Southern Rail Corridor Open House Dates

The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce has partnered with the City of Rochester, Olmsted County and Mayo Clinic to develop a comprehensive solution to our current and future freight and passenger rail needs. We believe after careful study and discussion that the best solution to meet the area’s growing needs is the Southern Rail Corridor (SRC).

Several key meetings are coming up to outline this exciting plan that will ensure our region’s long-term transportation needs and provide for additional commercial activity that only recently would have been unimaginable.

The open house sessions will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a short presentation at 6 p.m. Following the presentation, participants are invited to visit various SRC topic stations where they can view informational exhibits and pick up additional materials about the proposal. Key subject matter experts will be available at each station to answer questions and detailed maps of the proposed corridor will be available throughout the venue for people to view.

In addition to a brief presentation from county leaders, Mayo Clinic and the rail-engineering firm Gannett Fleming, representatives from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the newly formed SRC Stakeholders Advisory Group have been invited to host topic stations to answer questions and provide additional information.

Meeting Dates and Locations:
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
5:30-8 p.m.
Stewartville High School
Performing Arts Center
500 4th St SW, Stewartville, MN

Wednesday, July 22, 2009
5:30-8 p.m.
Hayfield High School
West Gym
9 6th Ave SE, Hayfield, MN

Thursday, July 23, 2009
5:30-8 p.m.
Rochester John Marshall
Cafeteria
1510 14th St NW

We must act to not only support this exciting and vital transportation improvement but to ensure that we sustain the economy that we have all benefited from both now and in the future. We need the voice of business to be heard and that means you!

I look forward to seeing you there!

John Wade
President
Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce

Using Social Media to Grow Your Business and Build Your Career

Tuesday, July 14, 2009; 4 - 6 p.m.
University of Minnesota Rochester (room 417)

Cost: Chamber Members: $10; Fuel Members: Free (includes pizza/soda)Register

Did you know Facebook has more than 200 million active users? A recent survey says 90 percent of professional marketers believe that social media will become a tactic AS IMPORTANT as email and paid search marketing. How is your business utilizing social media? Looking to understand the best way to brand yourself or your business using social media? Then this seminar is a must!

This event, sponsored by Fuel Rochester, is proud to present Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic as the keynote speaker. Aase has been called a social media "rock star." He travels the country to speak at conferences and runs his own virtual Social Media University, Global (SMUG), a Web site including courses such as Blogging 101. Allina Hospitals and Clinics in the Twin Cities invited him to show them how it's done. He was interviewed by Shel Isreal, a Silicon Valley media guru, for the upcoming book, "Twitterville."

Agenda:
Pizza & Networking: 4-4:30 p.m.
Lee Aase: 4:30 - 5:15 p.m.
Panel Discussion: 5:15 - 6 p.m.

Panelists:

Alan De Keyrel, owner, CWS, Inc.

Wade Beavers, CEO, DoApp & Dave Borillo, CTO, DoApp

Becky Ross, communications manager, Fox Sports North and Fox Sports Wisconsin

Aase's Bio
Lee Aase is manager of Syndication and Social Media for Mayo Clinic. His team’s focus is developing quality medical news resources for mainstream media, and using social media applications to create more in-depth, extended relationships directly with key stakeholders. You can see examples of Mayo Clinic’s social media offerings through the Mayo Clinic News Blog at http://newsblog.mayoclinic.org/ or at Sharing Mayo Clinic, http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/.

By night, Lee is Chancellor of Social Media University, Global (SMUG), a free online higher education institution that provides practical, hands-on training in social media for lifelong learners. Visit SMUG at http://social-media-university-global.org/

Prior to joining Mayo Clinic in 2000, Lee spent more than a decade in political and government communications at the local, state and federal level. He received his B.S. in Political Science from Mankato (Minn.) State University in 1986.Fuel Rochester is an initiative of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce.

Fuel Rochester Happy Hour this Thursday

It's that time again. Fuel Rochester's next Happy Hour is this Thursday, June 25, from 5-7 p.m. on Kathy's roof top patio. Cost is free and the happy hour is open to anyone, however, Fuel Rochester members receive one free drink by showing their membership/discount card.

