By Staff
NILES -- The Lake Michigan College and Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Small Business Seminar Showcase on Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Lake Michigan College's Bertrand Crossing Campus, 1507 Foundation Drive, Niles.
The showcae is designed to help existing and start-up small businesses improve their bottom lines. Throughout the day, five different seminars will be presented on topics such as starting a small business, making better business decisions, transitioning the family business, and maximizing a business's marketing and advertising.
Bertrand Crossing Showcase Agenda
The Showcase will begin at 8 a.m. wth check-in and a continental breakfast, followed by a brief welcome. From 8:30 to 10 a.m., director of Region Seven Nancy Boese will present "Making Better Business Decisions." This workshop will use a case study to allow participants to experience first-hand how The Implications Wheel, developed by Futurist Joel Barker, can help improve the decision-making process of a company.
Following this workshop, from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. Director of the Family Owner Business Institute Tom Schwarz will present "The Family-Owned Business…Making a Smooth Transition." Schwarz's seminar will provide participants with an overview of the challenges tha face the family-owned business, discuss the strategic plan for dealing with them, and provide participants with a list of factors to consider when transitioning the family-owned business.
From noon to 1 p.m., Professor of Leadership and Qualitative Research, Shirley A. Freed, Ph.D., will present the luncheon keynote, "Stories: The core of Every Business." Freed's session will provide partiipatns with an opporutnity to discover how stories provide the motivation and deep rationale needed for satisfaction in the workplace. Following the luncheon, Counselor Dave Alger will kick-off the afternoon sessions with his seminar, "The Nuts &Bolts of Starting Your Own Small Business" from 1:15 to 2:24 p.m. This seminar will introduce the first-time entrepreneur o the aspects of starting a small business.
Topics to be covered include research, business planning, financing, the legal structure of a business, and cash flow projections.
The day will conclude with Account Manager Brenda Layne's seminar "Marketing &Advertising Effectiveness" from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Layne's discussion will teach participants how advertising works and what realistic expectations are for different types of advertising and marketing.
Registration for each individual seminar costs $10 and the luncheon keynote speaker costs $15. Four Flags Chamber members are eligible for a 10 percent discount off total fees when they register for any two seminars and the luncheon keynote speaker.
For more information on registration for the seminar, contact Karla Pierce, (269) 683-3720.