Small business owners have an opportunity to get tips on business continuity planning in 2011 through a series of free webinars hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery Solutions.

Information on gauging your business’s potential vulnerabilities to natural and man-made disasters will be presented during the “Starting Fresh—Assessing Risk & Threats to your Business in 2011” webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

During the hour-long webinar, Agility CEO Bob Boyd and business continuity planner Mark Norton will discuss the basics of risk assessment, the importance of identifying critical small business functions, and employee preparedness.

“A vital part of growing a small business is guarding the company’s infrastructure,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills.  “These free disaster preparedness webinars are an opportunity for business owners to learn how to become proactive and practical about analyzing risks and making a plan to recover. This is about not only protecting the business before disaster strikes, but having a plan in place so the business rebuilds quickly and thrives.”

The SBA has partnered with Agility Recovery Solutions to offer small business continuity strategies via their “PrepareMyBusiness” website at www.preparemybusiness.org.  To register for the Jan. 18th webinar, go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/785086473.

Dates and topics for upcoming free webinars are as follows:

Feb. 15 – “Disaster Recovery Year in Review”
March 15 – “SBA Disaster Assistance”
April 19 – “Leading with resiliency during a disaster”                
May 17 – “Crisis Communications Planning”
June 21 – “Hurricane Season preparation”                                   
July 19 – “Disaster recovery best practices”
Aug. 16 – “Social media and disaster recovery”                          
September – Weekly webinars during National Preparedness Month include testing recovery plans, Pandemic planning, and securing management support for recovery planning.
Oct. 18 – “Preparing your business for the Winter Weather season”
Nov. 15 – “The Impact of Preparedness on the bottom Line” 
Dec. 20 – “Management obligations during Disaster Recovery”

More preparedness tips for businesses, homeowners and renters are available on the SBA’s website at    http://www.sba.gov/content/disaster-preparedness.