Enjoy drink specials from 5-7 p.m., network with fellow young professionals and Fuel members and enjoy the summertime at one of downtown Rochester's most unique establishments.

Attendees will also have the chance to sign up for Fuel. To learn more about Fuel or how your business can get involved, visit http://www.fuelrochestermn.com/.

2009 Legislative Session Recap Re-Broadcast Dates/Times

For those of you who were unable to attend the Chamber's 2009 Legislative Session Recap on Wednesday, you can view the re-broadcast tomorrow (6/12) at 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday (6/13 & 6/14) at 3 p.m. or next Tuesday (6/16) at 10 p.m. on Charter Ch. 10.

The June 10th event featured the entire local legislative leadership, who recapped the 2009 session and discussed the business agenda with more than 100 audience members. Attendees included Speaker of the House of Representatives Margaret Anderson Kelliher, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, Senate Minority Leader David Senjem, Representative Randy Demmer, Representative Kim Norton, Senator Ann Lynch, Senator Lawrence Pogemiller, Representative Tina Liebling and Representative Andy Welti.

We will post media links on this event as they become available.
KTTC News Story
Post-Bulletin News Story

Chamber Night at the Ballpark

The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce has again teamed up with the Rochester Honkers Baseball Club to offer Chamber Night at the Ballpark. You and your family are invited to come and enjoy a night of baseball on Tuesday, June 9th, at Mayo Field with our own Rochester Honkers. Tickets are FREE for Chamber members.

Click here and print off your free ticket voucher today! The voucher is good for one free general admission ticket. You may print one copy of the voucher for each employee.The first 500 through the gates will receive a free Slider poster compliments of Johnson Printing of Rochester. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the game starts at 7:05 p.m.

Leadership Greater Rochester Applications Now Available

Applications for the Chamber's Leadership Greater Rochester (LGR) 2010 - Rochester's premier leadership program - are due July 17, 2009. Apply today!

What value does LGR provide to you and your company? Here are our top four reasons:
1. Broadens your interaction with business leaders representing a diverse range of industries.
2. Expands your knowledge of Rochester and the surrounding area.
3. Increases the visibility of your company's role and contributions to the success of the Rochester area.
4. Creates an opportunity to actively engage in the community by developing and implementing a community impact project.

To learn more about the LGR program or to apply for the class of 2010, click here.

Getting Started with Flexible Downsizing - Manager and Employee "How to"

by Cali Williams Yost, author of Work+Life Fit and renowned workplace flexibility expert

The research shows that flexible alternatives to job cuts are the most cost-effective, least disruptive, productivity sustaining way to reduce labor expenses in recession. Flexible downsizing, in the form of salary/schedule reductions, adding unpaid vacation days, furloughs/sabbaticals and job sharing, not only saves money, but prepares an employer to respond when the economy turns around. But you don’t have to tell that to Paul Levy, the CEO of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The hospitals 8,000 staff members overwhelmingly supported a broad range of flexible alternatives so people could keep their jobs.

But how do managers and employees begin to create these alternative flexible solutions? As I mentioned in an interview on Public Radio International's The Takeaway, here some possible first steps:

For managers, like Beth Israel’s Paul Levy, who want to initiate the conversation:

• Estimate how much money you need to save, and don’t have any preconceived ideas about how you want to achieve that goal.


• Go to your team and explain the situation being as transparent and upfront as possible. Communication is the key in successful downsizing - research shows it lowers the level of stress, improves job satisfaction, increases the desire to stay at company, and sustains performance levels.


• Ask for ideas and proposals that could include reduced salaries/schedules, furloughs, sabbaticals, job sharing, and additional unpaid vacation days.


• See how close you get to your cost savings goal with the proposals you receive.


• If voluntary efforts aren't enough, you could institute across the board salary/schedule cuts, additional unpaid vacation days, and furlough/sabbaticals that effect everyone equally including YOU - it's important that managers share the pain and participate.


• You may still need to cut jobs, but you've minimized the number of layoffs needed.


• Keep reevaluating the market and economic situation, being sure to restore time and wages as soon as you can so you don't lose people.

