SUSAN RATLIFF is an award-winning business owner, entrepreneur and author with thirty five years of experience in sales and marketing.

Known in industry circles as The Exhibit Expert, Susan earned that title in the tradeshow trenches discovering the shortcuts and making the mistakes so her clients don’t have to. From both sides of the exhibit aisle she learned what it takes to turn a booth into a powerful profit center. Susan knows what attendees want, how exhibitors think and what they both need to be successful. Her audiences always leave with a renewed enthusiasm for tradeshow marketing, keys to a competitive advantage and the knowledge to work the show like a pro. Whether the topic is exhibit marketing, networking, attracting the media or overcoming obstacles, Susan consistently delivers a high energy, information packed program filled with relevant content, punctuated with humor and illustrated with personal stories and examples from the field, guaranteed to entertain the audience and inspire action.

Susan Ratliff had no fancy college degree or corporate experience when she started her first business in 1988 with $5000 in savings. For six years she ran a home based, personalized children’s book distributorship becoming the 2nd largest in the country. In 1994 she sold that business and used money from family and credit cards to launch Exhibit Experts. Over the next16 years her successful tradeshow display company amassed numerous awards for excellence and innovation as she positioned herself as an expert in her field. With the goal of expanding her speaking and event business, Susan sold that company in 2010, but continues to provide their tradeshow products and services to her current customers.

Susan is an entrepreneur in the true sense of the word. A street-savvy business owner, her companies were self-funded, built from scratch and award-winning. Susan is a strong leader in the community and takes great pleasure in sharing her years of experience, business mistakes, success strategies and leadership tips with others. During those years of business growth this busy entrepreneur wrote five books and built a lucrative speaking, consulting and event production company, Susan Ratliff Presents Inc. In 2005 she created the Women Entrepreneurs’ Small Business Boot Camp, an annual educational conference in Arizona that is on track to expand nationally.

Susan’s Biography – 
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Memberships & Affiliations

NSA-National Speakers Association – President of Phoenix Chapter
NACS- National Association of Consumer Shows – member
NAWBO – National Association of Women Business Owners – past Board of Directors
ASBA – Arizona Small Business Association – member, past board member
IAEE – International Association of Exhibitions and Events – member

Awards

2012 Winner – President’s Choice Award – NAWBO
2010 Winner – Business All Star – NAWBO
2009 Finalist – NSBA 2009 Lewis Shattuck Small Business Advocate of the Year Award
2008 Winner – Positively Powerful Woman Award – Triad West
2007 Winner – Exceptional Woman – Exceptional Leader Award – NAWBO National
2007 Finalist– Women of the Year – Enterprising Women Magazine-finalist
2006 Finalist – Mirassou – NAWBO Optimist award-finalist
2005 Winner – Pioneer Award, NAWBO
2005 Finalist – Great Phoenix Chamber of Commerce Small Business Person of the Year-finalist
2005 Finalist – Community Megastar Award- finalist
2004 Winner – Legacy Honoree- Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Church
2003 Winner – Sterling Award for Micro-Business – Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce
2000 Winner – Business Owner of the Year – National Association of Women Business Owners