Cornerstones Conversations

Get your emergency preparedness info here!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:31:00 +0000

This morning we had two top experts on emergency preparedness come talk about everything from H1N1 to earthquakes to winter weather. Tripp Robinson, emergency manager at Intel, and Eric Corliss, director of emergency services from the Oregon Chapter of the Red Cross, gave some great tips, lessons learned and best practices.

Tripp's presentation can be found here:
http://www.portlandalliance.com/presentations/Tripp_Pan_Flu_Conf_PBA.ppt

Keep in mind that it is a large file!

Info about preparing for flu season from the Red Cross can be found:www.oregonredcross.org/flu

What are some of your best practices?

Next month: Intergenerational management - lessons and advice on how baby boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers can successfully manage and be managed.

Emergency Preparedness - are you ready for H1N1

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:22:00 +0000

Is your company prepared for an outbreak of H1N1 or another winter storm? Hear from Intel and the Red Cross and get your company prepared for the flu, snowstorms and other unpredictable events.

Speakers:
Eric Corliss, Director of Emergency Services,
Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross

Tripp M. Robinson
Emergency Manager, Intel

Location:
Portland Business Alliance
Lobby Conference Room
200 SW Market Street

Series Sponsors: West Coast Bank, Regence

Pre-registration required:

Members: $20, Non-Members $30

Cause Marketing event on Thursday!

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:21:00 +0000

After a break in August, Cornerstones is back! We're taking on the topic of cause marketing and picking the perfect nonprofit partner. We've got a bunch of people already signed up and a really great panel (see below). Experts are also predicting that cause marketing is going to increase as marketers are going to be spending less on big flashy campaigns and more on partnerships that their consumers care about. See article from Marketing Daily:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=111813

Our panel of experts includes:

- Steve Brook, Practice Director, Point B Consulting
- Jana Cole, Director of Donor Relations, Self Enhancement, Inc. (invited)
- Brian Wilson, Kalberer Company
- Roma Peyser, Director of Development, Cascade AIDS Project

Hope you can be a part of this conversation!

Thinking about exporting? Come to our next Cornerstones

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:19:00 +0000

If you have been thinking about expanding your market and selling your products or services internationally, but not sure who to talk to or where to get started, then come to our event on July 9 (get more details by clicking on title of post). Two international trade experts will be there to tell you what to think about, how to get started and what some other companies learned when they went global.

Our two experts are:
Paul Taylor, chair of the Oregon Export Council and a trade law expert
Scott Goddin, Director of the Portland U.S. Export Assistance Center

Thursday, July 9; 7:30 a.m. at Alliance lobby conference room

Are you thinking about expanding to an international market? What have you learned so far?

Stimulus Dollars for Small Business

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Today, two experts shared some really helpful information with the group. Sam Brooks, founder and chairman of OAME and Gabe Silva from the OECDD. They talked about different programs through the state and through the SBA that give small businesses access to capital. Both Sam and Gabe also stressed the importance of getting your business plan certified and getting your certification together if you are a woman or minority-owned business.

OAME is currently administering more than $1 million in SBA loans and OECDD has a bunch of programs for you to learn more about. OAME is doing orientations about their loan program the second Tuesday of each month. The next one is Tuesday, June 9. Here's a link: http://www.oame.org/ and go to Access to Capital tag under the Events Calendar listing on the lefthand side.

Gabe from OECDD has a bunch of information and have a link to his powerpoint.
http://www.slideshare.net/portlandalliance/oecdd-cornerstones-stimulus-funds-presentation

Social Media Research: Kerry Finsand & Kelli Matthews

kelli@vervenorthwest.com (Kelli Matthews) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:39:00 +0000

Portland Biz Alliance Cornerstone Conversations

View more presentations from kellimatthews.

Thanks for inviting us! We're both happy to answer questions.

Kerry Finsand
@kfinsand
kerry@goseetell.com

Kelli Matthews
@kmatthews
kmatthew@uoregon.edu

Cornerstones on Thursday: Researching Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:47:00 +0000

We have two social media gurus with us on Thursday morning to talk about how to start your organization's social media plans off on the right foot - with sound research. U of O Professor Kelli Matthews and Kerry Finsand from GoSeeTell.com. Use link above to register.

Details: Thursday, May 7; 7:30 a.m. 200 SW Market, lobby conference room.

