WCU offering new certificate programs for business employees and managers

Western Carolina University is excited to be offering several new certificate programs this fall that will help businesses in the community train and develop their employees and managers.

The Event Planning Certificate Program will focus on the many different facets of being an event planner, from managing people and projects to increasing exposure and dollars for organizations. Attendees will meet on Fridays from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Participants can earn a certificate by attending six of the designated workshops offered during the spring and fall. The cost per workshop is $119 or a ten percent discount is offered for all 6 workshops.

The Customer Service / Train-the-Trainer Certificate Program empowers managers and supervisors to effectively train staff at different times throughout the year by developing an in-house training program. Participants must complete all of the workshops in this program in order to receive their certificate. The program will be held at WCU at Biltmore Park on four Thursdays: October 9, 16, 23, and 30. The cost of this program is $429.

The Digital Marketing and Public Relations Certificate Program will focus on strategizing marketing plans, budgets, and social media in order to successfully develop a mission and purpose for an on-line brand. This program will be offered on Fridays: October 13, 20, and 27, as well as November 3, 10, and 17. The cost of this program for all 6 workshops is $640. Participants can earn a certificate by attending six of the designated workshops, or they can attend one or more workshops a-la-carte without completing the certificate. The cost per workshop is $119 or a ten percent discount is offered for all 6 workshops.

For more information visit learn.wcu.edu/certificates. You can also call 828-227-3070 or contact Jill Thompson at jcthompson@wcu.edu.

SCORE Women's Business Roundtable features women entrepreneurs

Fall Series: Lessons learned - Interviews with Women Entrepreneurs

Join them on November 17, 2016 to hear from two entrepreneurs, a local artist who has combined consulting with her creative endeavors (Jen Aly) and the area's leading long term care specialist, operating her own business since 1997 (Betty Doll).

Who should attend?  Members of the SCORE Women’s Business Roundtable, A-B Tech Small Business Center clients and women entrepreneurs.  You are welcome to bring a guest (woman entrepreneur).  Please include their information with your registration. 

Where? A-B Tech – Enka, Small Business Center, Room 2046, 1459 Sand Hill Rd, Candler, NC 28715  

Register:

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=ebiggxcab&oeidk=a07ed4xwx4tc387401d

For any questions, email roundtables@ashevillescore.org or check out www.ashevillescore.org

North Carolina Solar Center hosts webinar on renewable energy opportunities

Renewable Energy for Agriculture and Rural Small Businesses is the topic for a webinar presented by the North Carolina Solar Center on September 5, at 3:00 pm EST. As renewable energy becomes increasingly common throughout North Carolina, opportunities for rural communities to take advantage of renewable energy are growing rapidly.  Solar electric, also known as photovoltaic or PV, solar thermal, and bio-energy can bring revenue and savings to rural and agricultural enterprises while providing the environmental benefits that accompanies renewable energy. 

Several factors are joining forces to drive this recent explosion of solar and bio-energy development. In the PV industry, recent strong growth in worldwide demand for PV has driven down system prices through radical drops in panel prices due to manufacturing cost reductions, economies of scale and increased competition.  Additionally, large-scale investors are becoming more comfortable with solar PV and solar thermal as investments, which is increasing the size of systems and allowing new financing options.

Large Solar PV installations, some 100 acres or more, are now often being sited in rural areas, where flat land near transmission or distribution power lines is common and minimizes the cost the solar farm. Land owners can benefit by leasing land for 15 or more years to the project developers that are building these solar farms throughout the state.  Lease rates are often higher than other uses for the land, making this an attractive option for many landowners. Large solar thermal installations can be installed at any type of facility where a large amount of hot water is used. These systems can dramatically reduce the use of heating fuels, reducing the facilities’ operating costs.  A seven-acre solar thermal farm at Prestage Foods in St. Pauls, N.C. was installed at no cost to Prestage Foods, and will cut their utility cost for heating hot water by more than 35 percent.

North Carolina’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards (REPS) provide an ongoing opportunity for North Carolina agriculture to produce renewable energy by providing specific incentives for renewable energy produced from swine and poultry waste. Power produced from swine waste and poultry litter can claim renewable energy credits, which have a market value and can be sold to provide additional revenue to these projects.  Only a few installations have taken advantage of the swine and poultry allocations of the renewable portfolio standards, leaving a large opportunity for swine and poultry waste-to-energy projects in North Carolina.

If you have a strong interest in renewable energy on your site, contact the N.C. Solar Center and ask about the renewable site assessments sponsored by the USDA. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/209238706

Public Policy Update: Governmental Affairs Task Force Discusses Tax Reform and Education

The Governmental Affairs Task Force of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce convened on November 30, 2010 to discuss tax reform in North Carolina and priorities for education legislation.

Brian Balfour, a budget and tax policy analyst with the Civitas Institute in Raleigh made a presentation to the Task Force on the status of tax reform in North Carolina. In 2009 the North Carolina Senate created the 21st Century Tax Rate Reduction and Modernization Plan to examine options for reform. Tax reform has long been discussed for North Carolina due to declining revenues, which is largely due to the current tax structure relying heavily on the personal income tax.

