Discover Cuba with the Tempe Chamber!

Posted on | January 23, 2012 | No Comments

Cuban beaches are among the world’s best.

This nine-day trip starts on August 23, 2012 and will take you from Miami to Havana, Cuba. Upon arrival at Jose Marti International Airport, we’ll meet our Cuban host, an experienced bilingual guide who will give us an orientation of Cuba’s capital city.

Some of the many sights you’ll see in Havana include the Cathedral de la Havana; the Museo Fine Arts; the beautiful Museo de la Revolucion that displays documents and artifacts telling the country’s history; La Marketa de Havana in Old Havana, a collective association of small craft workers where you will meet local merchants and artists; and much more.

During this trip, you will also enjoy Pinar Del Rio Vinales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad, Suagr Mill Valley, Playa Giron/Bay of Pigs Museum, Hemingway’s Farm and so much more.

Price includes roundtrip airfare from Phoenix; Cuban travel visa; eight nights of first class hotel accommodations; 19 meals; and more.

For complete details click here

To register, contact Mary Ann Miller at (480) 967-7891 or maryann@tempechamber.org.

Charting Your Course – Your Compass to Personal and Professional Growth

Posted on | January 6, 2012 | 1 Comment

The Tempe Chamber and its Women in Business Council is pleased to present a powerful  speaker series that will guide participants on becoming leaders through positive transformation at work and at home.

Featuring four expert speakers on consecutive Fridays in late January and early February, the Charting Your Course – Your Compass to Personal and Professional Growth series aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to evolve into a  more valuable employee and a stronger, self-sufficient individual.

Complete course details for each session are below. The cost per session is $20 for members and $30 for the general public. Members can purchase a pass for the entire course for $60. Completing the entire course earns attendees personalized Charting Your Course certification.

See all the speakers here or read more below.

Read more

Healthy Holiday Eating – Six Degrees Of Separation

Posted on | December 23, 2011 | No Comments

by Wes Watts, FIT Medical Weight Loss

Six degrees of separation from your weight loss program can start you on the road to failure and not get you closer to Kevin Bacon. 

We all know if you can stick to a diet it will work. What makes weight loss and dieting even tougher is when you do not see the results of your hard work translate to weight loss. Consider this, many times frustration with your weight loss progress is self-inflicted due to modifications we may unknowingly make to our eating plan. Altering diet & weight loss programs is a slippery slope that we usually slide down gradually, little by little until we become very dissatisfied and start thinking the diet does not work. When it may be our adjustments to a well put together plan that has caused our weight loss to stop. Read more

2012 Business Excellence Awards Finalists Announced

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | No Comments

The Tempe Chamber is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2012 Business Excellence Awards. These awards promote the advancement of responsible business leadership in the community and publicly recognize local businesses demonstrating a passion for excellence.

Through the awards, the Tempe Chamber identifies companies whose practices in business growth, employee development, community involvement and customer service exemplify excellence. This year’s seven finalists admirably embody those characteristics and are being recognized for that distinction.

The recipients of the 2011 Business Excellence Awards will be announced and honored at the Breakfast for Chamber Champions on Feb. 21 at the Fiesta Resort Conference Center. Please call (480) 967-7891 or visit www.tempechamber.org for details or to register.

WHO ARE THE 2012 FINALISTS? Read more below… Read more

Put the Brakes on Overregulation

Posted on | December 13, 2011 | No Comments

The Enterpriship Manifesto – Seven Guiding Principles For Building Enterprises and Societies

Posted on | December 7, 2011 | No Comments

by Nigel A.L. Brooks, Management Consultant and Motivational Speaker

Enterpriship is the process of building enterprises with sustainable advantage. Enterpriship is both an art and a science. Art is an occupation that requires both knowledge and skills; science is method for systematizing knowledge. Through both knowledge and skills, enterpriship provides a systematized approach to building sustainable enterprises within a framework of three related disciplines: entrepreneurship, leadership, and management.

Sustainable means being able to continue over time, either by developing, enhancing, or maintaining the current state, or by changing it. Advantage means favorable, superior, and beneficial.

Entrepreneurship is a competency for starting, developing, and assuming risk for an enterprise. Leadership is a competency for aspiring, inspiring, and motivating others. Management is a competency for directing and controlling events and activities – management as a “team” has the authority and responsibility for the enterprise.

The entrepreneurial role is about transforming innovating ideas into value. The leadership role is about setting direction that others will follow through influence to get results. The managerial role is about applying resources to activities to achieve results.

The word “enterprise” means “undertake for a prize or cause.” One could argue that a society is a metaenterprise, representing the social relationships of all people in a community, and their wants, needs, and causes. Therefore, the enterpriship disciplines are also applicable to building societies. Read more

Tax Credit Programs Offer Chance to Support Good Causes

Posted on | December 6, 2011 | No Comments

  by Mary Ann Miller, President/CEO, Tempe Chamber of Commerce

 As we near the end of the year, let’s be grateful for family and friends and what we have.  And let’s look for ways to help those not as fortunate as ourselves.

If you pay Arizona income tax and itemize your deductions, you may be able to take advantage of these Arizona tax credit programs.  It’s a dollar-for-dollar credit against your tax bill, so you can donate now and get your money back next year! 

Help the families of Arizona service members currently deployed, or who have been injured or killed while fighting the Global War on Terror by donating to the Military Family Relief Fund.  A $200 per person tax credit is available until the fund has collected $1 million, So let’s see if we can get 5,000 folks to donate at http://dvs.az.gov/benefits/relief_fund.aspx.