Photos from the April event on Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (Portland Business Alliance) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Pictures from the April 2 Cornerstones event "Marketing to the Hispanic Community" have been posted on Flickr. Check them out >>

Hispanic marketing event

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:24:00 +0000

Many people contributed to a great event yesterday. "Marketing to the Hispanic Community" included Gale Castillo, President of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber and Melanie Davis, Managing Director of El Hispanic News. One of the event sponsors, Regence, was also represented by Francisco Garbayo who leads Latino marketing and outreach efforts for Regence BlueCross BlueShield. All three guests stressed the importance of:

Relationship building
Having people on staff who are not only bilingual, but also bicultural
Brand loyalty is multigenerational once that trust is established

Gale Castillo handed out helpful background info which can be found at the link above. Any one have any success stories or words of advice for marketing to the Hispanic population?

TV advertising and DVR/Tivo

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:29:00 +0000

Interesting story in NYT about advertisers working with Tivo and DVR on how to be successful on TV w/ the new age of fast forwarding through commercials. See link. Anyone still watch commercials these days? There are a few I actually watch. Are they the most emotional??

Next week's Cornerstones - Marketing to the Hispanic community

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Next Thursday morning we are set for another great conversation. This time it will be with Gale Castillo, the head of the Metropolitan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Melanie Davis, managing director of El Hispanic News. So if you've been wondering how to start advertising your business to the Hispanic community, now is your time to learn. Register now at the link above.

Twitter growth skyrockets

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February! Check out link above which takes you to a post on Mashable, a social media guide. This could be a good resource if you are looking to find more info on social meda.

What is the semantic web, web 3.0?

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Because of our events on e-marketing and social media, I am trying to get up on all of this web stuff and came across a tweet from MediaBistro http://twitter.com/Mediabistro or http://www.mediabistro.com/that explains the evolution of the web and what it means for businesses trying to connect with consumers. It is a bit over my head at times, but thought some of you might be interested. What do you think?

Here is a sample from the article, full link above.

The web as we know it is mainly comprised of HTML documents, or web pages, as opposed to data repositories. Sure, mega-sites such as Wikipedia, Bigyellow.com, Amazon and YouTube sit on mountains of data, but by and large most sites have little to no real connectivity with each other.

Because most web pages and websites were built for people (to browse and search) rather than machines (to crawl, collect, and interact with), there is very little "meta-data," or information that actually describes the data on an HTML page. For instance, most HTML tells a web browser where to put text, images, and video on a page but beyond that doesn't do a good job of categorizing the information required for search engine optimization.

In that sense, search engines don't actually understand what they read; they see only patterns or primitive contextual pairings of words. For instance, searching for "semantic web" will lead most search engines to scour billions of documents for those two words (preferably near each other) and then return results based on set SEO criteria. What they won't return is a list of companies using semantic technologies, unless those companies' websites scream it in the title, header, or body text.

Until more sites are built in semantic-friendly formats such as XML, OWL, and RDF, intelligently collecting, compiling, and connecting the billions of web pages out there will be nearly impossible. This becomes increasingly problematic as more and more consumer-generated content (CGC) is created on blogs and social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

B2B Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:14:00 +0000

For the attendee yesterday who had a question about B2B Marketing, I found an interesting blog by following Technorati on Twitter. See link:

http://blog.futurelab.net/2009/03/expert_advice_for_b2b_marketin.html

Stats that Support Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Julia Carpenter) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:29:00 +0000

There was a great question from today's Cornerstone Conversation that I want to elaborate on for a bit. I believe one of our Web cam participants asked, if a targeted audience is so important in social media, how do you find that audience? My answer was research. But I want to clarify that you don't necessarily have to conduct your own research - that can be costly and time consuming. But you can find research online that is specific to Internet use and maybe even your particular industry, and hence, your customers.

The Pew Research Center is a great resource. I'll swipe some of their Web text to best describe the organization: The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does so by conducting public opinion polling and social science research; by reporting news and analyzing news coverage; and by holding forums and briefings. It does not take positions on policy issues.

More specifically check out the The Pew Internet & American Life Project page. There is a drop-down menu that will lead you to 11 specific reports, including Online Activities & Pursuits and Technology & Media Use.

Jennifer (with Legacy Health Systems) - their report on how Americans use the Internet to gather and share health information may help to answer your questions from this morning.

I also owe a Travel and Tourism specific report to the gentlemen from Carson Ridge Private Luxury Cabins. Pete, I believe. I'll send to you and also post to this blog.

Dashing to a video shoot right now...

Let's keep the conversation going!

