Kirtsy.com and Microsoft Office Live Team to Present Free "Hands On Small Business" Sessions Across the Country

Women in 20 Cities Across the US and Canada Gather to Learn More About Free Online Services and Social Media Tools That Can Help Small Business Owners and Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Related Quotes

Symbol	Price	Change
MSFT	30.36	+0.76

{"s" : "msft","k" : "c10,l10,p20,t10","o" : "","j" : ""}

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - 10/21/09) - Microsoft Office Live (http://www.officelive.com) and Kirtsy (http://kirtsy.com), a female-focused user-contributed website, are announcing "Hands On Small Business" gatherings in 20 cities across the US and Canada, Oct. 20 - Nov. 22, 2009. The free hands-on sessions will offer small business owners practical instruction in using popular social media marketing tools, as well as Office Live services designed to help entrepreneurs easily build a professional web site and store and share documents online.

"This year, we've seen increasing discussion from women starting their own businesses about how to best find online resources to match and meet specific needs," said Gabrielle Blair, one of the founders of Kirtsy. "Women often get together to compare notes. And there are a lot of us who want to talk right now about how social media and online applications can enhance our small business pursuits."

After hosting 10 hands-on social media sessions with Microsoft Office Live in June, Kirtsy received numerous requests to host more of these informal, intimate gatherings across the US and Canada. The Fall "Hands On Small Business" sessions will be held in the following cities: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Charlotte, Boston, Denver, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Washington DC, Columbus, Seattle, Portland, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, Miami and Toronto.

"Today, there are a lot of options for small business owners looking to leverage the web to bring down marketing costs and connect with customers, but deciding which tools to use and learning how to use them can be time-consuming," said Louise Rasho, senior marketing manager for Microsoft Office Live. "By holding these sessions, we hope to help entrepreneurs gain some valuable insights they can take back and immediately use to grow their businesses."

Each session is free and open to the public. To find out more about specific dates and locations, visit http://handsonsmallbusiness.com

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - News) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

About Kirtsy

Kirtsy (http://kirtsy.com), is the leading female-focused user-contributed content aggregator website where community members submit content, which is ranked by clicked interest. Kirtsy features nine categories: Arts & Entertainment; Design & Crafts; Family & Parenting; Fashion & Style; Food & Home; Internet & Technology; Mind, Body & Spirit; Travel & Leisure; Politics, World & Business. Kirtsy stories can be submitted by anyone. The stories that get enough views are published to the homepage. The site was created by women who found each other through social media. See http://www.kirtsy.com/faq-en.php for more information.

More information and links on Kirtsy: http://kirtsy.com/new-en.php

More information on Kirtsy founders & editors: http://kirtsy.com/about-en.php & http://kirtsy.com/editors-en.php

Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.kirtsy.com/faq-en.php

 
Contact:
Laura Mayes
Email Contact