Business community event calendar

The Maine Technology Institute invites proposals by March 26, 2012 for collaborative, industry-led activities designed to help Maine's technology-intensive industries grow and create good jobs across the state. Funding of up to $500,000 is available. Applications for cluster feasibility and planning awards of up to $50,000 may bre submitted at any time and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. All Cluster Initiative Awards require a 1:1 match.

Proposed initiatives can include providing opportunities for businesses to learn from and work with each other, boosting innovation and jobs and/or jointly tackling challenges or pursuing new opportunities for industry growth. Eligible applicants include businesses, trade associations, universities and non-profit research institutions across Maine.

If you are interested in learning more about the Cluster Initiative Program or plan to apply in the future, this is a great place to start!

Open to all persons interested in, or in the process of, starting their own business. Learn all the “nuts and bolts” needed to get up and running from experienced small business operators.

Casco Bay Technology Hub (CBTH) and Baxter Brewing Company have joined forces to create PubHub, a monthly series of networking events to help Maine’s tech community unite to share ideas, meet new people, and have fun. The inaugural PubHub will be held February 7 at CBTH, a Maine-based tech community space that provides collaboration, partnerships, and networking opportunities. Baxter Brewing will provide beer it has craft-brewed in Lewiston, ME. Each month’s PubHub will feature a speaker with real-world business expertise to share insight on technology and how it relates to business development, growth, and entrepreneurship. The February event’s speaker is Jason Cianchette, founder of Liquid Wireless, who will share his experience with growing a lead generation company on the mobile web. The event’s premium sponsor is Integra Strategic Technologies Consulting, a CBTH member that offers full-service Web design and development.

On Feb. 8, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Auburn, the Androscoggin Chapter of the Maine Women’s Network (MWN) invites members, guests, and the general public to its next meeting. Mary Bumiller of Bangor Savings will conduct a group speed networking program. “More Than Just Small Talk” is a facilitated forum that allows attendees to have more pointed, in-depth connections in a short amount of time. Attendees will learn something new about people they have already met, as well as connect with those they have not engaged with in the past.

Seminar sponsored by James W. Sewall Company & Eaton Peabody

The Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) is hosting an informational breakfast event focusing on Stormwater Tips to Maximize Credits and Minimize Risk on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 from 7:30 - 9:00 AM at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor.

ABOUT THE EVENT: Take action now to reduce costs and avoid potential for regulatory action. Pressure from Federal and State regulators, on both public and private entities, as well as a desire for a healthy environment, are causing the City of Bangor to devote an increasing amount of time and resources to stormwater. The business community will be most affected if regulatory action is taken, as it was in South Portland, but the City is working hard to avoid a confrontation.

This seminar will explain why business owners should not wait to take action to reduce costs and avoid potential for regulatory action. Examples for how to take action now will also be presented.

Registration Fees:
Members: $25 pp | Non-Members: $35 pp
-After February 3rd, prices increase by $10 pp

Join us for a collaborative, round table session, where you have the opportunity to provide ideas that fuel strategic thinking that will lead to real change for our guest entrepreneur, Cyndi Prince, founder of WOOLY ROUNDS. This is a great opportunity to support and grow this entrepreneur, and work side-by-side with women on a whole new level!

Women Standing Together (WST) is a growing network of professional women launching entrepreneurial women to new heights. If you are creative, market savvy and philanthropic, this group is for you! WST membership fees are collectively invested in non-profits that focus their work on entrepreneurship - one of the Fund's four strategic grantmaking areas that will advance economic security for Maine women and girls. So you can feel good about your financial investment and your time investment in the guest entrepreneur!

February 9: From Myth to Reality-What We Do and What We Don’t Do! : Peter Pare, Director of the Maine Department of Labor Bu-reau of Employment Services, will give an overview of the Bureau of Employment Services offerings.

To register, call 207-873-3315 or email prog.asst@midmainechamber.com. $14 for members registering by the Friday before the event, $16 thereafter. $20 general admission. Each reservation includes a hot breakfast buffet.

This workshop will give you the tools you need to analyze your marketing approach in order to develop a winning marketing strategy. It will also help you implement an effective advertising and promotion program for either your current offering or new product/service introduction.

As part of Maine Entrepreneur Week, Women Standing Together and Maine Million Dollar Women are bringing together a team of rock star advisors* who want to see women-led ventures grow. Join us for "Calling all Female Entrepreneurs" where you'll have the opportunity to meet with a panel of amazing advisors. You'll have 10 minutes to share the high points of your business and key opportunities/challenges on the horizon and 10 minutes for Q&A. Following these presentations, Maine Million Dollar Women and KeyBank are hosting a networking reception from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Register at the Maine Women's Fund (http://www.mainewomensfund.org/news_and_events/event_register/389/334) to present to a team of advisors and attend the networking event.

*Confirmed Advisors
• Eliza Cope-Nolan (Partner with Bernstein Shur)
• Mandy Davis (Principal, Creative Strategist at E+M Marketing)
• Jessica Esch (Owner, Font & Fiction)
• Marsha Greenberg (Partner, The Greenshoe Group)
• Karin Gregory (Partner with Furman, Gregory, Deptula)
• Robin Lin Hodgskin (Senior Vice President, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney)
• Jodie Lapchick (Graphic Designer/Marketing Strategist, Lapchick & Co.)
• Susanna Liller (Founder and President, Liller Consulting and Ruby Slippers)
• Suzanne McCormick (President & CEO, United Way of Greater Portland)
• Nancy Rhoades (Nancy Rhoades, President, BONNEY Staffing Centers)
• Eli Stefanski (Chief Market Maker, Business Innovation Factory)
• Sandra Stone (Founder, Sea Cove Solutions)
• Beth Sturtevant (President/Principal Owner, CCB, Inc.)

Join us on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 from 7:30 - 9:00 AM at the Clarion Hotel, 1230 Congress Street, Portland, ME as Maine's State Energy Director Kenneth Fletcher provides an overview of the Governor's Energy Diversification Program.

Program: 8:00- 9:00 AM
Buffet Breakfast: 7:30 - 8:00 AM

About the Event:

The Governor's Office of Energy Independence and Security believes Maine needs to become energy independent in the next few decades and has an energy plan that will establish the steps necessary to realize this goal, maximizing use of clean, reliable, and renewable energy resources while reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Governor LePage has identified the reduction of electricity prices and lowering the overall costs of energy to Maine people as one of his top five priorities. To achieve this goal, all energy sources need to be considered both in the short term as well as the long term in a way that is environmentally responsible and sustainable and prompts economic development.

For more information and to register, please visit www.mereda.org.

Renowned entrepreneurship educator, Steve Blank, will speak via video conference on Wednesday, February 15 at 6:00 PM to Maine libraries and University campuses throughout the state as part of Maine Entrepreneurship Week and MCED's Top Gun Maine program.

The event, presented by MCED and supported by Blackstone Accelerates Growth, is free and open to the public. During the program, local entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to listen, ask questions, and discuss his presentation alongside Top Gun Maine program participants. For a complete list of participating locations, please visit the Top Gun Maine web site, www.topgunmaine.biz.

Steve Blank spent 21 years in eight high technology companies. Since 1999, he has written about and taught entrepreneurship at Stanford, Berkeley and Columbia Universities respectively. He developed a new model for startups and worked with the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps. as well as engagements in Chile, Finland, and Russia. Steve Blank has been featured in the New York Times, Nature magazine, and National Public Radio. His book Four Steps to the Epiphany has been translated into Russian, Japanese and French.

Event Locations
Portland:
34 Bedford Street
Wishcamper Center
rm 133, Lee Hall,
USM Portland Campus
774-8111

Gorham:
37 College Avenue
Rm 223 Baily Hall
USM Gorham Campus
774- 8111

Orono:
Rm 102 Innovation Center
University of Maine , Orono
581-1454
Rm 215 Donald P. Corbett Hall
University of Maine , Orono
581-1454

Also, Teleconfrenced throughout the state of Maine: Please follow link for a location near you http://www.topgunmaine.biz/

Renowned entrepreneurship educator, Steve Blank, will speak via video conference on Wednesday, February 15 at 6:00 PM to Maine libraries and University campuses throughout the state as part of Maine Entrepreneurship Week and MCED's Top Gun Maine program.

The event, presented by MCED and supported by Blackstone Accelerates Growth, is free and open to the public. During the program, local entrepreneurs will have an opportunity to listen, ask questions, and discuss his presentation alongside Top Gun Maine program participants. For a complete list of participating locations, please visit the Top Gun Maine web site, www.topgunmaine.biz.

