It's coffee club week. So join us,
Thursday, March 31 at 7:45 a.m. at the Airport Hilton. Coffees are designed to offer our members the opportunity to build business relationships with other members and to gain exposure for their business or organization in an "open house" setting. It is open to anyone associated with a Chamber member business.
Be sure to save the date for April 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. as Blount Memorial's Blount County Community Health Initiative action team kicks off its
Healthier Tennessee campaign at the Blount Partnership. Come enjoy healthy cooking demonstrations, exercise tips, giveaways and a kickoff walk on the greenbelt.
Check out our 17th installment of The Dialogue at the bottom of this email where we visit with Tom Klein, Business Development Executive of
InfoSystems.
EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT ALONG WITH ACCOUNTABILITY
 Join us for a free seminar on Tuesday, March 29 from 8-9:30 a.m. at Jim Rose from EQ Consulting Services will help managers effectively utilize the human potential in their organization. This session will focus on how to empower individuals and work groups throughout the organization along with a means for holding them accountable. The goal is to ensure that all resources in the organizations are focused on how they can improve their performance and collectively when accomplished will improve the effectiveness of the entire organization. RVSP to
Jim Rose.
LEARN HOW TO ELIMINATE TEAM DYSFUNCTION
The Blount Chamber is proud to present a free seminar on
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Wednesday, April 6 from 8-9 a.m. at the Blount Partnership board room. RSVP to
Amy.
Consultant Susanne Dupes will provide you tools to begin eliminating the dysfunctions at your workplace. With as many as 7 out of 10 employees disengaged at work, it's costing you money. To change that in your company, you have to eliminate dysfunctions within the leadership team that are killing engagement.
DEADLINE NEARS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BLOUNT CHAMBER'S JOB FAIR
 The deadline to sign up for the
Blount County Job Fair is April 1. The Blount Chamber, along with DENSO, Newell Rubbermaid, Staffing Solutions, the Blount County Library, Tennessee Career Center and The Daily Times are hosting a job fair on April 29 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Second Harvest Food Bank in Alcoa. To make this a success, we need your participation as either an employer with a booth. Participants receive an eight-foot table, two chairs and linens if needed for $150. Click
here for a list of participating businesses or
sign-up form.
GLENN SHEPARD SEMINAR RETURNS APRIL 14
Glenn Shepard's seminar "Hire With Confidence, Fire Without Fear, Tame Toxic Employees and Put Your Team on the Fast Track to Record-Shattering Success" is coming to the Blount Chamber on Thursday, April 14.
In the seminar, Shepard shows you how to motivate your people, not just manage them. How to get them to follow you because they believe in your goals, your skills as a leader, and they are committed.
He'll also explain why The Millennials require such a different supervisory style than Gen X or Baby Boomers, and how to apply Dr. Ken Blanchard's (author of The One Minute Manager) principles of situational leadership to get all the different generations to work together as a team.
If you were fortunate enough to attend Glenn's seminar last year, this seminar will be the PEREFCT continuation to take you to the next level of excellence in management expertise, leadership development, and building a culture of teamwork that encourages cooperation that leads to success for your entire team.
If you missed last year's seminar, the April 14 seminar will offer you the opportunity to sharpen your supervisory skills and become a more effective manager and stronger leader than you've ever been. After completing this seminar, which has been certified for additional HRCI credit by SHRM, you'll have the tools for leading your team to achieving goals much faster than ever before.
The seminar runs from 8:30 a.m.-Noon (arrive by 8:00 a.m.).
Print the flyer to register.
SOFT SKILLS CLASSES OFFERED THIS SPRING
 It's Your Career! That's the focus of the two free soft skills sessions offered in partnership by the Blount County Public Library, the Adult Education Foundation of Blount County and the Blount County Chamber of Commerce that are scheduled over the next five months.
With more and more millennials entering the workforce, employers have noticed many workers in a variety of professions are lacking in several areas, including problem solving, conflict resolution and critical observation. But, even though they possess the hard skills to get an interview, it's the important soft skills that will land the job and help them keep it.
All classes are conducted at the library located at 508 N. Cusick in Maryville and limited to 30 participants. Those interested must register online at
www.blountchamber.com/community/soft-skills. A complete class description is located on the registration site. All classes run from 8-10 a.m. with networking beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Registrations are currently being accepted for:
April 15 - Conflict Management; May 20 - Mentoring
POWER UP YOUR BUSINESS WITH SAVE LOCAL NOW
 Digital marketing is a challenge for every small business. It's our job to level the digital playing field. Through the Chamber, you receive access to $LN, a FREE member marketing platform built to maximize your online exposure, and increase sales through Content Creation + Publishing, Email marketing, Social Sharing and Search Engine Optimization.
The $LN platform allows you to enhance your digital footprint, create content, and share that content where it really matters: online, on social, and through email marketing.
SLN provides everything your business needs:
Easy-to-use platform
Mobile optimized web presence
Digital marketing training
Social media consulting
Bi-weekly Marketing Tips
Content Creation + Inspiration
Customer Support
If you have any questions regarding your free digital marketing member benefit (
Save Local Now), your digital platform, or online marketing in general please reach out the Blount Chamber's
Rachel Coffman. She is here to help you in the year ahead and will keep you on track as you fulfill your resolutions in 2016.
REMEMBER TO SHOP LOCAL
 Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!
Local entrepreneurship fosters economic innovation and prosperity.
GOT AN EVENT OR NEWS? WE'D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT
Is your organization hosting an event in the community? Submit it
here on our community calendar. If it's a tourism event, please email
Ashlee so she can post it on
www.SmokyMountains.org.
Also, please
send us any news releases or good news about your business. We'd love to share it with the community.
REMEMBER WHEN
"Billie Jean," the second single from Michael Jackson's album,
Thriller, was in the middle of a seven-run atop the Billboard Music Chart this week in 1983. The song won two Grammy Awards and corresponding music video helped propel Thriller to the status of best-selling album of all time.
|