For employees who want to initiate the conversation:

• If you get a sense that layoffs may be necessary, mention the flexible alternatives for reducing labor costs because chances your boss hasn’t thought about salary/schedule reductions, adding unpaid vacation days, furloughs/sabbaticals or job sharing. By making your manager aware the potential options, you are inserting them into decision-making process early on rather than later when the decision to cut jobs has already been made. Why is this important? Many managers are responding to my explanation of the benefits of flexible downsizing versus job cuts by saying, "I never thought of that." Help your manager think of it as early as possible.


• Then follow the same process you would if you were proposing a flex plan for personal reasons. Only in this case you are leading with the business needs - reducing labor costs.


• Create a plan, either individually or with a group, that outlines the flexibility you are proposing - cut salary/benefits from x%, take four week furlough during a slow time of the year, add 6 unpaid vacation days to the calendar - whatever your plan looks like. Emphasize the costs the plan would save - salary and even benefits if you don't need them. Also, outline how you will continue to get the job done and contribute your experience and knowledge to helping the business recover.


• Then after your plan is approved and implemented, sit down with your manager to review periodically. As the market recovers make sure he or she knows it's time to renegotiate your flex plan to restore some of the lost income and time, assuming that is what you want.

Let's get the manager and employee conversations started and create some innovative, cost-effective flexible alternatives to reduce labor expenses and minimize job cuts. It is a win-win for everyone. Do you have any suggestions for starting the flexible labor cost savings conversation in your workplace as a way to manage through the recession while minimizing layoffs?

Start the conversation by commenting on this article below!

Pohlad Family Foundation "Get Ready to Grow" business assistance available to area businesses

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Grow Minnesota! are pleased to introduce the Pohlad Family Foundation's Ready to Grow pledge to help small Minnesota businesses retain jobs and plan for their future growth.

Grow Minnesota!, the Minnesota Chamber's business retention and economic development program, operates in partnership with 43 local chambers of commerce, including the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce, and reaches businesses in over 50 Minnesota communities. The Minnesota Chamber and these partners will be your first stop for receiving assistance through the Pohlad Family Foundation Ready to Grow initiative.

Grant and loan applications recommended by the local partners and the Minnesota Chamber's Grow Minnesota! staff will be reviewed and approved by a committee made up of small business owners and representatives of the Pohlad Family Foundation.

Eligible small businesses must be privately held, have fewer than 50 employees, generate annual sales of $10 million or less. Loan applicants must have been turned down for a loan by a banking institution.

Funds will be distributed in four categories:

• Grants to retain valued employees while planning and making adjustments for future success, up to $50,000 for each retained job, up to four positions per business; or,
• Grants up to $10,000 for a consultant to assist with business planning; or,
• Short-term, low-interest (3%) working capital loans up to $50,000 to continue business operations or,
• Short-term, low-interest (3%) capital improvement loans up to $50,000 to finance improvements consistent with the company's strategic plan.

For more information, or to apply, click here.

Mn/DOT seeks public input for freight/passenger rail, transit plans

There has been plenty of discussion statewide and regionally on the importance of having a comprehensive statewide rail plan for both freight and passenger rail. The Rochester region has an opportunity to voice their opinion at one of the open houses MnDOT is holding across the state.

The Rochester open house will be held this Wednesday, April 22, from 5 - 7 p.m. at the RCTC Heintz Center.

The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce encourages you to take the time and attend this important meeting addressing Southeast Minnesota’s rail interests. For more information about the open house, click here.

In the News: Eggs & Issues

Minnesota Commissioner of Education Alice Seagren spoke in Rochester Saturday at the Chamber's third of four installments of its annual Eggs & Issues series. Seagren talked in-depth about Governor Tim Pawlenty's Teaching Transformation Act initiative as well as other proposals to reshape the education system in Minnesota.

Media coverage of this event can be found below:

Education commissioner pitches Pawlenty's plans for teachers (Post-Bulletin)
The Future of Education (KAAL-TV)

Save the date for the final installment of Eggs & Issues - Economic Recovery through Green jobs - on Saturday, May 2, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at the Rochester Golf & Country Club. To register or learn more about this event, click here.