Steve Blank spent 21 years in eight high technology companies. Since 1999, he has written about and taught entrepreneurship at Stanford, Berkeley and Columbia Universities respectively. He developed a new model for startups and worked with the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps. as well as engagements in Chile, Finland, and Russia. Steve Blank has been featured in the New York Times, Nature magazine, and National Public Radio. His book Four Steps to the Epiphany has been translated into Russian, Japanese and French.

Event Locations
Portland:
34 Bedford Street
Wishcamper Center
rm 133, Lee Hall,
USM Portland Campus
774-8111

Gorham:
37 College Avenue
Rm 223 Baily Hall
USM Gorham Campus
774- 8111

Orono:
Rm 102 Innovation Center
University of Maine , Orono
581-1454
Rm 215 Donald P. Corbett Hall
University of Maine , Orono
581-1454

Also, Teleconfrenced throughout the state of Maine: Please follow link for a location near you http://www.topgunmaine.biz/

Do you want learn how to market your business on Facebook? This workshop is for you. Learn the art and science of Facebook marketing, including best practices, advertising, content tips and insights. We will cover how to create events, sharing content, adding LIKES and getting fans.

The State of Business in Maine, presented by Carol Coultas, Editor of MaineBiz and sponsored by the Association for Consulting Expertise (A.C.E.). 7:30-9:30am, Portland Country Club, Falmouth. Followed by round-table discussion on Developing Your Niche hosted by Denise Martin of Good For You Coaching. Event includes breakfast. Non-members and guests welcome. Cost is $22 for members and $28 for non-members. Registration required in advance by visiting www.consultexpertise.com, calling (800) 464-5043, or e-mailing programs@consultexpertise.com.

Have you heard? Downtowns are HOT and opportunities for all sizes and varieties of businesses exist across Maine in our historic commercial districts. The Maine Downtown Center is focusing its efforts this year with Business Opportunities On Main (BOOM): matching resources to needs and boosting business development, recruitment and retention in our downtowns. Join us for this informative and inspirational session where three Main Street downtown small business entrepreneurs will share their strategies to thrive in this economy. The session concludes with an optional insiders tour selected historic places follows, demonstrating innovative adaptive use and cutting-edge rehabilitation projects. This session is co-hosted with the Maine Small Business Development Centers and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

This workshop includes presentations and hands-on practical examples to help you understand the need for a plan and a cash flow projection and how to write your plan and do your cash flow analysis. Your workshop handouts will provide step-by-step instructions and sample formats that will give you a head start on putting your business in proper condition for a start up or an expansion.

Here are some examples of topics we may discuss, depending on who attends:

Blogging for Profit
Selling E-products such as Ebooks
Affiliate Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Social Media
Web Design & Development
Product and service launches on line
Best places to advertise your web site
Google, Ebay, ClickBank and others
What makes a good business idea on the Internet
How to distinguish your Internet business from all others
What makes a good business concept on the Internet
much, much more!

Should be a great meeting, as last time, so bring someone you want to do a favor, and buy them a drink or dinner!

We will start the session with a critique of various adult learning theories while exploring the tensions that may exist between adult education and training. Join us and discover the synergies between the two disciplines as we make an examination of adapting adult learning theories to enhance the training process. This professional development meeting is brought to you by the Maine Chapter of American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Come join us!

Join Nexus for an informative discussion centered around business continuity.

Learn business continuity best practices
Learn what your company can do to achieve business continuity
Have your questions answered by our IT experts

Complimentary sandwiches and beverages provided.

In this six-week course you will develop a business plan tailored to your specific needs that will address where you are and where you want to go in the future. Cost includes text. Meets every Tuesday, starting Feb. 28 - April 3, 2012, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Discover the best of Maine's ever-evolving restaurant landscape as top chefs, new hot spots, and popular favorites.Simply put, a restaurant week is a celebration of the culinary talents of area restaurants. During restaurant week, restaurants offer specially priced three-course menus. Chefs work hard year round to take care of their customers. During restaurant weeks, they go above and beyond. The concept originated in New York City in the early nineties and caught on in Maine in 2009.

Join us for a Cluster Initiative Program (CIP) Webinar!

The Maine Technology Institute invites proposals by March 26, 2012 for collaborative, industry-led activities designed to help Maine's technology-intensive industries grow and create good jobs across the state. Funding of up to $500,000 is available. Applications for cluster feasibility and planning awards of up to $50,000 may bre submitted at any time and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. All Cluster Initiative Awards require a 1:1 match.

