Business community event calendar

Social media can have a dramatic effect on the growth of your business by helping new customers discover you and engaging your current customers. In this session you will learn to navigate the social media landscape effectively, get tips on integrating your social media marketing with your email and other marketing efforts, and how to save time.

Presented by Tracy O’Clair, a successful marketer, an enthusiastic social media practitioner and a motivated entrepreneur. Owner of TOCmedia, a social media and email marketing service provider, O'Clair is the host of Social Media Breakfast Central Maine and an authorized local expert for Constant Contact.

Does it seem like your message isn’t getting through to customers and prospects? This month’s sales roundtable is focused on how to develop your persuasive sales skills by tailoring your message to match style of your prospects.

Presented by Doug Packard, a Mainebiz columnist and executive coach with sales knowledge to share.

Spark organizational growth and employee engagement with strategic and successful learning opportunities. Join us for a discussion with organizational leaders across Maine sharing their best practices for managing learning programs.

Learn more about:
• The current and evolving role of the learning manager in challenging environments
• The best practices in learning program management (i.e. needs assessment, adult learning theory, learning design theory)
• How the learning function partners with business leaders to enable execution of organizational strategy and improved performance

The York County Jobs Alliance will host a networking event of jobseekers and employers. This annual celebration recognizes individuals and local businesses who have worked with Goodwill during the past year to connect jobseekers with employment opportunities. The event features guest speaker Bonita Pothier from Sen. Angus King’s office.

The Maine Public Relations Council is hosting a free networking event for communications professionals. The event provides an opportunity for professionals to expand their networks, discuss industry trends and foster business relationships in a more casual environment.

Maine is at the forefront of the "farm to fork" sustainable food movement, which considers all aspects of the food supply from production to transportation to environmental impacts on soil, water, and climate and to health impacts on humans. Join us to learn about sustainable agriculture and aquaculture and the unique technologies and initiatives that are transforming the way we produce the foods we eat.

Speakers will include Chuck Green, president and CEO of Backyard Farms in Madison. We will also hear from Christopher Heinig, CEO, Harpswell Oceanic Center Inc. and RAS Corp; Jen Levin, sustainable seafood program manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute; and Eli Cayer, founder of the Urban Farm Fermentory.

This workshop is designed for individuals who are in charge of marketing their products and services on Facebook but are not avid Facebook users. Prime candidates for this workshop are small business owners who among other responsibilities have been forced to conform into the world of online marketing. Other people who would benefit from attending this training workshop are those who are not yet embracing the power of Facebook marketing and would like to learn more about how to market their products and services via business Facebook pages.

You're invited to this important half-day dialogue with employers on how to enhance their talent recruitment and retention, especially related to hiring people with disabilities, and the business case for doing so.

Every small business has issues that they can improve upon! 1group Principal Steve Musica will share some simple tools that can be used to facilitate improvement in your business. Feel free to bring your lunch.

Join us each month at the Mid-Maine Chamber’s Business After Hours networking events sponsored by Bangor Savings Bank. These events are a great opportunity to mix and mingle with other area business professionals and leaders in the community. There are complimentary hors d’oeuvres, beverages, a 50/50 raffle sponsored by Advanced 1 Cleaning Services and door prizes!

Your background screening program doesn’t have to be complicated or extensive – but it does have to be compliant and that road is becoming more difficult to navigate. If you’re just getting started or haven’t updated your screening procedures in the past 12 months, you’ll want to take part in this informative webinar. We’ll be covering everything you need, from screening policies to resources and compliant use of a background check reports.

Brian McElwee of easyBackgrounds Inc. will provide participants with the following information: An overview of employment related background checks and legal issues; information as to why an employer may want to run background checks; and types of checks available, costs and the process to perform them.

Our program year may be ending, but the fun's not over yet. Join us for drinks and delicious hors d'oeuvres. We'll celebrate the year and talk about some exciting plans for next year. While there won't be a speaker or a panel at this event, the networking and the food will be sure to make this event a great one.

You want to start your own business. What is the first step? You own your business and want to expand and increase sales. Who can assist you with growing your company? You're a veteran and want to know what small business opportunities exist. What is the best financing option?

Many existing businesses and those looking to start a business face a myriad of questions and may not be aware of the many small business resources available - free of charge - that can assist them in supporting their dreams right in their own community. Learn about the various local, state and federal resources available to support small business ownership in this workshop.

Most businesses share common social marketing goals: be found, liked/followed and convert followers to sales. While it's important to be active on several social platforms, Twitter is now the social powerhouse for business.

The next installment in a free series of social media seminars is designed to offer helpful advice to those who want to use Facebook for their business. We kicked off the series with this topic, but we've had a number of requests to offer an additional session on the topic. Cintia Miranda, president of Pulse Marketing Agency, will conduct the seminar.

