Wow! We are half through October already! There is so much going on this month, it’s kinda crazy!
On October 2nd, I attend the annual Bridges to Better Business event, hosted by the Business Enterprise Centre. It was a great day with lots of networking, fabulous food (Catered by Green Door Cafe) and a fantastic panel.{Jeff Sziklai, BellWyck Packaging • Neale Kemp, Aspin Kemp & Associate Susan White, European Bakery Café • Brad Locking, Locking Business Furnishings • Marsha Barrow, Butchart Estate Bed & Breakfast } The theme “Renew, Review & Rejuvenate” was a really tough topic for every one to define. It made us all think carefully about what we were doing personally and professionally to keep our heads above water. This event is always a great success, thank you Jane, Janice & Rebecca for putting on such a great day!
You can find a complete list of upcoming events in our area on the Find it Grey Bruce Website. I will highlight some of the more Business oriented ones here and give them links with more information if I can.
October 16: Business Women’s Breakfast. The Owen Sound Chamber hosts a monthly breakfast, the third friday each month, If you are a chamber member or are thinking about becoming a member I suggest you come out and do some networking and enjoy a great breakfast. you can sign up for it onthe Owen Sound Chamber website.
October 18th: Durham Tornado Relief Fundraiser, a Grey Bruce Agriculture & Culinary Association, Field to Fork Event. Great food prepared by our very talented local chefs & producers.
October 21: Grey Bruce Tourism Conference If you have a business directly or even indirectly related to tourism you don’t want to miss this event. The Regional Tourism Marketing Partners of Grey-Bruce invite you to attend our 10th Annual Tourism Conference, “Weathering the Economy,” where we’ll tackle the burning issues of the day — uncertain weather and a fickle economy — and entertain some fresh, new perspectives on them.
October 22: Women In Business Event, the Saugeen Economic Development Centre is hosting a one day event workshop for all the women entreprenuers in the saugeen area. We’ll be talking about Customer Service with Connie Barker, Getting Started with Social Media with yours truly! and Amanda Farrell, Community Economic Development, Bruce CFDC who will speak about traditional (radio) marketing.
October 22, 28 & Nov 5: Getting back to Basics – Bookkeeping This three part Bookkeeping Workshop will allow you to use the tools and information to understand your financial statements and your own books confidently. Hosted by the Business Enterprise Centre – Call Rebecca to register! 519-371-3232
On October 23 I will be attending the Multi-Chamber Quarterly meeting. This meeting is open to the leaders, executive and managers of any Chamber of Commerce Group in the Bruce and Grey area. From this meeting we all bring back events and happenings from the other chambers to our respective groups. This meeting is held quarterly. I thought you should know about it since if you are a chamber member it effects you and lets you know that we are working on bringing you the most current information out there.
October 24: Go Green in Saugeen! Community Foundation Grey Bruce presents the 2009 Environmental Forum – Go Green at Saugeen – to bring together interested parties to address environmental challenges and issues in our area. Go Green at Saugeen Environmental Forum provides an opportunity for environmentally aware organizations to highlight their products and services. Approximately 200 people are expected to attend and the trade show booths are limited to just 20 participants.
October 28: The Hanover Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Blackburn Radio to present Jim Letwin, as a speaker on October 28th. Life’s A Pitch: Growing Your Business through Effective Marketing We all know that profitable business growth is the key to success. But how do we make it happen? Jim Letwin, president and co-owner of Burlington-based JAN Kelley Marketing, will be delivering a high-energy and informative presentation designed to help your business grow. Based on his more than 20 years of marketing experience as an independent business owner as well as his role as an award-winning instructor within McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, Mr. Letwin will be sharing practical concepts and ideas that you can quickly and easily implement.
November 21: Home Shopping Party Day! To end off all that busy networking you will be doing, why don’t you treat yourself at Paisley’s First Annual Home Shopping Day – with over 15 vendors from your favorite Home Party companies attending (it’s closer to 20 right now!) It the perfect place to pick up stocking stuffers and gifts for everyone in your family! A complete list of vendors is on our Facebook event page.
Well it will be a busy couple of weeks but I can’t wait to get out there and network! What events are going on in your community for Small business month?
As Dave Fleet put it “hanging out with 900 friends” this past weekend at PodCamp Toronto was a great experience. It was a great experience because:
