A 'how-to' webinar:
3 Ways to Move any Idea Forward (3/18)
March 18, 2020 | 4:30 pm
Whether you are a student, entrepreneur, business owner, leader or employee it is often hard to know what to do next when you have an idea. This webinar will provide a simple 3 step framework to move any idea forward. You will hear first hand from entrepreneurs and creatives about how they used this framework. You will also have the opportunity to join presenters and other attendees in a virtual networking session after the webinar.
Speakers
- Andrew Miller | Eastern Mennonite University | Director of Graduate & Prof. Programs
Andrew Miller is the Director of Graduate and Professional Programs with the Department of Business and Leadership. He has an interest in working with students and leaders towards self-understanding and personal formation as a foundation for organizational leadership and development. He draws upon his diverse background in strategic leadership studies, economics, and theology as a grounding for this process.
- Andrew Yoder | Financial Controller, Sol Renewables, Inc.
Andrew Yoder is the Financial Controller for Sol Renewables Incorporated, a renewable energy company. He focuses on portfolio structuring, asset finance, and investment banking relations. In early 2020, Andrew, along with seven other colleagues, founded Sol Renewables. Andrew's background is in renewable energy finance, asset valuation, and project development. Andrew completed his undergraduate degree and MBA from Eastern Mennonite University.
- Nick Swayne | JMU | Executive Director, 4-Virginia & Founding Director of JMU X-Labs
Nick Swayne is the Executive Director of 4-Virginia and the founder of JMU X-Labs. The 4-Virginia collaboration of eight Virginia public institutions works to leverage their combined strengths to improve higher education's efficiency and economic impact. He created JMU X-Labs to help develop the campus' innovation ecosystem. Nick serves as faculty advisor for the Stanford University Innovation Fellows and is the Harrisonburg Regional Veterans Collaborative founder.
- Tisha McCoy-Ntiamoah | Owner, PrePOPsterous
Tisha McCoy-Ntiamoah is the owner and Chief Popcorn Enthusiast behind PrePOPsterous® Gourmet Popcorn & Sodas, based in Bridgewater, VA. Prior to launching the company, McCoy-Ntiamoah previously held careers as a sales representative for Hershey Chocolate USA, and as program directors for the Orientation and MBA offices at James Madison University. After four years of running the business part time, alongside her full time career, Tisha pivoted from her career in higher education to running the business full-time.
- Joe Sprangel | Mary Baldwin University | Dean, College of Business & Prof. StudiesJoe Sprangel is the dean of the College of Business & Professional Studies and associate professor at Mary Baldwin University and founder/principal consultant of Emmanuel Strategic Sustainability. His objective is to successfully blend his academic and industry practice background to strengthen the organization's work on sustainable strategic planning.
- Dustyn Vallies | Co-Founder of Local Food NetworkDustyn Vallies is a Co-founder of Local Food Network, where he leverages his research experience with regional stakeholders to develop cooperative supply chain technology. In coordination with the Regional Acceleration and Mentorship Program in Roanoke, VA, Dustyn has implemented customer discovery methodology, conducted over 200 local food stakeholder interviews, and managed wholesale local food procurement technology programs in Richmond, VA.
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STARTUP SHENANDOAH VALEY (S2V) enables you to take your business to the next level. Learn to address the riskiest parts of your business model with flexible one-on-one coaching during S2V's 8-week sprint. Gain valuable insight from our mentorship program and continue the learning and support by joining a diverse community of entrepreneurs and resource providers through our alumni network and ongoing programming. S2V is offered to participants at no charge and without equity requirements.
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HARRISONBURG, VA - B-Cubed, or B³, is an initiative of the Chamber's Diversity Business Council that seeks to encourage increasing investment from existing Black and Brown businesses within the Harrisonburg-Rockingham metro area. B-Cubed also strives to create a welcoming culture that will attract new Black and Brown owned business ventures to locate within our community.
B-Cubed blends technical business support with personalized mentoring, customized to meet the current stage and needs of the businesses. The program is open to any existing Black and Brown owned business located within Harrisonburg or Rockingham County. Similarly, any Black or Brown individual residing within the community who is seeking to start a business in the Harrisonburg-Rockingham metro area is also eligible. "The greater vision behind B-Cubed is to exponentially grow both the quantity and variety of Black and Brown businesses in our community," commented Chris Jones, Chair of the Chamber's Diversity Business Council. "In addition, we want to help our existing Black and Brown businesses thrive and expand." Local champions of this ground-breaking initiative include the Chamber of Commerce, City of Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, JMU Professional & Continuing Education, and the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center. Housed under the Chamber of Commerce umbrella, B-Cubed will operate as a partnership of these entities, staying nimble and able to quickly respond to needs expressed by our program participants. Molson Coors Beverage Company stepped forward to donate $15,000 as seed funding to jumpstart efforts to help local Black and Brown businesses. "Molson Coors Beverage Company is proud to support the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce Black and Brown Owned Business Growth Program," commented Lori Michelin, Brewery Vice President. "Molson Coors recognizes that Black and Brown businesses were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is important for us to step up, nationally and in the communities where we do business. As a company we aim to foster a diverse workforce that reflects the rich diversity of our consumers, customers, and communities where we do business." Additional financial support has been donated by Farmers & Merchants Bank, Riner Rentals, and Dr. John Downey. If you are interested in volunteering or offering financial support, please contact Chris Jones or any of the partners listed above. If you would like to further explore B-Cubed, please check out the 7 Steps of the B³ Growth Program at https://www.hrchamber.org/business-assistance/ (LINK TO PROGRAM DESCRIPTION)
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Do you have a business idea you're excited about, but need help figuring out if you're ready to invest your time and money to bring it to life? The Idea Factory is a fast-paced, 6-week virtual program where you'll learn how to test, improve, and validate your business idea.