North Carolina currently has extremely high tax rates, which makes it hard for the state to be competitive in attracting business. The Tax Foundation’s 2011 State Business Tax Climate Rankings have North Carolina ranked 41 out of 50 (best is 1, worst is 50). The 21st Century Tax Reduction and Modernization Plan is complex but essentially calls for a lowering of the tax rate by expanding the base of taxable services.

It is important to note that the leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly has said that tax reform will not be dealt with in the 2011 session. Instead the General Assembly will focus on balancing the state budget. The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce will continue to monitor and watch this issue as it unfolds.

Dr. Hank Dunn, President of A-B Tech; Allen Johnson, Superintendent of Asheville City Schools; and Dr. Tony Baldwin, Superintendent of Buncombe County Schools also joined the Task Force to present their legislative priorities to the Chamber. All three recognize the state budget deficit will have tremendous impacts on education in the Asheville area. They asked business leaders to recognize the long term impact a year of education funding cuts can have on business and providing the quality workforce they need.

On the cutting block is Dual Enrollment, which is a partnership program with high schools and community colleges that allows high school students to enroll in college level classes. The educators would love to see this program funded as it provides access to college for many students who would never see a college classroom. This program also accelerates the entrance of a highly skilled workforce into area industries since students can complete their college education in a shorter time period. The educators also recognized they will face staffing cuts and said they are prepared to deal with the situation this will create.

The Chamber will continue to advocate for the school systems in Western North Carolina, which train the workforce our businesses require.

The next Governmental Affairs Task Force meeting will be on Tuesday, January 4, 2010 from noon until 1:30 pm at the Chamber of Commerce. If you are a member of the Chamber and have any interest in this group please contact Jeff Joyce at jjoyce@ashevillechamber.org.

2010 Innovative Educator Awards

On Friday, April 23, a delegation of business and education representatives visited classrooms in the Asheville City, Buncombe County, and Madison County school districts to surprise and recognize three creative educators for outstanding career preparation efforts for their students. Each educator was presented with a check for $500 to be dedicated to their innovative programs.

The Innovative Educator program was created in 2005 by the Partners in Education Advisory Committee of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, which includes representatives from Asheville City Schools, Buncombe County Schools, Madison County Schools, and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College. Twenty-one educators have been recognized since 2005 for their job-readiness programs.

The 2010 Innovative Educators Recipients were:


Kimberly Novak is an Anatomy & Physiology, Earth & Environmental Science teacher at Madison County High School. Ms. Novak has focused on exposing her students to careers in the medical field and computer technology. Hands-on opportunities have included fields trips to "Bodyworks", a display at the Discovery Place in Charlotte, and bringing the DESTINY Bus to Madison. The DESTINY bus is a 40-foot science laboratory on wheels created by the University of North Carolina and Chapel Hill. Ms. Novak also focuses on sustainability by studying alternative energy and spearheading the recycling program at Madison County High School. Ms. Novak and her classes monitor the wind-turbine installed in October 2009 by Progress Energy as part of her curriculum.

Adam Bachmeyer is a Career and Technology Education teacher at Enka Middle. He has taught with Enka Middle for three years. Mr. Bachmeyer teaches his students to think and work in a team, a skill necessary for many careers. He incorporates many hands-on-learning experiences in his curriculum making his classes interesting and relevant. Mr. Bachmeyer also provides students with and afterschool club called Technology Students Association. TSA is a national club focused on Flight Distance, Robotics, Automotive Design and Fashion design.

Cindy Byron is a Earth & Environmental Science and Chemistry teacher with the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville High School. Ms. Byron's work in grant writing has awarded her students two opportunities focused on sustainability. In 2008-2009 Ms. Byron wrote a grant and worked with the Asheville High Metals teacher to retrofit a conventional truck into an electric vehicle. The truck won two awards at the SMARTT Challenge (Students Making Advances in Renewable Transportation Technologies) sponsored by NC State and NC Solar. Ms. Byron's second grant was for the SILSA Sustainability Project. Students competed for portions of the grant to implement a sustainability project on Asheville High's campus. She obtained guest speakers and arranged fieldtrips to aid her students in their research for their projects. Participants included NOAA Climate Change, Canary Coalition, Asheville HUB, Appalachian Sustainability Agriculture Project, Asheville City Schools Foundation, First Light Solar, Biowheels and Warren Wilson College.

Get linked! Social Networking Series Continues

Continuing my series on some basic social networking tools I thought I would start with some videos on Linkedin.  Linkedin is as close to traditional business networking as an online program can get.  It is easy to use and easy to understand.

This video should help:

Your Online Reputation

Every customer is now a critic, that is the new reality of business. With blogs, twitter, and websites that allow customers to review your business each and every customer has the power to broadcast their experiences both good and bad. So how do you keep control of the situation, how do you even know what is being said. There isn't one single answer to that question but the NY Times just released a great article that every small business owner should read entitled, Managing an Online Reputation.

The article provides some quick tips for business owners:

Quick Tips:

• Set up automatic alerts to notify you when your business is mentioned in a review or blog.
• Local search sites are the new Yellow Pages -- make sure your business is listed. The more complete your listing, the more likely you are to get good search results.
• Respond to reviews to show readers that you are listening and that you care about customer service.
• Online reviews are a gold mine of business intelligence. Analyze metrics to get a better sense of your customer demographics.
• Don’t write false reviews to puff your business or trash a competitor. You can severely damage your reputation...and look really silly.