the Byte Night website and Facebook page, or watch this video of Holly, a teenage girl that Action for Children was able to help get off the streets thanks to the support of caring individuals like Keith and you.

Whether you are in the position of selling or acquiring a business, it is important that you are familiar with the relevant laws. Laws governing human resources, federal income tax payments and corporate management can all have an impact on the acquisition process. Here are some of the most relevant U.S. laws that you should understand before purchasing or selling a business.

Export Control Laws

Depending on the nature of your business, you may be governed by certain export control laws. Export control laws are administered by the Department of State and Bureau of Industry and Security. If you sell products to the military or foreign governments, you may find that your business is subject to acting in accordance with stringent export control regulations.

In the event that a foreign company is acquiring a U.S.-based business, you should also be familiar with the export control laws of the foreign company’s homeland. Export control laws may have a significant impact on the products that you are able to sell to other countries.

The Acquisition Agreement

If you are proceeding with the acquisition of a company, you will need to draft an acquisition agreement. The two forms of an acquisition agreement are an asset purchase agreement or entity purchase agreement. In a purchase agreement, the new owner will acquire all of the stock of the old business. In an asset agreement, the new owner will purchase all of the property of the old business. Many owners prefer to use an asset agreement so that they can obtain total control over the old business.

The asset agreement may also have favorable tax implications for a buyer. A buyer will be able to take advantage of the depreciation of assets as soon as the asset agreement is completed.

According to the data revealed by multiple studies, the switch to mobile e-commerce is already a well-defined global trend. For example, an April 2013 survey carried out by eMarketer showed that in the United States, online shopping using mobile devices is quickly taking over the US online retail industry. According to this survey, approximately 15 per cent of all online transactions are performed using a mobile device (mainly tablet PCs). This means that mobile-based e-commerce generates more than $39 million a year, a figure that is 50 per cent higher than in 2012.

Europe is not lagging behind, as the EU has been considered the world’s largest e-commerce market for several years. In 2013, more than €363 billion were generated via online shopping in the Eurozone, and in fact, the online retail industry accounts for 2.2 per cent of the EU’s gross domestic product.

E-commerce is also booming in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly as a result of the huge growth levels of populous countries like China or India. Online retail in this part of the world is actually growing faster than in Europe, and in 2013 total sales in Asia amounted to more than €406 billion. Asian e-shoppers are also developing a strong preference for mobile devices, particularly in China, where nearly 70 per cent of shoppers use their smartphones to shop online.

According to the data revealed by multiple studies, the switch to mobile e-commerce is already a well-defined global trend. For example, an April 2013 survey carried out by eMarketer showed that in the United States, online shopping using mobile devices is quickly taking over the US online retail industry. According to this survey, approximately 15 per cent of all online transactions are performed using a mobile device (mainly tablet PCs). This means that mobile-based e-commerce generates more than $39 million a year, a figure that is 50 per cent higher than in 2012.

Europe is not lagging behind, as the EU has been considered the world’s largest e-commerce market for several years. In 2013, more than €363 billion were generated via online shopping in the Eurozone, and in fact, the online retail industry accounts for 2.2 per cent of the EU’s gross domestic product.

E-commerce is also booming in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly as a result of the huge growth levels of populous countries like China or India. Online retail in this part of the world is actually growing faster than in Europe, and in 2013 total sales in Asia amounted to more than €406 billion. Asian e-shoppers are also developing a strong preference for mobile devices, particularly in China, where nearly 70 per cent of shoppers use their smartphones to shop online.

There is no doubt that the Internet has revolutionised the global economy. Internet-based technologies have clearly contributed to the expansion of globalisation and have opened a wide range of previously inexistent opportunities for both business owners and consumers. In barely two decades, the global economy has been profoundly transformed by new and powerful technologies, and this has had an impact on a large number of industry sub-sectors. Internet-based industries are certainly alive and kicking in the United Kingdom, and the opportunities for development are far from exhausted. This post will look at the top Internet-based industries in the UK and their most recent performance.

E-commerce

E-commerce and Internet technologies go hand in hand. This sector has grown enormously over the past few years, and there are now dozens of online retailers that are clearly successful and generate millions of pounds in revenues every year. According to an article published by The Guardian, the British Internet industry contributes more than £100 billion to the country’s economy (accounting for nearly 9 per cent of the UK’s total GDP), and the sales figures keep rising. In fact, when per capita expenditure is taken into consideration, the UK’s e-commerce industry is the world’s largest. British consumers spend up to 5 times more shopping online than in store, and in 2013 the average UK shopper spent over £1,200 in online purchases.

E-commerce has survived the crash of the dot-com bubble and has particularly benefited from the development of mobile technologies. A recent Interactive Media in Retail Group / Capgemini report has shown that m-retail sales figures increased by a staggering 138 per cent in 2012, generating revenues that were in excess of £3 billion. The past year has seen such a large increase in m-commerce sales figures that online retailer John Lewis has gone as far as coining the expression “mobile Christmas”.

The booming sales do not only correspond to businesses that are exclusively run online, since traditional retailers have also jumped on the e-commerce wagon and are now seeing obvious benefits. Click and collect schemes have been incredibly successful, partly because they combine the best of both worlds. It can be said that UK consumers have the world at their fingertips thanks to e-commerce.