It's coffee club week, so join us on January 25 at 7:45 a.m. at Regions Bank (216 S Calderwood St., Alcoa). 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. Coffees are open to anyone associated with a chamber member business. Participation is not reserved to the representative(s) listed on the Chamber membership.

 

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Make plans to attend our  Women in Business Meeting on Monday, January 22 at noon at Airport Hilton (Bar Area) led by Sharon Hannum.

In order for us to have enough time for the meeting if you are planning on eating please arrive at 11:45 and go ahead and get your lunch and bring to the bar area.

This will be a Dutch Treat Lunch from Cooper's Restaurant. The menu is soup or salad bar for $8.95 + tax, this includes drink, and dessert or the whole buffet for $12 (Including tax) and includes drink, buffet and dessert.

 

HR FOCUS GROUP SET FOR FEBRUARY 7

Eric Ebbert of Wimberly Lawson opens up the 2018 HR Focus Group meetings with a talk entitled "The Art of Holistic Harassment Prevention and Lessons From Fox's Carlson/Ailes Case." The meeting takes place Wednesday, February 7 from 8:30-9:30 a.m. at the Blount Partnership (201 S. Washington St., Maryville). IF you are interested in attending, please email Amy at alawson@blountpartnership.com.

 

DISCOVER BLOUNT

Designed by Leadership Blount and in collaboration with community partners, Discover Blount is an introduction to Blount County showcasing all that is great in this place we call home. The program introduces participants to resources in our county and identifies opportunities to be more involved.

The Discover Blount program is held on six Tuesdays from 1-6 p.m. and includes one social and one service opportunity. The Spring 2018 dates are: February 6 and 13, March 6 and 20, and April 3 and 17.

All classes begin and end on the Maryville College campus unless otherwise noted. A tour bus will provide transportation during the class day. The cost for the program is $325. Registration is online at www.leadershipblount.com.

 

PROMOTE AND PARTICIPATE IN OPERATION THANK YOU

Promote your business during "Operation Thank You" by sending 1400 gift certificates, brochures or business promotional pieces to us and we will distribute them during Operation Thank You.

Your Chamber constantly looks for ways to help you promote your business through the ABC theory - Always Buy Chamber. We do ask that your enclosure piece not to exceed 8.5x11". These inserts should be delivered to the Chamber no later than 5 p.m. Thursday, February 8.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Amy Lawson at alawson@blountpartnership.com or call 865.983.2241. There is a fee of $200 for insert enclosure.

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Participate in the Chamber's 20th annual "Operation Thank You" set for February 20-22, 2018 and meet other business people on a one-on-one basis.

During this three-day event, Chamber members, the Chamber staff and Board of Directors will personally deliver Chamber member information packets. We invite you to join us in this three-day effort. You can agree to call on as many or as few members as your schedule permits.

If you, someone (or several people) from your business, organization or group is interested in participating, please contact Amy Lawson at alawson@blountpartnership.com or call 865.983.2241.

 

REGIONAL LEGISLATIVE AGENDA BREAKFAST SET FOR JAN. 26

Join local business leaders and elected officials to hear about pending state legislative issues that could impact the business community as well as the legislative agenda developed by policy leaders at the Knoxville Chamber, Blount Partnership, and Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. The breakfast is Friday, January 26 from 7:30-9 a.m. at the Embassy Suites Knoxville West (9621 Parkside Dr., Knoxville, Tenn.). Tickets are $25 and must be purchased here or through the Knoxville Chamber at 865.637.4550.

 

SOFT SKILLS SESSION FOR JANUARY

It's Your Career! That's the focus of nine 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 12 months.

Registrations are currently being accepted online at www.blountchamber.com for the first class entitled Time Management set for January 26.

The other classes offered include Building a Team, Managing People and Personalities, Free Resources for Professional Development, How to Run an Effective Meeting, Improving Your Presentation Style - Speaking, Improving Your Presentation Style - Strategies for Engaging Presentations, Making Your Social Media Look Good and Creating Infographics for Promoting Your Business.

All classes are conducted in the Blount County Library's learning lab located at 508 N. Cusick in Maryville and limited to 50 participants. 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.

 

SOLID PROFITS POWER LUNCH: DE-MYSTIFYING INSURANCE
Join LaBlac and Chandler, CPA, as they host a Solid Profits Power Lunch about Insurance on January 24 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at their office located at 108 Parliament Drive, Maryville. The guest speaker is Drew Miles, Miles Insurance Agency, LLC.

In this Do-It-Yourself Free Workshop, you will learn:
* What coverage you really need
* Little-known policies available at small cost that can save you big-time
* How to know if you are over paying
* Tips on saving money on premiums without sacrificing security
* Risks to which you may be unwittingly exposing yourself and your business

Seating is limited, RSVP by registering through the link.

 

FEBRUARY MEMBER-TO-MEMBER PROMOTIONS NEEDED

Member-to-member promotions are needed for February. Check out the new offer from Quality Financial Concepts, Epic Nine and Swagtown. See this and other promotions at member-to-member promotions. New offers are being posted almost daily, so check out the Blount County Chamber of Commerce Member-to-Member promotions online. This Member-to-Member Promotional Program offers you and your company the opportunity to market your products and services to the membership.

 

Here's how it works:
1. Submit a PDF of a service, product or discount you'd like to offer to the Chamber membership to jmuir@blountpartnership.com. Be sure to include an expiration date.
2. An email with all the promotions will be sent out on the final Monday of every month to our member database.
3. All promotions will be posted on www.BlountChamber.com

 

REMEMBER TO SHOP LOCAL

Think local first + Buy local when you can = Being a local!

 

Inventory is not always more easily available at big box stores. Smaller merchants can often provide faster service because they have the same access to vendors as big box stores do, but they cut out the middle man.

 

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 or any good news about your business, please send it to us. We'd love to share it with the community.

 

REMEMBER WHEN

Topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week in 1978 was "Baby Come Back," by Player. It knocked label-mates The Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" from the top spot.