The Small Business Development Center at College of the Canyons (SBDC) is encouraging current and future small business owners, students and community members to think entrepreneurially and embrace their dreams, at the 2011 Dream and Discover Entrepreneurs Conference.

Featuring a lineup of inspiring keynote speakers and interactive workshops, the Dream and Discover conference will provide tips for business owners and entrepreneurs alike, while informing attendees about the wide range of available SBDC services and programs, highlighted by the Young Entrepreneurs Program (YEP).

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“This year’s Dream and Discover conference will again provide attendees with access to the critical resources that aspiring and successful local business owners need to thrive in today’s economic climate, along with the chance to meet with other successful entrepreneurs and listen to a panel of outstanding speakers who will inspire them to reach new heights,” said Steve Tannehill, SBDC director.

The 2011 Dream and Discover conference will take place from 1:30 to 6:00 p.m., Thursday, May 5, in the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center, located on the College of the Canyons Valencia campus.

Dr. Dena Maloney, Vice President of Economic Development and the college’s Canyon Country Campus, will open the conference with a welcoming address.

Highlighting the day will be a keynote presentation by serial entrepreneur and former president of 1-800-DENTIST, Larry Twersky, who will discuss how attendees can be more effective, not just more efficient, by simply feeling good about themselves and striving to do more with their lives.

“Mr. Twersky has more than 25 years of leadership experience and is an industry expert in customer relationship management and office automation,” Tannehill said. “More importantly, from his time at 1-800-DENTIST to his founding of 1-800 SLEEP-MED, he has continually worked to build a successful business model around a product or service that provides a social good.”

Throughout the day SBDC business advisors will also be on hand to lead a series of interactive workshops providing tips for business owners and current/future entrepreneurs alike.

Topics will include how to finance your business, the utilization of marketing tools and key success strategies for entrepreneurs, while also focusing on how the SBDC can help achieve those goals. The success strategies will also include key tactics for attendees involved in the SBDC’s Young Entrepreneur Program (YEP).

Targeting young people between the ages of 14 and 27, YEP offers free business counseling and business training programs delivered through a variety of outreach and delivery methods, including websites, blogs, social networking sites, virtual reality games, youth-oriented trainers and business simulation products.

The goal of the program is to guide and encourage young people to consider careers in self-employment and small business ownership.

“This the second time that the Dream and Discover Conference will incorporate speakers and workshops that address the challenges that entrepreneurs, and young entrepreneurs in particular, face,” said conference organizer Nina Grooms Lee, SBDC Senior Business Advisor and YEP program manager. “We’ll also showcase the impressive accomplishments of our young entrepreneurs via our Marketing and Business Plan Contest awards.

“We think that this will bring an important, and enlightening, perspective to the conference that all attendees will enjoy,” added Grooms Lee.

To conclude the conference, the SBDC will present a networking reception and trade fair designed to allow aspiring and successful entrepreneurs meet, mingle, trade business tips and promote their companies or business ventures.

Key sponsors of the 2011 Young Entrepreneur Program and the Dream and Discover Entrepreneurs Conference include College of the Canyons, the California Community College’s Economic and Workforce Development program (EWD) and the Business & Entrepreneurship Center at Cuesta College.

For more information about the 2011 Dream and Discover conference, please call (661) 362-5900 or visit www.cocsbdc.org <http://www.cocsbdc.org> . To register to attend this event, please visit http://tinyurl.com/3dubap6.