The Week Ahead:
Monday:
1:00 - MS Ride to the River
5:00 - TriCity Chamber
6:00 – City Council
Tuesday:
7:00 – Executive Committee
Wednesday:
8:00 – Small Business Week Committee
12:30 – Inside The Chamber Radio Show
4:00 – Blue Coat Captains
Thursday:
Blue Coat Orientation
11:30 – Ribbon Cutting Oldag Guns
4:00 – Blue Coat Orientation
Find Us On:
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NEW FORMAT FOR SERVING YOU
The Chamber will continue to provide effective electronic communication to our members in 2010. You’ll note the new and improved format on Serving You for this year. Articles will again be limited to save you time and for those wanting more in depth information, just click above and receive updates on a regular basis on areas of interest. Also note that many of the Chamber communication mediums include the options of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and Linkedin. Get wired!
GET YOUR BOARDING PASS FOR DESTINATION NB 2020
The Chamber’s 91st annual meeting and banquet will be held on Friday, January 29 in the New Braunfels Civic-Convention Center. Tickets are available online or may be purchased at the Chamber’s main office. Tables are recommended to provide you guaranteed seating with your colleagues and friends. A drawing for $1,200 will be held, gift mementos to attendees, news you can use from economist Dr. Mark Dotzour, awards, a social hour and great meal plus Two Tons of Steel in the ballroom following the banquet! Come and see more new technology at the Civic-Convention Center for the various presentations as well.
GOOGLE SECRETS COMING
The new year is here, get your business geared up! Chris LaGarde, owner of PinPoint Vision, will present “Google Secrets – A Workshop for Local Business” on January 27 in Honors Hall. The seminar is intended for established businesses that have an ongoing marketing effort. The seminar will surely be a sellout. Register online at www.nbcham.org . Click on the calendar of events for January 27. For additional information, call Shana at 830-608-2805 or email her at shana@nbcham.org .
CANDIDATES FORUM KICKS OFF ’10 ELECTION
The Leadership New Braunfels Alumni Association will host a candidate’s forum on Thursday, February 4 for local contested races in the March Primary. The forum is open to Leadership New Braunfels Alumni. Thirteen candidates will be on the ballot in five separate races which include Comal County Judge, Comal County Commissioner Precincts # 2 and # 4, and Comal County Justice of the Peace Precincts #1 and #2. Early voting begins February 16 and election day is March 2. The Chamber’s Leadership Program is now in its eighteenth year with 367 alumni members. For more information call Rita at 830-608-2806 or email her at ritak@nbcham.org .
CHAMBER AFFILIATION CRITICAL IN ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS
According to the Shapiro Study, people who were told that a particular small business was a member of its local chamber were 44% more likely to rate it favorably than study respondents who were not told of the chamber affiliation. Respondents were also 63% more like to want to purchase goods or services from a small business that is a chamber member. The Shapiro Study also showed that people think more favorably about a company’s products, services and reputation when they are told that the business is affiliated with a chamber. In economic downtimes, chamber membership is critical for you!
WANT MORE JOBS? POINT & CLICK!
The New Braunfels economic development effort is ramping up its www.newbraunfelsprospector.com site selection website with advanced technology to help businesses find the right location in the New Braunfels area at the speed they desire – better and faster. The newly updated www.newbraunfelsprospector.com now integrates the industry standard Google map interface and the latest in social media tools. Newbraunfelsprospector.com website users can now virally share any of the available reports about their New Braunfels community with their entire online network, across a whole host of social networking environments, including Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook. Fishing where the fish are . . . .
NBACTS4BUSINESS
This past fall your Chamber completed work with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce on a new webpage known as New Braunfels Acts For Business. Go to www.nbacts4business.com and check out your new legislative action center. At this 24/7 legislative advocacy center you will find the tools and information you need to make a difference in local, state and national legislation. You’ll fine an elected officials roster, voter resources, the latest news, quick poll opportunities and more. Want to learn more about coming healthcare, energy and transportation federal legislation? Other legislation highlighted today includes the Employee Free Choice Act (both the House and Senate version) and the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Go to the Take Action section and fill out a brief questionnaire to receive email alerts. Your Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee for 2010 will be previewing the site at their first meeting of the year.
LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE SHAPING UP
The 44th Texas Legislative Conference is set for March 18 – 19 in the Civic-Convention Center. The Texan of the Year reception will be held Thursday evening, March 18 to honor Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission Chair Peter M. Holt. Holt is also the Chairman, CEO and principal owner of Spurs Sports and Entertainment and CEO of HOLT CAT, the nation’s largest Caterpillar dealer. The half-day conference on March 19 will feature top leaders in the state in panel discussions on economic outlook, immigration reform, and a media pundit’s panel on the March Primary. Go to www.txlegislativeconference.com for conference information and to register now.
CVB MEDIA PLAN BEFORE COUNCIL THIS EVENING
The City Council will meet in their first meeting of 2010 in Council Chambers at 424 S. Castell Avenue beginning at 6:00 pm. Under the presentations section, CVB Director Judy Young will inform Council of the 2010 tourism media plan. City Council last fall approved the budget for the CVB in 2010 and the media plan will give further details to the specific areas and mediums to be utilized. The C&VB Strategy and Steering Committee provides advice and counsel to the C&VB staff and Chamber for such plans. The group is composed of industry professionals and city representatives with over 300 years of combined hospitality and visitor marketing experience. The meeting can be viewed on Time Warner Cable Channel 21.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Before you build a better mousetrap, it helps to know if there are any mice out there."
Mortimer B. Zuckerman, Bits and Pieces on Leadership, December 2009 issue
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