April 2018 Newsletter
Spring is coming! It really is! Before we know it, the snow will depart and the blossoming beauty of nature will be upon us. We hope you are planning your spring and summer adventures and looking forward to warmer weather.

We have a lot to look forward to at the Chamber as Spring approaches.

Our Cohase Cash contest continues through the end of April. Our $100 winner of Cohase Cash will be announced on May 4th. The contest is open to anyone including members and their employees so get your receipts in before April 28th!
We are making plans for our Regional Business Breakfast on Wednesday, May 9, 2018 which is always a sell-out event and a great chance to chat with your colleagues and neighbors as you start your day. In addition, we are putting the final touches on our planned Data Security workshop which is scheduled for May 17th. Our last workshop was very well-attended and we know this one will be as well! More details to come..so check our WEB site and your inbox for more information in the very near future! Also, May also is the month for the Spring Paddle the Border. The event, scheduled for May 20th always amazes us with the amount of people it brings from near and far to our region! If you would like to volunteer and assist attendees with parking, boat launching or boat take-out, let us know!

Wishing you a wonderful Spring!

Erik

Erik Volk
Executive Director
Upcoming Events
Please visit our WEB page at www.cohase.org for more details on any of these events and a listing of other events in our area.

April 21 - Laura Cortese and The Dance Cards, Court Street Arts, Haverhill Corner, NH
April 22 - Mud Run & Family Health Day, Oxbow High School, Bradford, VT
April 27 - Kite Day (plus Ice Cream Sundaes), Denny Park, Bradford, VT
April 28 - Cohase Cash contest ends
May 4 - The Fellers, A Cohase Rotary Club Fundraiser, Haverhill Corner, NH
May 4 - Cohase Cash winner announced!
May 5 - North Country Chorus Spring Concert, Bradford Congregational, Bradford, VT
May 9 - Cohase Chamber Regional Business Breakfast, Colatina Exit, Bradford, VT
May 17 - Cohase Chamber Data Security Workshop, RBCTC, Bradford, VT
May 19 - Clara Martin Center 2nd Annual Color Splash, Thetford Academy, Thetford, VT
May 19 - Justin McKinney Comedy, Court Street Arts, Haverhill Corner, NH
May 19 - Annual NWC Flea Market, Old Village Church, Newbury, VT
May 19 - Parker Hill Road Band, Railroad Park, Woodsville, NH
May 20 - Paddle the Border, Woodsville Community Field, Woodsville, NH
June 1 - Don & Jenn Plus One, Colatina Exit, Bradford, VT
June 1-10 - Pride@Prejudice, Old Church Theater, Bradford, VT
June 2 - Newmont Farm Open Farm Day, Bradford, VT
June 2 - Metamorph on Summer Street, Bradford, VT
June 7 - Business After Hours, Little Rivers Health Care, Bradford, VT
June 9 - Iris Dement, Court Street Arts, Haverhill Corner, NH
June 21 - Make Music Vermont, Bradford, VT
Member Moment - Cygnus Pictures
T his month we are pleased to speak with Tim Swaan of Cygnus Pictures. Cygnus Pictures is a video production service, based in North Haverhill, New Hampshire. For more information, visit Cygnus Pictures online at www.cygnuspictures.com , call Tim at (818) 823-76002 or email him at tim@cygnuspictures.com

What services does your business provide and how can you help small businesses?

I am passionate about telling great stories through video and helping small businesses and non-profits succeed in the digital marketing age. At the end of the day, I am a video producer, but it can be difficult for small businesses to see or understand how video can help their business thrive. Video on social media is a massive marketing tool that businesses of all sizes are finding themselves compelled to use. The challenge is that social media and social media marketing are demanding more and more of a business owner’s time and it is not necessarily a field in which they may have confidence, comfort or know-how. Social media can sometimes be a distraction that takes away from operating your business and following your true passion. I have a passion for helping small businesses succeed by helping to tell their story. To help them budget for this, I offer a subscription model so they can have good-looking and good-sounding materials they can use, at a cost that is not astronomical. With my subscription model, they get the opportunity to have a certain number of videos made per month but spread the cost throughout the year to help feed the video marketing funnel.

Why would I use your service and not just make the video myself?

Businesses often use cell phones or cheap handy cams with inappropriate audio or bad lighting which can really leave a poor impression. It’s my job to help get social media content looking sharp, which is incredibly important because anything that does not look professional can come across cheaply to potential customers, and perception is king when attracting new customers! It’s not just about knowing how to technically make a video; people forget that there are years of training and experience to assure a professional quality product. I can make sure videos are staged, produced, edited and presented professionally for maximum effect. Like any service, my services do cost money, but not doing anything or doing it poorly may very well be costing businesses money in terms of lost potential clients. You need to really use the nuances of storytelling and story structure to keep people watching. It’s about knowing how to use a sense of place to give context to your story, and how to use lighting and design to bring further meaning to your story. Ask any social media user if he/she would be more likely to read a block of text or click to watch a video. Most people are going to choose to watch the video, so shouldn’t that video be yours?

What if I am selling a service and not a product? How can video help me?

Video is not just for businesses who are selling products. My favorite quote by Simon Sinek, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” It’s really about making your passion for your business infectious! In video, you can tell that story and in telling that story, you can get in front of more customers in a way that’s relatable. People just love it when someone is passionate about what they do and conveying that builds trust with customers.

Can you tell us a little about your experience in video production?