Julia Carpenter
Fleishman Hillard
Twitter: juliacarpenter

Thursday's Cornerstones sold out - can still view via webcast

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:50:00 +0000

More than 80 people have signed up for Thursday's Cornerstones so the room is at capacity. You can still watch the event live via Web casting (see link above). Archives of the web cast will also be available after the event. See you all on Thursday!

Really cool social media event March 5

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:32:00 +0000

So I am really excited about our next Cornerstones on Social Media and once you see the panel list, you will be too - it is quite a line up. Please note that this is a longer session as there was too much to pack into an hour and a half. This event goes from 7:30 - 10:00 a.m. Here is the line up:

Session 1 (7:40 a.m.– 8:50 a.m.)

Social Networking Platforms: What they are and how companies are using them.

Dina George Khoury, Managing Director of US Brand Strategy, Edelman
Deborah Wakefield, Vice President of Communications & PR, Travel Portland
Martin Stoll, CEO, GoSeeTell Network
Hannah Smith, Online Community Manager, Tillamook Cheese

Session 2 (8:55 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.)

Leveraging Social Media: How social media can give a boost to your traditional communications tools.

Kevin Peoples, Managing Director, WeClik
Zach Hyder, Vice President, FH Digital

More thoughts on e-markeing

noreply@blogger.com (KarenK) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:49:00 +0000

I don't know about Alex, but I certainly enjoyed our discussion this morning about e-marketing. I always find this type of forum enlightening and it helps me learn more about what I should be doing (or what I should try to do) and how to do it. One more thing we discussed was using LinkedIn for networking and list-building, so I thought I'd add a link. I enjoyed meeting everyone and want to thank you for hearing what Alex and I had to share. -- Karen K.

E-marketing Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Portland Business Alliance) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:24:00 +0000

Karen Karger of EasyStreet Online Services, Alex Williams of eROI and Debbie Kitchin of InterWorks led a lively roundtable discussion about using email to market your business. Some of the ideas that came out of the discussion were:

Before investing in email marketing you need to have a web site or online destination that represents your business and be able to track who is coming to your site and where they are coming from.

There are some free tools such as Google Analytics that is a great way to track traffic on your web site.

Use social media tools like Facebook or Twitter to engage in the online discussion and get your name or brand out there. At the very least, search and find out what people are saying about you.

Send out an electronic newsletter to remind customers there you are still there and target your articles to your audience.

When people opt-in to your email list for your newsletter create a welcome email and tell them your short business story and how often you are going to contact them.

Blog post titles and subject lines are important for open rates and click throughs of emails. Look at magazine headlines for ideas on how to fine tune a headline.

How are you promoting your business online? What successes have you had?

Questions About E-Marketing Your Business?

noreply@blogger.com (KarenK) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:15:00 +0000

Karen Karger here. I’m looking forward to speaking with everyone about my trials and successes with e-marketing. At EasyStreet, we use a monthly e-newsletter to keep in touch with our existing clients. We also employ various “mixed-media” campaigns to promote our services and to grow our data base of e-contacts. (Have you had e-nough?) If there are any specific topics you’d like to explore, just leave a comment and I’ll make sure I have some information to share.

E-Marketing Your Business

noreply@blogger.com (Megan) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:02:00 +0000

The next Cornerstones is Feb. 5 at 7:30 a.m. and is about e-marketing your business.

We are excited to have two very smart e-marketers with us - Alex Williams from eROI and Karen Karger from EasyStreet. They'll talk about successes they've had, give some inside tips and answer your questions.

Link to register is above.

Follow Up on Occupancy Sensors, Energy Trust Incentives, and Other Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Jordana Goff) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:10:00 +0000

In regards to our conversation about occupancy sensors and other energy efficient measures and incentives for your office or small business, the following link to Energy Trust of Oregon's web site will be useful:
http://www.energytrust.org/existingbuildings/resources.html

They do provide incentives for occupancy sensors as noted on the Lighting Incentives form. The payback on installing occupancy sensors depends on the type of lighting currently installed and amount of hours the space is occupied, and in general are a good way to make sure your lights are turned off when not needed. If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact Energy Trust's Existing Building Program at 877.510.6800 or e-mail buildings@energytrust.org.

They should be contacted to discuss any available incentives prior to purchase and installation.

I also subscribe to Low-Impact Living's email newsletter, and they had some relevant information for PBA members in their most recent edition including 10 Ways to Green Your Office at http://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2008/01/05/make-your-office-green/

And more recently, 10 More Ways to Green Your Office at http://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2009/01/22/10-more-ways-to-green-your-office/

You'll see that many of the suggestions reiterate what Megan and Sarah noted at the Cornerstone event in terms of starting small and doing what you can in an incremental fashion. I thought it was interesting that the 10 More Ways article mentions enlisting a green team which is something we discussed.