Who's it for?
Anyone in the Central Virginia area with a technology-driven or manufacturing-based business idea is welcome to apply. The Idea Factory will provide the training, resources, and support to test your idea and help you decide whether you are ready to take the next steps towards becoming an entrepreneur.
What is the investment?
The program fee is $500, with need-based scholarships available (we don't want cost to be a barrier for any aspiring entrepreneur). Additionally, participants who successfully complete the program, validate their idea, and plan to commit a substantial amount of time to pursuing a new business will be considered for continued support and free resources to help them keep going.
What is the time commitment?
- 10 hours per week for 6 weeks
- Participation in a virtual workshop 1 evening per week
- Attend a weekly office hour with a mentor or experts
- Willingness to talk about your idea with others, including interviewing strangers
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DEIC Accelerate is a platform to connect energy and sustainability startups with their next major customers and investors.
Our accelerator program enables the growth of high-potential companies with a focus on energy and sustainability solutions. The 18-week program provides 6-8 startup companies with networking space and intensive mentoring to help accelerate the growth of participating businesses. Companies will receive expert mentorship from a combination of current and former business leaders, including a dedicated mentor from Dominion Energy and one of their corporate, government, or education partners. Startups also will receive additional help from specific subject matters experts in areas such as technical development, sales, marketing, finance, pricing, operations, talent development and more. At the conclusion of the program, companies will participate in a demo day in front of Dominion Energy, potential investors, potential customers and others. Dominion Energy or our corporate advisory partners may select specific companies for additional mentorship, pilots or post-program investment.
For the 2021 Program, solution categories highlighted by Dominion Energy's partners as particularly interesting include:
- Smart city/smart community technology
- Technologies related to renewable natural gas
- Technologies related to EV charging and grid connections
- Sustainable packing or plastics innovations
- Technologies or process improvements related to building envelope materials
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March 17, 2021 | 8:00 pm
Tech Bytes is a free monthly technology talk program open to the public. The program is coordinated and sponsored by the Lord Fairfax Community College Computer Science program and in partnership with the Delta Phi Chapter of Epsilon Pi Tau.
Mr. David Ellis is the Acting Chair of the Discipline for Post-Graduate Teacher Education and Lecturer in Design, Digital and Technology Education at Southern Cross University in Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia. David is also the author of the new text "Teaching STEM in the Secondary School: Helping Teachers Meet The Challenge." David will discuss how STEM Education is being implemented in Australia.
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Pharrell Williams, Georgia Tech, and Amazon invite you to engage your students in an inspiring new learning experience that explores the ways music, computer science, and entrepreneurship can be tools to advance racial equity.
Students explore how computer science, music, and entrepreneurship can advance equity. Using Georgia Tech's EarSketch platform, students code a 30 second - 3 minute musical remix using Pharrell's new song "Entrepreneur". Submitted remixes will be judged based on quality of music, code, and messaging by a panel of industry professionals.
Students can compete with their class or on their own from January 15 to June 4, 2021. Five students will win a $5,000 scholarship or grant to start a business, and five teachers will receive $1,000 for above and beyond instruction.
There will be two rounds:
- Round one opens on January 19, 2021 and closes March 12, 2021
- Round two opens on March 15, 2021 and closes June 4, 2021
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April 14 - May 5, 2021 (Wednesdays) | 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm
JMU Ice House, Harrisonburg
Are you creative? Do you love to design? Do you enjoy using computers and machines? Turn your creative fuel into 3D cool in this exciting digital design and 3D printing camp- Juice Works! Each day you'll learn a variety of digital design and technical skills required to complete design-build challenges that result in actual products you can use and take home!
All children will be required to wear a mask, and the camp will be practicing guidelines in keeping with CDC recommendations. Students may not participate unless they are symptom free per CDC guidelines.
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Have a Virtual Technology Event?
We'll Share it in our Newsletter and Calendar!
Are you a local tech meetup/user-group or organization hosting a virtual tech event
within the Shenandoah Valley?
With the recent impacts of COVID-19, we're looking to help promote all of the Valley's technology community events that have now gone digital by adding them to our newsletter and calendar (our publicity).
Click the button below to share your event!
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Shenandoah Valley Open Tech Jobs
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Director of Biotechnology Program, James Madison University | Harrisonburg
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DevOps Engineer, Quantic School of Business and Technology | Remote
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Full-Stack Software Engineer, Quantic School of Business and Tech | Remote
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Full Stack Ruby Engineer, Showcase IDX | Fully Remote
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Principal Software Engineer, Sproutly | New Market
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3D Developer - AR Support, The Scylla Group | Winchester
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Front End Developer, The Scylla Group | Winchester
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Solder Technician, VIRTEX | Waynesboro
GOT ADDITIONAL JOBS THAT SHOULD BE PUBLICIZED? SEND US A NOTE AND WE'LL PUBLICIZE THEM.
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Participate in the local tech conversation: Rocktown Tech (Slack)
Currently there are 18 channels and over 450 members. Sign-up
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SVTC MEMBERS INVITATION: DISPLAY YOUR MEMBERSHIP STATUS
Membership Badge Available
Use our new graphic on your own website (and remember to link back to our website www. svtc-va.org!)
Choose the graphic file of your choice:
Let us know when you incorporate this graphic and we'll mention your site in return!
Examples:
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The Shenandoah Valley Technology Council does not endorse the companies, organizations, teams, or events mentioned, or take a stand on any of the articles or notices or events included.
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Contact Us
Shenandoah Valley Technology Council
800 S. Main Street MSC 3615
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
540-568-7882
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