Whether you attended the first session or haven't been to a social media seminar yet, we invite you to attend. Our goal is to provide tips that you can take back to your business and start using immediately.

Think Tank celebrates the grand opening of its Yarmouth location with a networking reception that will include a tour of the office. Think Tank is a hub for marketing, programming and design professionals. The space encourages collaboration and gives the start-up community an affordable, flexible place to ideate.

Now that the coexistence updates have been released, we can finally do more with Exchange 2013 than install it into a fresh new ‘greenfield’ installation. There’s an alphabet soup of Service Packs (SP), Rollups (RU), and new Cumulative Updates (CU) to understand. We’ll work through the basic architecture and differences of Exchange 2013, then spend most of our time on how the migration actually flows from 2010/2007 up to 2013. The path to the new version of Office 365 which uses Exchange 2013 is very similar. After the presentation, we’ll open it up to any Exchange questions.

Through this one part networking and one part working session you will have the chance to meet, network and share ideas with like-minded businesspeople while having a few local brews!

Hear from guest speaker Scott Cowger, co-owner of Maple Hill Farm Inn & Conference Center, as he shares Maple Hill Farm's sustainability story. Learn how they were able to develop and implement strategies that led them to a more green business.

Also have the opportunity to benchmark your current sustainability practices or update your current profile and learn ways to become more sustainable through local resources.

Join Blackstone Accelerates Growth Executive Director John Voltz for an open and engaging "Pitch and Q&A" forum for start-ups and entrepreneurs. Learn how to accelerate the growth of your company!

Increase your chances of winning a Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer award by attending this event.

Learn how to fund your innovative business idea and connect with key resources.

Join MTI for a full day of presentations and one-on-one meetings with federal funding agencies representing the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program. This program represents the largest source of early-stage research and development funding for innovative technology in the U.S., providing more than $2.5 billion each year to small businesses across the US to help entrepreneurs take their ideas from laboratory to market.

Amy Wood, success strategist, will present.

Includes breakfast and round-table discussion: Temperament and the consultant.

Learn how to prepare the narrative portion of a business plan, including understanding each section that should be included, and identifying resources for gathering information to support the business plan.

Your business has a newly redesigned website. You’ve tried online advertising with mixed results. You’re experimenting with social media, posting and tweeting on a daily basis. Do you wonder how your internet marketing efforts are helping your bottom line?

This program will offer practical tips for how to drive more qualified leads online. Topics include personalizing your content, insights from your own sales data, geographic targeting and nomenclature considerations for a global business. A case study will focus on proven strategies for international markets such as content marketing, establishing keyword clusters and using social media for event promotion.

Guest Speaker: Michelle Hood, president and CEO, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems.

Computer security is good business! Learn about security and data threats to your business. This is a non-technical workshop that covers the fundamentals of protecting your information, computers and networks. Sponsored by the SCORE and the SBA, and presented by the National Institute of Standards & Technology with support of the FBI.

Take the scenic route to the best networking in the region. Travel down Route 24 from Brunswick (only 11 miles from downtown Brunswick) and enjoy summer breezes brought to you by the Harpswell Business Association and the town of Harpswell. We'll meet at the Orr's Bailey Yacht Club located just off of Route 24. Enjoy refreshments provided by a variety of Harpswell businesses.

As a local business leader, your valuable insight would be instrumental to this open dialogue about business issues that affect your business, your community and your state. We need your expertise and input to make recommendations and to identify opportunities for moving Maine‘s economic future in a positive direction.

This will be an informal group meeting of progressive business leaders like yourself from your region. Space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis.

Writing a business plan requires a financial forecast. Learn how to prepare detailed financial projections, including start- up costs, and projected cash flow analysis. The provided templates will fulfill the requirements for commercial lenders and potential investors.

If your company is thinking about raising equity – selling shares – there is a lot to get ready before you start asking for checks. This workshop will walk through the rather extensive list of things to prepare, from financial models, pitch decks and executive summaries to cap tables, reference lists, deal structures and exit options. Do you know if and why you need a PPM or should highlight EBITDA? Is your corporate legal work in order? Even if you don’t need the cash for a year it’s not too early to starting prepping for raising equity.

Speaker: Don Gooding, executive director, Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development.

Chamber members and their guests are invited to join owners Kelly and Jane Littlefield, the Schoodic Chamber and gallery friends for a Business After Hours/gallery opening.

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association's networking events attract key players in Maine's real estate industry making this an excellent opportunity to interact with the top experts in their field.

What is it? How do you use it? How popular is it? There’s a lot of buzz around this curious social network, but is it useful to businesses? We are going to use this breakfast to explore this question and more. After all, as Google integrates Google+ into its other products, it is getting harder to ignore.

