Greater Green Bay Chamber to Host Social Media Conference with BConnected LLC: Dive into Social Media; Rapid City Chamber interest: South Dakota Opens 93rd Legislative Session; Geneva Restaurant Week 2018; Lake County Chamber of Commerce 2017 Community Guide & Membership Directory; 18 Graduate from Flint & Genesee Leadership Development Program; Arlington Chamber: Join us in Recognizing Our 93rd Annual Meeting Award Winners and Keynote Speaker; Kernersville Chamber of Commerce 2017-2018 Community Guide; 2018 Priorities: EMBDC plans to grow, improve its 4 components; Plymouth Chamber Financial Wellness Classes For Member Businesses; Logan County Tourism named 2017 NDL Group of the Year; Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.

Good morning #Chamber World! It's going to be a GREAT day!

Greater Green Bay Chamber to Host Social Media Conference with BConnected LLC: Dive into Social Media

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 - 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM

Price - Member Non-Member
$100.00 $125.00
$125.00 $150.00 Starting 2/21/2018

Online registration open until 3/27/2018

Event Description

Early Bird Registration until February 21, 2018. Get your social media under control with this one-day conference that will jump right into managing content, managing a content calendar, creating a social media strategy and how to analze your reach. You will walk away with a start of a social media strategy and content calendar and how to move your business forward in the world of social media.

Expectations: All attendees will leave with a USB drive with the all content and the start of a content calendar and social media strategy. Attendees should have some basic knowledge and experience using social media. The education will be tailored to everyone who attends. Guests are encouraged to bring their tablet or computer to take notes and work along with the presenter. Please bring your questions as there will be ample time for Q&A.

Speaker Bios:

Brad Cebulski is the Owner/President of BConnected, LLC. Brad has channeled his passion for small business by founding BConnected, LLC to help small businesses navigate the confusing social media landscape.

Chris Burns is an entrepreneur, business owner and the director of business development for BConnected. He is a social media practitioner and offers more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing. Chris educates and helps businesses understand how to effectively use social media to stand out and help their bottom line.

Who Should Attend: If you own or work for a business that has a product or service to sell, you should attend. B2B, B2C, manufacturing, real estate, or not for profit, any business of any size can benefit from this training. If you are responsible for social media for your business, you should attend.

Agenda:
7:30 – 8:00 am Registration and Networking with continental breakfast
8:00 – 10:00 am Session I – Building a strategy and content calendar
10:00 – 10:15 am Break
10:15 am – 12:00 pm Session II – Content and Engagement
12:00 – 1:00 pm Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 pm Session III – Breaking Down the Platforms (emphasis on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn)
2:30 – 2:45 pm Break
2:45 – 3:30 pm Session IV - Analyzing Your Reach (a breakdown of analytics)
3:30 – 4:00 pm Bringing It all Together





Rapid City Chamber interest: South Dakota Opens 93rd Legislative Session

The 2018 Legislative Session starts today with the Governor's State of the State address where we will expect to hear out his priorities for the upcoming session. You can tune in here to listen to his presentation at 11 a.m. MST.  

Each year legislators are asked to make decisions on a wide variety of issues that impact South Dakota citizens. With budget numbers being lower than projected they will have to determine where adjustments in spending can be made. There will be bills addressing campaign finance, initiated measure and referendum processes in a continuance of the reform actions that took place last year in response to IM22. We expect to have discussions around TIFs, workforce housing, tuition and education, as well as addressing the alarming increase in meth usage.

The Rapid City Chamber follows bills within a wide range of topics that could impact the way you do business. Our objective is to do the research and educate you on legislation circulating the capitol that could impact you and your industry. If we deem an issue to have a significant impact either positively or negatively, we work with legislators on your behalf to advocate for passage or failure of the bill.

You can follow this link to see the Chamber's Legislative Agenda and learn about the issues we monitor on your behalf.

We want to hear from you! If there are issues we should be following please contact Lynn at (605) 718-8480 or by email.





Geneva Restaurant Week 2018

Geneva Chamber of Commerce is pleased to highlight culinary excellence by offering the Geneva Restaurant Week - an entire week of delicious discounted dining at some of Geneva’s finest restaurants!

For ONE WEEK ONLY, Monday, January 22 through Sunday, January 28, foodies will be able to eat their hearts out at participating restaurants that will offer lunch and dinner menus for either $9, $19, $29 or $39.  DINE ON THE $9’s.  Some are per person, some are for two and some are options you will only find during Restaurant Week.

Explore scrumptious eats and leave the cooking utensils and dishes at home and join us

as we celebrate Geneva’s thriving and unique culinary scene.

Tickets and passes aren’t necessary for this week of discounted dining; show up at any participating location or call ahead to make a reservation to ensure your chance to indulge with these deep discounts. Visit Geneva Restaurant Week on the web at http://genevachamber.com/restaurant_week_in_geneva.php for more information and a complete list of restaurants.  