Think it’s important for kids to be able to choose between football, theater and band?  Donate up to $200 to a public school for extracurricular activities.  Pick the school in your neighborhood or one near your favorite vacation spot; they’ll be grateful.

You can donate up to $500 to a school tuition organization for tuition to a private school.  I designate my donation to my alma mater, which is now an inner city school.

And donate up $200 to charities that help the working poor.  Think food banks, shelters, community action programs.  Contact your favorite charity –they’ll let you know if they qualify.

Of course, there are some rules to follow so you should always check with your tax professional.  But it’s well worth your time to check it out.

We hope you have a lovely holiday, and wish you the best for the new year.



Higher Education and Workforce Development – Are We Creating Competitive Workers?

Posted on | November 28, 2011 | No Comments

By Prova Ahmed, Tempe Chamber of Commerce

When students attend an educational institution to prepare them to enter the job market, they naturally look to that institution to provide them with an adequate enough education so they will be fit to compete with others in acquiring a position. The challenge to the institutions is to develop a standard of education that will sufficiently prepare their students to become a competitive, valuable, and hirable future workforce.

Should they look to businesses in order to develop this standard? Should businesses even be concerned with how institutions develop that standard of education?

Each year the Tempe Chamber of Commerce presents the State of the Schools Address to answer those questions and provide an opportunity for the business community to meet with a panel of educators to learn the condition of our educational institutions and determine how businesses can assist them in achieving their goals. The specific focus for this year’s event will be on higher education and the development of the future workforce.

The event will feature the president of Rio Salado College Chris Bustamante, Vice President of Public Affairs at Arizona State University Virgil Renzulli, and the Phoenix Area Ground Campus Director at the University of Phoenix David Fitzgerald. They will discuss how they are preparing their students to become a more competitive future workforce. The event will also be moderated by Sybil Francis, the Executive Director of the Center of the Future of Arizona. 

Developing an adequate standard of education for their students and strategizing about how to prepare them to become competitive and valuable as a future workforce for businesses are important steps for educational institutions to take in order to create successful programs.

Dr. Bustamante, President of Rio Salado College, said, “Since 1978, Rio has been dedicated to eliminating barriers to education for non-traditional students – pioneering and continually innovating to provide flexible, affordable, high-quality educational offerings. Rio maintains over 50 employer partnerships where students receive education and training that is job related.  Read more

Affordable Advertising with the Tempe Chamber

Posted on | November 21, 2011 | No Comments

Looking for affordable and targeted advertising opportunities? We recently introduced a new media kit with several options to help you promote your business directly to other Chamber members at affordable prices. We’re your connection to a membership of nearly 850 businesses, who are all part of an organization dedicated to helping the local economy and, in turn, one another. Through our electronic publications and social media platforms, we can reach like-minded individuals who want to do business with other Tempe Chamber members.

Advertising options include The Business Advocate, our monthly electronic newsletter, which reports on events and news in the business community in a magazine-style format. Nearly 850 businesses representing more than 70,000 employees – along with the rest of the world – have access 24/7 to current and archived issues, allowing the issue containing your ad to be visible for more than a full year. We also offer advertising options in our weekly e-newsletters. The Monday Morning Update and Member Offers newsletters are sent to nearly 1,500 members of the Tempe Chamber community and shared through internal distribution with many more.

Advertising on our monthly events postcard is also now available! The Tempe Chamber direct mails a full-color glossy event postcard to our entire membership at the beginning of each month. All contacts at a business will receive the postcard, making readership close to 1,300 per month. 

Click here to see a full list of options, as well as pricing information. Please direct all advertising requests to Sachiyo Ragsdale at (480) 736-4285 or sachiyo@tempechamber.org.

Mill Ave. Meters – Cash, Charge, Mobile App?

Posted on | November 15, 2011 | No Comments

By Lucas McCarville, Tempe Chamber Communications Dept. Intern

 

Mill Avenue offers a wide range of unique dining and shopping experiences, but unfortunately, some people choose to avoid the area due to perceived parking limitations. In a confined space that was not originally built to handle the kind of traffic Mill Avenue now draws, finding somewhere to park is a major consideration for consumers.

 

However, the Downtown Tempe Community has taken measures to alleviate this issue by making parking more accessible and by implementing 71 new credit card parking meters (between University and Rio Salado). Patrons will no longer have to rifle through their cars for spare change; a swipe of the card can now pay for parking for up to three hours.

 

Rick West of Rick West Insurance Agency, Inc., whose business is located at 928 S. Mill Avenue struck the heart of the issue when he said, “Sixty minutes was just not enough time to complete my appointments or have lunch with a client.” Now people meeting for business (or pleasure) no longer are constricted by this time limit or lack of loose coins.

 

So why does it matter? Business owners on Mill Ave. can expect to see an increase in traffic as word of these new changes circulates and people are better able to take advantage of all the restaurants, shopping, movies and events in downtown Tempe.

 

After receiving positive feedback on the new program, another 178 credit card parking meters are planned for various locations in downtown Tempe. Also, by year’s end, every single parking meter will have a mobile application that will allow users to pay via their phones.

 

Jimmy Cerracchio, director of business development for Downtown Tempe Community (DTC), noted that there are many free and affordable places on Mill to park besides the traditional meters. The DTC’s Park It! program will allow people to park in any of its lots for up to one hour for free.

 

These lots are scattered throughout the area (Hayden Station Garage, Centerpoint Surface Lot and City Hall Garage), and there is a flat lot at 5^th and Farmer that is always free. Taking advantage of these parking “hot spots,” which have been an accidental secret for years, will make consumers’ decision to patronize Mill Avenue easier. To see a complete list of parking opportunities, visit http://www.millavenue.com/transportation. 

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