The workshop will be led by Sarah Boisvert, Greenwood Tech Strategies and founder of Maine FabLab, and will consist of:
1) a history of 3D printing
2) how 3D printing works
3) a basic intro to CAD design for 3D printing and scanning
4) differences between printers, from personal to industrial
5) applications of 3D printing in industry including aerospace and medical
6) educational resources to get you started.

The workshop is informational in nature but will include a 3D printing demonstration and a souvenir for attendees.

This workshop covers the basics of assessing your business plans and ideas. Topics include sources of funding, basic operation planning, business structure and marketing guidelines to start your own business.

This is the fourth Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber social media task force’s series of social media seminars to help you market and grow your business through social media and online marketing. This seminar focuses on web video. It is the most popular and powerful marketing tool available today. You can compete with anyone - and you don't have to be Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.

Presented by Jim Bouchard, speaker, media personality and author of THINK Like a BLACK BELT and owner of Black Belt Mindset Productions.

You'll need: Smartphone, pad or computer with camera; a little bit of information (two minutes or less) you'd like to share about your business; an open mind; and your lunch.

Evaluating technical and professional opportunities including residencies, studio environment and education.

Does your current practice feel stale or stalled? What is next for you? What is the next step? Is it a new project, a collaboration, a residency a new space?

This session will be entirely focused on how to assess and improve your current studio practice. From honing in skills, to pursuing educational opportunities, creatives will learn about how other creatives have maintained, grown and sustained their studio practice.

Need help understanding common financial terms and tools? Learn what the income statement and balance sheet are telling you. We will show you how to measure, manage and optimize your cash flow; and learn how to use financial ratios to understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Every business – no matter how small – has a brand. Your brand is the way you’re experienced through the eyes of your customers, prospects, vendors and your target audience. In this interactive workshop, you will begin to identify your company brand attributes and learn how to demonstrate those attributes through clear communication tactics.

Learn how to prepare the narrative portion of a business plan, including understanding each section that should be included and identifying resources for gathering information to support the business plan.

Grant writing for Small Businesses with Lee Cheever. Grant opportunities for businesses are different than those in the nonprofit arena and the competition is tough. Knowing how to find the right funding source and putting together a strong proposal provide the best chances for success.

In this workshop we will discuss how to find likely funding sources, how to review program announcements, tips on preparing the different sections of the proposal, utilizing review criteria, typical reasons for proposal rejection and what to do after an award (in addition to spending the money).

This will be a small group session tailored to the individual needs of the participants.

Writing a business plan requires a financial forecast. Learn how to prepare detailed financial projections, including start- up costs and projected cash flow analysis. The provided templates will fulfill the requirements for commercial lenders and potential investors.

Whether you are starting a new business or expanding an existing one finding the necessary financing and capital is a challenge. This workshop provides important information on the potential sources of financing.

Buying or selling a business is very different than a real estate transaction; there are specific legal, accounting and process issues that need to be understood by both parties. This workshop will address these issues and help prepare you to acquire or sell a business.

Join us for a workshop with Seth Rigoletti

It includes:
1. Simple, clear slides
2. How to frame your story
3. Answering questions clearly and simply
4. Sticking to the big picture
5. Resonating calm and confidence

The implications of growing as an artist and art based business including fabrication, production, sourcing and staffing.

Close your eyes and think about where your practice or art-based business could be in 10-15 years. Well, guess what? With some preparation, realistic goal setting and action, you could accomplish those goals in 5-10 years or less.

Join us and to hear from Maine based creatives who have outgrown spaces, expanded their businesses and achieved national recognition. This session is designed to help creatives strategize their potential growth and gain perspective on what practical steps to take.

Changes occurring on the state and federal levels that will affect small businesses.

Mitchell Stein, policy director of Consumers for Affordable Health Care, will talk about the federal small business tax credits available, exchange development in Maine and rating changes in Maine law.

Thank you to our sponsors: O'Donnell Lee McCowan & Phillips LLC; AT&T; Higgins & Bolduc Agency Inc.; People's United Bank; Nicholson, Michaud & Co.; and Fairpoint Communications.

Check event website for more up to date information.

Thank you to our sponsors: O'Donnell Lee McCowan & Phillips LLC; AT&T; Higgins & Bolduc Agency Inc.; People's United Bank; Nicholson, Michaud & Co.; and Fairpoint Communications.

Join us each month at the Mid-Maine Chamber’s Business After Hours networking events sponsored by Bangor Savings Bank. These events are a great opportunity to mix and mingle with other area business professionals and leaders in the community. There are complimentary hors d’oeuvres, beverages, a 50/50 raffle sponsored by Advanced 1 Cleaning Services and door prizes!

Join us at our final stop in the Bath/Brunswick region during this great networking reception.

Network with other members of the Brunswick/Bath and surrournding business community while enjoying hors d'oeuvres at a beautiful location. Remember to bring business cards to hand out to new connections you make.