APRIL 16, 2009 ISSUE
Network With Your Neighborhood
Get Involved With the 2009 Monthly Boone Chamber Business After Hours
For more than two decades, local business owners and employees have engaged in a monthly exchange of ideas called Business After Hours, an initiative of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce that aims to connect and nurture all new and existing businesses within the Boone area.
Each month for 10 months out of every year, the Boone Chamber chooses a business to host the event and then invites all local business owners and employees to the respective business’s location for refreshments, networking and some fun and games, usually on the last or second-to-last Thursday of each month. Each Business After Hours takes place from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and each attendee must RSVP, pay $3 and bring a business card.
“Our Business After Hours are an opportunity for business-to-business networking; it’s a chance to share what you do while finding out about what others are doing,” said Boone Area Chamber of Commerce President Dan Meyer. “It’s a time to ask questions about ‘what are you doing different?’ What are you doing to survive in this economic downturn?’ Most importantly, it’s an exchange of ideas.”
The next Boone Chamber Business After Hours event will take place on Thursday, April 23, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Watauga Eye Center, located at 150 Market Hills Drive in Boone. To RSVP, call 828-264-2225.
More than 125 people attended the March Business After Hours at Bank of Granite.
“We hope local business leaders will come to these events to learn from each other, get to know each other and pick up tips for best business practices. And business owners and employees should come with that attitude because it’s not all socializing,” said Meyer. “There is certainly socializing but—as someone once called it—it’s savvy socializing, or using it for your business’s advantage.”
During the events, new chamber members are introduced, refreshments are served by the host business and time is allotted for networking.
Attendees must RSVP so that chamber employees can create a nametag for each owner or employee, but Meyer suggested that attendees also make their own nametag for the event, one that includes the business’s own logo and person’s title so that better networking can take place. The chamber nametags only include the Boone Chamber logo and the respective person’s name.
Business After Hours events take place once per month from February to November. The chamber does not host Business After Hours events in December and January because of weather concerns.
For more information on Boone Chamber Business After Hours and/or to RSVP to the April Business After Hours, email info@boonechamber.com or call 828-264-2225.
The Avery County Chamber of Commerce also hosts monthly After Hours events. For more information on Avery Chamber After Hours events, call 828-898-5605.
2009 Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours Schedule
The two Boone Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours so far in 2009—at Char Restaurant on February 19, and at Bank of Granite/Sagebrush Steakhouse on March 26—were successful in terms of attendance and networking. Eight more events are planned for 2009 and are open to all business owners and employees in the High Country. Some events are co-hosted as the chamber attempts to pair up food industry businesses with non-food industry businesses so refreshments can be served at each event. For co-hosted events, the address where the event will be held is provided.
DATE—HOST, LOCATION
4/23, Thursday—Watauga Eye Center, 150 Market Hills Drive
5/21, Thursday—Earth Fare, 178 West King Street
6/25, Thursday—ASU Athletics, Yosef Club Room in Owens Field House
7/23, Thursday—Avery-Watauga Association of Realtors/Gadabouts, Inc., 2348 Highway 105 South, Suite 3
8/27, Thursday—Boone Area Chamber of Commerce/Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, Tweetsie Railroad
9/24, Thursday—Boone Drug Downtown, 617 West King Street
10/22, Thursday—Powder Horn Mountain, 1568 Powder Horn Mountain Road
11/19, Thursday—Appalachian Energy/Watauga County American Red Cross, 190 Poplar Grove Road
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