As Noble Studios social media strategist Lindsay Alford began instructing a room full of small-business owners and entrepreneurs on the many uses of Twitter, a woman tentatively raised her hand.

"Excuse me," she said softly, "What’s a hashtag?"

Welcome to the 21st century, small-business owners. Experts are here to help.

Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, a statewide nonprofit organization run by volunteers, gathered local exhibitors and panelists Friday at South Point for its fifth-annual Entrepreneur Expo. The expo is a guide for small-business owners learning how to start and build a company.

Part of building a company, the experts agreed, is learning how to use free or inexpensive resources, including Twitter. Hence, the hashtags.

Educational seminars covered the gamut of small-business operations, from finding financing and buying insurance to hiring independent contractors and using social media. Small-business owners wear many hats, said NCET President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Archer, and they want to know how to go it alone.

"If you’re a small business, you’re doing HR in the morning, IT at lunch and accounting in the afternoon," Archer said.

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