For additional information, please call participating restaurant or Geneva Chamber at 630-232-6060.



Lake County Chamber of Commerce 2017 Community Guide & Membership Directory

The Lake County Chamber of Commerce 2016 Community Guide & Membership Directory is available at the Lake County Chamber! Thanks to Stewart Kerr, Julieth and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!

Town SquarePublications  (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.

18 Graduate from Flint & Genesee Leadership Development Program

Last month, Leadership NOW’s third cohort celebrated their completion of the intensive leadership development program, offered through the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Genesee County.

Over the last year, the cohort has participated in more than 100 hours of training and one-on-one coaching, focused on honing personal leadership styles and developing effective partnerships.

“We’re proud to welcome 18 outstanding professionals to the Leadership NOW alumni group,” said Michelle Hill, Director of Core Initiatives and Shared Services, Flint & Genesee Chamber. “These individuals join a network of collaborators who share a common language around leadership, and are prepared to work together to address challenges and pursue opportunities in the community.”

During the celebration ceremony, held Dec. 6, the cohort shared their plans for a sustainable, collaborative community project – a requirement for completing the program.

Specifically, the cohort developed a strategy to expand the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint’s horticulture program by utilizing an existing hoop house garden to plant, grow and harvest food for club members and their families. The core of this plan is a curriculum that engages children in learning about nutrition; planting and harvesting their own food; and learning to cook healthy meals with the food they’ve grown.

“Leadership NOW participants join the program because they want to learn how to improve Genesee County through their leadership,” said Jenni Dones, Program Manager, BEST Project at United Way of Genesee County. “We teach them how to do this in theory and through practice.”

Tiffiny L. Griffin, Vice President of Programs, Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, had been working in Flint for just a few short months when she began Leadership NOW. She said that the experience taught her a great deal about Flint and Genesee County, and is now seeking to join the boards of some local nonprofits.

“I am part of this community now,” Griffin said.  “I want to be part of everything that happens here.”

For more information about Leadership NOW, which will launch its fourth cohort this month, visit flintandgenesee.org/leadership-now or call (810) 600-1404.


Arlington Chamber: Join us in Recognizing Our 93rd Annual Meeting Award Winners and Keynote Speaker

A key event for the Arlington business community, the 93rd Annual Meeting will celebrate the Chamber's accomplishments of 2017, while looking ahead to what's to come in 2018. The luncheon will feature Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette as the keynote speaker, as well as the presentation of prestigious awards, including the Chair's Award to the Apartment and Office Building Association, President's Award to Christine Searle of Searle Business Solutions, LLC, and the Committee of the Year Award to the Ambassador Committee.

With over 250 anticipated attendees, the Annual Meeting is a can't-miss event for Arlington business and community leaders. It serves as a valuable opportunity to network and build relationships with many different Arlington business.


Registration and more information can be found here. The registration deadline is tomorrow at 5:00 p.m., so sign up now to join us! For registration questions, please contact us at chamber@arlingtonchamber.org or (703) 525-2400.


Kernersville Chamber of Commerce 2017-2018 Community Guide 

The Kernersville Chamber of Commerce Community Guide is available at the Chamber of Commerce today! Thank you to Chris Comer and the Chamber team for their help and direction putting this together! 

2017-2018 Kernersville Chamber of Commerce Community Guide

Town Square Publications  (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.

2018 Priorities: EMBDC plans to grow, improve its 4 components

In 2018 the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation (EMBDC) will grow and improve the four separate but interrelated components of our focus areas: 1) Chamber of Commerce. 2) Meridian Main Street. 3) East Mississippi Business Development Foundation, and 4) Economic Development (The Alliance For Growth).

Chamber of Commerce

The “lifeblood” of our organization are the 540 member-businesses of EMBDC. We’ll continue our emphasis on growing our membership and increasing “value” to our existing members.

In an unprecedented move for our organization we now have three full-time staff members and one part-time staff member designated to working directly with our members. We’ll be reaching out to every member in a much more tangible way … we’re adding Business-Before-Hours / Business-After-Hours opportunities … adding a Bridal Show (February) … adding a “Palate-to-Palette” dinner event featuring Robert St. John and Wyatt Waters (March) … surpassing our Home & Garden Show (April) … and adding an “Outdoor Extravaganza” (September).

Meridian Main Street

We’ve just announced our new Main Street Director, Debby Delshad … with Debby in place, we’ll be focused on our first full year of activities. Our efforts will be in conjunction with the city, the county, the Convention Visitors Bureau, along with Mississippi Main Street. We’ll be bringing Main Street businesses together to discuss common issues, areas of interest and also bringing attention to those businesses with successes.