Keep me in mind if you or someone you know is undertaking a major commercial renovation or new building project. We'd love to assist with providing incentives for energy efficient equipment and lighting.

Jordana Goff, Outreach Manager
PECI :: Energy Trust of Oregon New Building Program
jgoff@peci.org
503.753.1266

Resources provided by Sarah Hall of Wells Fargo

noreply@blogger.com (Portland Business Alliance) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Greetings, and thanks again for attending last week's session! Here are resources we discussed. I look forward to staying in touch with you.

Metrics

Paper reduction efforts: Use this calculator from Environmental Defense Fund to get excellent calculations for paper efforts (both reduction and recycled content) across an array of impact areas. Select 'Compare individual papers' to start - overlook some of the specs required & estimate if needed, www.edf.org/papercalculator/

Environmental costs of paper transactions

'The amazing life and travels of a paper check'. Visit www.payitgreen.org/business/index.html, and click on the lower left box that says 'Unbelievable!' to launch this presentation
Environmental costs of paper-based transactions. See www.payitgreen.org/downloads/pdf/PayItGreen_Impact.pdf and much additional info on the PayItGreen for Business website, www.payitgreen.org/business/learn-inform.html, which I co-chaired for The Electronic Payments Association

Green marketing resources

Discussion correctly pointed to qualified '3rd-party' certifiers as outstanding brand builders
These include Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, www.epeat.net/, which is a powerful international voluntary standard and Portland success story. Others include Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and EPA Energy Star, version 4 and above. Coop America was also mentioned.

Transportation & travel

These are the components of a travel and transportation plan I'm working on. Each strategy has goals and metrics (baseline and future-state)
Employee trip reduction: Flexible workweeks, off-peak commute/flextime, 'work hub' utilization, telecommuting and transit pass subsidies, secure bicycle parking, carshare services (Zip Car!)
Company travel practices: High emission rental vehicles, greener executive taxi services, travel elimination through video conferencing, qualified carbon offsets

Funding and support resources

Oregon Business Energy Tax Credits, www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/CONS/BUS/BETC.shtml
A few more include: University of South Florida’s National TDM (Transportation Demand Management) and National Clearinghouse, www.nctr.usf.edu/clearinghouse/stateincentives.htm; EPA's Telework Programs, www.bestworkplaces.org/pdf/telework_07.pdf; and the Best Workplaces for Commuters Toolkit

Sarah L. Hall
Program Director, Wholesale Services Group Green Practices Team
Wells Fargo Bank MAC P6101-123
1300 SW 5th Ave., 12th Fl., Portland OR 97201
(503) 886-3241
srh_hll@yahoo.com or halls@wellsfargo.com

Good stuff from today's Cornerstones

noreply@blogger.com (Portland Business Alliance) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:36:00 +0000

Today, 30 people discussed sustainability with Megan Stein, a sustainability expert from the City of Portland and Sarah Hall, the green practices expert from Wells Fargo. Megan and Sarah discussed how businesses of all sizes can save money and reduce their environmental footprint.

Here are some examples:
1. An office provided bottle water and soda to employees and then switched to an installed water filter and soda fountain, saving $5,000 and eliminating the waste from all those cans and bottles.
2. A restaurant looked at their food waste and costs for disposing of it and $250 saved a month through composting and reducing the impact from that waste going to a landfill.
3. A small excavator company installed GPS systems in their vehicles and saved $5,000 on fuel costs with the potential savings of $60,000 in the first year and reducing emissions and consuming less gas.

Your company can find ways to be more sustainable by contacting the city’s Best Business Center and have an assessment done of your company’s current business practices.

What are some of the ways your company is saving money and being sustainable?

Trends in going green, saving green

noreply@blogger.com (Portland Business Alliance) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:27:00 +0000

The tough economy has all sorts of businesses looking to save money, but they also want to continue their efforts to minimize their environmental footprint. We'll be talking about ways to save next week but here are some initial ideas (both big and small) I came across in some news stories.

A hospital in the Carolinas:
- Switched to using reusable containers and microfiber mops and rags, reducing costs to purchase them items again and again.
- Now use low-volatility paint and green cleaning products, allowing them to paint and clean during the day, ultimately saving on overtime hours.

Another idea I came across was:
If you send pdf files, consider running them through www.greenpdf.com, which adds a pop-up box advising recipients not to print out the documents unless necessary

What are you doing to be green?