I received my BA in Communications and Film from Emerson College, and after getting my start in the Upper Valley at WNNE-TV and Dartmouth, I spent ten years based in Los Angeles working on a wide assortment of projects in the entertainment industry as an Editor and Director of Photography. Much of that time there was spent travelling throughout the world and domestically, working on a number of documentaries and television shows including work on “Under the Sun” and the National Geographic Channel’s series “Rock Stars.” My award-winning work has been seen on NBC, CBS, FOX, VS (OLN), VERIA, NGC, ESPN as well as internationally through syndication. Since 1998 I have also worked as a freelance Video Producer under my own moniker Cygnus Pictures. For the past six years, I have been working as a Video Content Producer for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

What are your ties to the local area?

I was actually born in the Netherlands and raised in Southeast England. At the age of 14, my mother and I moved to Bradford, Vermont where I attended Oxbow High School. I went from a private English school to a rural American high school which was certainly a culture shock! (My grandmother was actually an elementary school teacher in Bradford.) From there, I went to Boston to attend Emerson College. Later, I packed up my car and moved to Los Angeles to work in the film industry. During that time, my mother was living in Piermont, New Hampshire and I needed to help her secure more stable housing. We found a house in North Haverhill and my mother lived there for a while. Eventually, due in part to the impact of the stock market crash of 2008 on the entertainment industry, as well as a desire for me to move back home, I moved back to the area and have since gotten married and now have a 9-month old daughter.
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A Visionary Weekend for Haverhill
Haverhill citizens from villages throughout Haverhill as well as others with a vested interest in the town gathered to take an active part in the planning of Haverhill's future on Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14. The Creating a Greater Haverhill Vision to Action Forum was held at Haverhill Cooperative Middle School and was sponsored by Plymouth State University. The program was co-chaired by Liz Shelton and Wayne Fortier with participation from Town Manager Jo Lacaillaide as well as many other volunteer Steering Committee members. The program's key facilitators were Delia Clark and Susan Clark, who have facilitated similar sessions throughout the United States and the world.

The forum included presentations on Haverhill demographics, history and young people's perceptions of Haverhill. However, the majority of the program was devoted to active brainstorming, discussion and analysis by attendees in small groups. The multiple discussions were facilitated by 10+ volunteer facilitators who received facilitation training prior to the event and focused on 10 key areas of importance.

Delicious food prepared by volunteers under the guidance of Erin Atkinson made sure that discussions and decisions were not made on an empty stomach.

At the conclusion of the event, working committees were established to tackle the top initiatives and future meeting dates were set. A compiled report of all input received at the event will soon be available to the public. For more information or to participate in one of the working groups, please contact Town Manager Jo Lacaillaide at jlacaillade@haverhill-nh.com or by phone at (603) 787-6800
Member News
  • The Chamber expresses its sincere condolences to Aletta Traendly of Chapman’s Store in Fairlee and her family on the recent passing of her beloved husband Blake. Blake was contractor in the region who built over 50 custom homes and was an important part of the regional community. A service to celebrate Blake’s life will be held on Saturday, April 21 at 1 PM at the Town House in Strafford. In lieu of donations or flowers, Blake has requested that people donate blood to their local blood bank, as a way to honor is life and to help others to heal. Click here for Blake’s obituary in the Valley News.
  • Housewright Construction of Newbury, VT recently received the 2018 Best of Houzz awards for Design as well as for Customer Service. Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design. In addition, Housewright Construction recently celebrated 33 years of quality craftmanship! To read more about the awards or their 33th year celebration, visit their blog by clicking here.
  • ARC Mechanical in Newbury, VT is under new ownership. Former owner Will Buskey has now officially retired and Jody Perkins and Andy Courchesne are the new owners. To read more about the changes at ARC, click here for a recent article from Vermont Business Magazine.
  • Lance and Melissa Battersby are the new owners of the Newbury Village Store in Newbury, VT. Former owners Dave and Eileen McKnelly were lookling for just the right new owners to carry on the Newbury Store tradition and they found them! We wish Dave and Eileen the best in their future endeavors and thank them for all they have done for the community and look forward to getting to know Lance and Melissa!
  • Nate Swain of Room 111 at Victory Lanes in Woodsville, NH has listed his business for sale and is actively searching for a new owner for his thriving business. Nate has indicated that Room 111 will operate as normal until a new owner is found and there are no plans to close, even for a short time. For more information about the business, please contact Nate at nate@room111enterprises.com or by phone at (603) 243-0393.
  • Old Church Theater in Bradford, VT is finishing up renovation of their new temporary space at 176 Wait River Road. Major volunteer efforts continue to transfor the space adjacent to Bradford Veterinary Clinic and Orange East Senior Center. They will be holding their 2018 season in the new space as they raise funds and begin work on the restoration of the Old Church Theater building. If you would like to support their efforts, contributions to the renovation effort are greatly appreciated. Click here to donate.
  • Red Kite Candy in Bradford, VT is partnering with Summer Street Music series to sponsor Kite Day (plus Ice Cream Sundaes) to raise funds for the 2018 season. The event will features kites to fly, a kite-making booth, music and ice cream! For more information, click here.
  • Ariana’s Restaurant in Lyme, NH and Robie Farm in Piermont, NH will both be participating in the Chefs of the Valley event on Sunday, April 29, 2018 at the Hanover Inn. The annual event is a fundraiser for The Upper Valley Haven and features not only some of the best food and drink in the region but also live music and a silent auction. To find out more about the event, to purchase tickets or to learn more about the Upper Valley Haven, click here.
  • The Aldrich General Store in North Haverhill, NH recently announced the addition of Boar’s Head brand products to their store. Boar's Head Brand has upheld a commitment to unwavering standards for quality for over a century, refusing to take shortcuts that compromise the integrity of its products for the sake of convenience or economy. All Boar's Head Cold Cuts contain no fillers, by-products, MSG added, artificial colors or flavors, gluten or trans-fat.