We’ll be creating opportunities to facilitate Façade Grants … downtown clean-ups … and beautification projects. We’ll also be … 1) introducing our “Entrepreneur Winner’s Circle” where start-ups and small businesses are highlighted … 2) marketing school promotions for main street merchants … and 3) continuing to grow “shop local” programs. And, we’ll be partnering with MSU-Meridian presenting education and “how to” seminars.

East Mississippi Business Development Foundation

One of our “best kept secrets” is our foundation. It was created 10-years ago for the purpose of education, leadership and economic development. We’re going to be working with the EMBDF Board to market our foundation across our community with the intent of increasing our funds significantly to improve the reach of our education, leadership and economic development initiatives.

The Alliance For Growth

A regional “business leaders” group in place to support economic development region-wide. Two of our main goals in 2018 include: 1) completing and implementing a regional economic development plan, and 2) fully funding our economic development efforts which will allow us to be proactive in our pursuit of assisting existing industries in their expansions and also in luring new industries into our region. Read more: Meridian Star

Plymouth Chamber Financial Wellness Classes For Member Businesses

The Plymouth Chamber strives to provide the very best resources to the membership.  In keeping with this endeavor, the chamber is partnering with member financial institutions to provide financial wellness classes to their employees.  The classes can be tailored made to fit the company's schedule and are offered at no cost. We are thrilled to partner with members, Centier, 1st Source Bank, and Woodforest National Bank. Businesses are free to select the financial institution they prefer (see information below). 

We have also partnered with First Federal Savings Bank and Fitness Forum/Lifeplex in Plymouth to offer Financial Peace University.  This evening course is a once a week, 2 hour class, for 9 weeks and requires participants to purchase class materials.  First Federal is helping to defray a portion of this cost.  The Lifeplex is graciously providing the classroom space, and also has childcare available at a nominal fee.  Class space is limited and is available to chamber member employees only.  Classes begin February 6th, 2018.   Call the Plymouth Chamber at 574-936-2323 to reserve a space. Information on Financial Peace University can be found at: www. daveramsey.com. 

Logan County Tourism named 2017 NDL Group of the Year

Many great things have happened in history with a vision and a goal. Mix these with perseverance and the willingness to work hard, the world can change around you for the better.

Eighteen years ago the Logan County Chamber of Commerce and the Logan Economic Alliance for Development joined forces to bring local citizens together in order to develop a strategic plan to better the community of Logan County. The plan was coined "Vision 2020." Out of this vision, several organizations were developed to help increase income, create jobs and develop the image of Logan County as a tourism attraction.

This was the vision and goal that brought about the Logan County Tourism & Convention Commission, who has been selected as the 2017 NDL Group of the Year.

The Tourism Commission is so much more than its name reflects. It acts as a liaison between who we are and the world around us. It is the representation of what we stand for, what we have to offer, where we have been and where we will be going.

In the beginning of the 2020 plan in 1999, several people came together and divided up into six focus teams that would work toward very specific goals for Logan County. Darlyn Moore and Evelyn Richardson were two women who were instrumental in the process and had a desire to see Logan County develop for the people who not only lived within its boarders, but for those who would see Logan County as a destination.

Because of their diligence and dedication to a project that they each believed in, these two ladies were instrumental in getting Logan County's Tourism Commission officially off the ground.

Since that time, the Commission has been located in four different locations throughout the past 18 years. For the past five years the Commission has made their home inside the historic Logan County Courthouse.


Many board members have served throughout the years and have dedicated their service to highlighting the many wonderful opportunities our community has to offer. Promoting Logan County is the main focus of the Commission and they accomplish this in many ways. Read more: News Democrat & Leader

Town Square Publications Chamber Membership Directories and Community Profiles: The best in the U.S.

Town Square Publications, a division of the Daily Herald Media Group, is a national chamber custom publishing group that specializes in developing partnerships by producing high-quality print and digitally integrated publications along with other added value programs dedicated to creating relevancy for local chambers of commerce and other membership focused organizations interested in raising non-dues revenues.

Town Square Publications parent company, Paddock Publications, has over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest. Our experience allows Town Square Publications to offer you attractive royalty and non-dues revenue share streams, provide direct distribution of your custom designed printed publications, including digital and mobile integration, and all with the quickest turn-around times available in the industry. Town Square also offers multi-media maps in both print and online formats, both with our No-Cost guarantee. More information: Town Square Publications

Chambers of Commerce and member focused organizations serve as a valuable resource in the local marketplace. The networking opportunities and representation with a wide variety of diverse businesses in your community is the catalyst of a successful organization. For further information about Town Square's publishing partnership with chambers of commerce and our No-Cost guarantee and Earned Revenue Share Program, To request your chamber publication or map proposal, contact Town Square Chamber Proposal