Bridging the Digital Gap

The health pandemic has forced us to exercise one of our greatest assets as human beings, which is the ability to adapt.  Adaptability is vital for an entrepreneur who has to be flexible in their thoughts during pain points in business.  At Riverside Center for Innovation, we were used to offering our workshops and classes in person while engaging in face-to-face conversations.  Many factors have taken that away in 2020, but we had to figure out how to survive and keep our network alive as well.  This summer, we hosted our entire BizFit business development program online.  We planned to make the virtual experience interactive and engaging, so it included break-out sessions, poll questions, homework, and feedback from the participants.  The participants signed up for our programming online after hearing about Riverside, whether through word-of-mouth, social media, e-blasts, or other means of communication.  We delivered all the presentations with our partners via Zoom conferencing while taken the initial steps to build digital citizens.  We learned through this experience that everyone had some level of anxiety about how this would work or skepticism of online programs instead of normal conditions.  What came out of it was so much more than expected that it surprised us as an organization.  

The attendance for the BizFit program was the best since we started the program for small business owners.  

• We were used to a natural attrition rate of people dropping out after the first few classes, but that never happened.  
• People logged on early, focused on the presentation, ask great questions, and stayed late on the call for additional information.  
• We were able to enhance their technical skillset working in a virtual environment which makes them familiar with any platform.  

The testimonies from the graduates were encouraging as they expressed how much they appreciated the virtual BizFit program. 

•  A single mom expressed how the program being offered online eliminated barriers for attending and engaging in the entire session.
• Another participant shared how much she learned during the sessions in comparison to business school.  

Our goal is to provide the information needed for being an entrepreneur and help you apply it in real-time with resources and an opportunity.  It just so happens that in 2020 and beyond, we will be doing more business online than ever before, so we want to make sure our network is prepared.  And this was our first cohort to show confidence that we can adjust, adapt, and bridge the digital gap.