A big part of the value of becoming a Chamber member is the ability to participate in a variety of networking opportunities that are designed to allow business people to meet, become acquainted, and examine ways they might facilitate growth in their business.  Attending a Chamber event benefits more than just your business – talking about the issues of the day with other active business owners and managers allows you to become more connected to your community.

Most of you know the networking basics but it never hurts to review the basics, right?  Here are a few:

• Have a firm handshake – this will convey your self-confidence in meeting the person.
• Don’t talk all business – the benefit of networking is to build relationships and connections with other people.  Sometimes these connections are made because of a shared hobby or other shared interests.
• Follow-up – if you make a solid connection with someone follow up with a note or an email to let them know you enjoyed meeting them.
• Don’t be afraid – not too many people like walking into a room full of people they don’t know.  Recognize that there are other people in the room that feel the same way and seek them out.  Or join a conversation that is already in progress…most people will welcome a newcomer to the group.
• Keep at it – the more you network the better you will get at it.  And the more you do it the more people you will know which will help you and your business.
• And remember, networking is one letter away from not working – so have fun!

I hope that you will take the opportunity to attend at least one Business Breakfast, Chamber Coffee or Business After Hours this fall. Look for the schedule out soon!  As always, if there is anything we can do please don’t hesitate to call.

A special thank you to the City of River Falls, the River Falls Municipal Utilities, the River Falls Police Department, the River Falls Ambulance Service and many more organizations for all of their help before and during the celebrations.  We really could not do these things without the help and support of the City of River Falls.

Lastly, thank you too to the Chamber staff and interns who do a great job handling the myriad of details associated with these events.  As most of you know we start planning these events in earnest in January (although I should point out that planning never really ends on them – we immediately start gearing up for the next year!).

Every year we try to make the events just a little bit better so we’re always open to comments and feedback.  Please let us know how to make our next year’s events even better.

We are very excited to be hosting one of the few candidate forums for the 10th Senate District Recall Race between Shelly Moore and Sheila Harsdorf.

The role of the Chamber is not to take positions on issues but to provide opportunities to inform and educate members and the community about issues that may affect the business community. Our mission is to promote and support the business community.

I hope you’ll join us for this forum and/or other educational opportunities we host throughout the year. We do 4-5 Business Breakfasts a year and have many workshops, etc. scheduled throughout the year.

Please take a moment to review our calendar and join us.

In just a couple short months we host our annual golf tournament, Town N’ Country Day, River Falls Days and a couple of other smaller community events.

Tourism is an important part of our economy and promotes economic development in several ways:
• Travelers inject money into local economies through spending on lodging, food, recreation, transportation and retail businesses.
• The travel industry is service-oriented and labor intensive providing a number of entry-level positions as well as opportunities for small business proprietors.
• The promotion of visitor amenities can have other beneficial effects in a community. Many of the same attributes that draw visitors to a community (e.g. recreation facilities, cultural events, attractive downtowns) can also enhance the “quality of life” for residents.
• Promoting tourism amenities and quality of life also can enhance opportunities to attract employers who first come to our community as a visitor.

We are happy to be the designated tourism entity in River Falls and look foward to many more community events.  Please feel free to visit our website to see what events are happening.  And be sure to “like” the River Falls Chamber Facebook page and also our River Falls Days Facebook page.

2011 Leadership River Falls Graduating Class

Leadership River Falls is a 9-month training program that educates and informs our leaders (future and current) about the challenges and opportunities in River Falls while developing leadership skills that can be used in their professional and personal life.

If you live or work in River Falls, consider joining us for our 2011-2012 class.  Find more information on the program on the Chamber’s website.

He shared with us his St. Croix Valley Dashboard, a compilation of relevant statistics that are compared on a monthly and yearly basis and can give an idea of trends in certain areas. It breaks the information down by both Wisconsin and the St. Croix Valley counties.

This information can be useful. For instance, if you’re considering hiring a new employee you can take a look at the latest sales tax numbers to see if sales in your area are increasing – if so – it may add value to your decision to hire a new employee.

Take a look at this tool and see how it can help you manage your business.  The Dashboard and additional information can be found at the Center for Economic Development.

Insurers Will No Longer Be Able To:

• Deny coverage to kids with pre-existing conditions. Health plans cannot limit or deny benefits or deny coverage for a child younger than age 19 simply because the child has a pre-existing condition like asthma.
• Put lifetime limits on benefits. Health plans can no longer put a lifetime dollar limit on the benefits of people with costly conditions like cancer
• Cancel your policy without proving fraud. Health plans can’t retroactively cancel insurance coverage – often at the time you need it most – solely because you or your employer made an honest mistake on your insurance application.
• Deny claims without a chance for appeal. In new health plans, you now have the right to demand that your health plan reconsider a decision to deny payment for a test or treatment. That also includes an external appeal to an independent reviewer.

Consumers in New Health Plans Will Be Able to:

• Receive cost-free preventive services. New health plans must give you access to recommended preventive services such as screenings, vaccinations and counseling without any out-of-pocket costs to you.
• Keep young adults on a parent’s plan until age 26. If your health plan covers children, you can now most likely add or keep your children on your health insurance policy until they turn 26 years old if they don’t have coverage on the job.
• Choose a primary care doctor, ob/gyn and pediatrician. New health plans must let you choose the primary care doctor or pediatrician you want from your health plan’s provider network and let you see an OB-GYN doctor without needing a referral from another doctor.
• Use the nearest emergency room without penalty. New health plans can’t require you to get prior approval before seeking emergency room services from a provider or hospital outside your plan’s network – and they can’t require higher copayments or co-insurance for out-of-network emergency room services.

1. Buy Local — Support yourself: Several studies have shown that when you buy from an independent, locally owned business, rather than a nationally owned businesses, significantly more of your money is used to make purchases from other local businesses, service providers and farms — continuing to strengthen the economic base of the community.

1. Support community groups: Non-profit organizations receive an average 250% more support from smaller business owners than they do from large businesses.
2. Keep our community unique: Where we shop, where we eat and have fun — all of it makes our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of this place. Our tourism businesses also benefit.  “When people go on vacation they generally seek out destinations that offer them the sense of being someplace, not just anyplace.” ~ Richard Moe, President, National Historic Preservation Trust.
3. Reduce environmental impact: Locally owned businesses can make more local purchases requiring less transportation and generally set up shop in town or city centers as opposed to developing on the fringe. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution.
4. Create more good jobs: Small local businesses are the largest employer nationally and in our community, provide the most jobs to residents.
5. Get better service: Local businesses often hire people with a better understanding of the products they are selling and take more time to get to know customers.
6. Invest in community: Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave, and are more invested in the community’s future.
7. Put your taxes to good use: Local businesses in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure investment and make more efficient use of public services as compared to nationally owned stores entering the community.
8. Buy what you want, not what someone wants you to buy: A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.  A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.
9. Encourage local prosperity: A growing body of economic research shows that in an increasingly homogenized world, entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character.

I hope to see everyone at our Chamber Business Expo at the end of October.  Check the Chamber website at www.rfchamber.com for more information.  This will be a great place to see all that River Falls has to offer so you can purchase locally.  Also, look for more information about Kids Day Network soon…another great way to promote local businesses and products.

Wisconsin Job Watch:
More jobs lost, but not all is grim

Slow but steady job gains in Wisconsin during the first four months of 2010 have fueled hopes that our economy has finally turned a corner. However, the last two months reversed this positive trend — 8,200 jobs were lost in the state between May and June, coming on top of a smaller April-May decline (700 jobs lost). In better news, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate dropped another 0.3 percentage points to 7.9 percent, its lowest level since February 2009 and the third consecutive month that unemployment has fallen. Despite this drop, unemployment in the state remains stubbornly high, paralleling levels from the early 1980s.

More stats:

• Wisconsin has lost 162,000 jobs since the recession started in December 2007.
• After five months of small but steady gains, Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector dipped slightly in June, losing 1,400 jobs.
• Wisconsin gained 500 construction jobs in June, continuing an overall positive trend for this industry in 2010.

This information is from the e-newsletter of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.  For more COWS info, go to www.cows.org

Media Day took place out at the Peterson Farm today.  It was a chance for media from near and far to come and see the site, interview the Peterson Family and visit with the 21 committee chairs that are making it all possible.  Despite the dreary, cold weather it was a great turnout and the event was a great success.

There are many, many activities to keep visitors young and old busy for days at the event.  Just a few of the activity areas include:

• Family Living Tent
• Field demonstrations
• New technology demonstrations
• Heritage Hill
• Country Mercantile Tent
• UW-River Falls Dairy Ag Learning Center tours
• Progress Pavilion
• Rock Doctor Tent
• Taste of Pierce County Tent

All of this for only a $5 entrance fee…that’s a deal.  I hope you’ll take the time to visit Farm Tech Days and stop and linger a while in River Falls.

Please visit the official Farm Tech Days website for more information at www.piercefarmtech.com or visit our website at www.rfchamber.com.