It's time for a special afternoon mixer this Thursday, April 7 at First Tennessee Bank, 1820 W. Broadway, Maryville, as University of Tennessee Women's Athletics Director Joan Cronan will be on to autograph her book, "Sport Is Life with the Volume Turned Up: Lessons Learned That Apply to Business and Life." The mixer runs from 3:45-5 p.m. and Cronan will be there from 4-6.

 

MAXIMIZE YOUR BLOUNT CHAMBER BENEFITS
Prior to the afternoon mixer on April 7 from 2-3:30 p.m., you can find out how to maximize your Blount Chamber benefits. Learn about what the Chamber can do for you by joining us for an information session at the Blount Partnership board room.

Attend and be entered into a drawing to win a Chamber email marketing blast to the membership, a company spotlight in The Dialogue and two Taste of Blount tickets. RSVP to Amy.

 

CUBA TRIP INFORMATION SESSION
If you ever wanted to take a trip to Cuba, you'll want to join us at the Blount Partnership board room for an information session on the November trip, April 13 from 3:30-4:30 p.m.

 

THE DIALOGUE
Check out our 18th installment of The Dialogue at the bottom of the email where we visit with Suzie Cutshaw, Equipment Finance Consultant of JB&B Capital, LLC.

 

BUILD YOUR BRAND, MARKETING 101 SEMINAR

The Lawhorn CPA Group presents a free seminar entitled, "Build Your Brand - Marketing 101," this Tuesday, April 5 from 8:30-11 a.m. at the Blount Partnership board room. Attendees are asked to register here.

 

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.

 

BLOUNT COUNTY JOB FAIR SET FOR APRIL 29

Anyone looking for summer jobs, part or full-time employment needs to be at the Blount County Job Fair presented by the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, DENSO, Newell Rubbermaid, Staffing Solutions, the Blount County Library, Tennessee Career Center and The Daily Times on Friday, April 29 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee building located at 136 Harvest Lane in Maryville. Click here for a list of participating businesses.

 

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 CLASS OFFERED THIS SPRING

It's Your Career! That's the focus of the final 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:
May 20 - Mentoring

 

AMPLIFY YOUR BUSINESS WITH SAVE LOCAL NOW

Did you know 46% of online users turn to social media when making a purchasing decision? As the new "word-of-mouth" marketing, consumers visit sites like Facebook and Twitter and expect to find real, relevant (and newly posted) content.

 

Here's some benefits to being active on social media:
1. Posting on a regular basis with links to your website will increase traffic flow.
2. Search engines like Google reward activity on social media sites, giving you more visibility online
3. The opportunity to connect with followers allows you to build lasting relationships without actually having to meet them
4. Promoting your brand through social media allows you to share your story.

 

Instead of wasting time posting separately to a variety of social media accounts, Save Local Now lets you do it all in one place. Publish a business promotion on your SLN digital platform and one-click share to Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

 

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!

 

If every family in the U.S. spent an extra $10 a month at a locally owned business, over $9.3 billion would be directly returned to the economy.

 

Find what you're looking for in the Chamber Directory.

 

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

"Johnny Angel," first became a popular hit single when Shelley Fabares took it to number one this week in 1962 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. The single premiered on an episode, "Donna's Prima Donna" of Fabares' sitcom, The Donna Reed Show.