Small-business owners from throughout the community listened and engaged with entrepreneurs and organizations Wednesday during the second annual Small Business and Conference Expo hosted by Steve Knight, R-Palmdale.

“A lot of it is just sitting down with experts in the field and talking about a question—talking about an issue,” Knight said, noting his office received a lot of positive feedback from the previous year’s event. “Our commitment is to make sure that business has an opportunity and that’s what I think we’re building here.”

Different panels surrounding topics of community engagement, small-business defense programs and small business assistance were also scheduled during the conference at the Centre in Santa Clarita, formerly known as the SCV Activities Center.

The small-business owners asked questions about their own personal business ventures to panelists and exchanged contact information.

John Smith, CEO of ATB Travel, right.

“There’s not a lot of help for small businesses,” said John Smith, CEO of the travel agency, ATB Travel, and an U.S. Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam. “With the continued tax and spend, tax and spend — you know it’s hard to run a small business with everything you have to pay in taxes, everything that’s going on with wage increases, so it’s not an easy thing.

“I’m hear to learn as much as I can as a retired veteran trying to keep a small business and employ people,” added Smith.

Knight plans on continuing with making the Small Business Conference and Expo an annual event.