Proposed initiatives can include providing opportunities for businesses to learn from and work with each other, boosting innovation and jobs and/or jointly tackling challenges or pursuing new opportunities for industry growth. Eligible applicants include businesses, trade associations, universities and non-profit research institutions across Maine.

If you are interested in learning more about the Cluster Initiative Program or plan to apply in the future, this is a great place to start!

March 8: Ten Workplace Wellness Tips for Small Businesses. Willow Sherwood, executive director of WELCOA. Despite limited resources, small businesses can implement a workplace wellness program for employees. Workplace health promotion can help im-prove employee health, boost productivity, increase employee morale, reduce employee turnover and increase your bottom line.

To register, call 207-873-3315 or email prog.asst@midmainechamber.com. $14 for members registering by the Friday before the event, $16 thereafter. $20 general admission. Each reservation includes a hot breakfast buffet.

The Leadership Unplugged series is designed to be a conversation with Maine leaders around issues of economic importance. It is an opportunity for leaders from all over Maine and across sectors to come together in an intimate, relaxed setting to discuss the pertinent issues of the day and build the relationships that will allow us to move Maine forward.

Our conversation will be with Michael Duguay, Director of Development, City of Augusta, and Co-Founder Kennebec Valley Entrepreneurial Network. Mike is a veteran of Maine’s economic development community, working at the local, regional, and state levels through his career. His experiences have taught him one thing – Maine needs to tackle economic development in a different way. The traditional approach is missing the mark and we have to shift our focus to meet the needs of the individual entrepreneur. Mike will present his new vision of economic development in Maine and will speak to some of the efforts he has set in motion with the recently formed Kennebec Valley Entrepreneurial Network.

The cost of energy is a leading economic development challenge in Maine. Add historic buildings, sustainable design, accessibility, modern infrastructure and energy efficiency needs to the mix and you have a recipe for downtown revitalization that requires creative skill and adept financing to deliver. The Maine Downtown Center, Maine Preservation and the Environmental Funders Network present a practical and thought-provoking session geared to everyone interested in retaining the authentic historic character downtown, while being protective of the environment. This is truly a global issue of our times and is timed perfectly for the construction season. The session will include a lively panel presentation with four of Maine’s leading architects skilled in sustainable design who will share their best examples and greatest challenges. Project Canopy/Green Downtown street tree grant opportunities will also be presented. An optional lunch presentation by the Maine Environmental Funders Network coordinators concludes the Institute. There will be a small additional charge for lunch.

This 3 day review is intended for those who are preparing to take the Maine Life & Health Producer Licensing Exam. We will spend the three days covering the Maine Law and all the topics included in the Kaplan Life & Health textbooks. The benefit you receive from this class is the work focuses on the test outline. Instructor solicits questions about areas that are not fully understood. Participant interaction leads to a better understanding of the material. As this is a review class, participants are expected to have thoroughly read the text prior to class and you must have the current edition of the Kaplan textbook.

April 5: Customer Service. LL Bean’s Julie Girard gives us a look at what makes Maine’s top outdoor retailer succeed.

To register, call 207-873-3315 or email prog.asst@midmainechamber.com. $14 for members registering by the Friday before the event, $16 thereafter. $20 general admission. Each reservation includes a hot breakfast buffet.

This 3 day review is intended for those who are preparing to take the Maine Property & Casualty Producer Licensing Exam. We will spend the three days covering the Maine Law and all the topics included in the Kaplan Property & Casualty textbooks. The benefit you receive from this class is the work focuses on the test outline. The instructor solicits questions about areas that are not fully understood. Participant interaction leads to a better understanding of the material. As this is a review class, participants are expected to have thoroughly read the text prior to class and you must have the current edition of the Kaplan textbook.

May 3: Grant Writing Workshop: “How to Find, Apply, and Get the Funding!” Find out how to add “CFO (Cash~ Flow~ Oxygen)” to your business, non-profit, construction, service, and more!

To register, call 207-873-3315 or email prog.asst@midmainechamber.com. $14 for members registering by the Friday before the event, $16 thereafter. $20 general admission. Each reservation includes a hot breakfast buffet.

June 14: Non-Profit Success Stories. Learn from Panelists of successful non-profits from around the state about what’s worked (and what hasn’t) as they strive to grow and remain relevant in today’s economy.

To register, call 207-873-3315 or email prog.asst@midmainechamber.com. $14 for members registering by the Friday before the event, $16 thereafter. $20 general admission. Each reservation includes a hot breakfast buffet.