February 2007 Newsletter
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SPONSOR

MOUNT GARAGE DOORS

Residential & Commercial

Sales & Service

(410) 549-2668

www.mountgaragedoors.com

SPONSOR

SHERMAN EMERSON INSURANCE

Auto • Home • Business • Life

Dennis Emerson

(301) 831-5885

www.shermanagency.com

FEBRUARY MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Our monthly membership meeting will be held on Thursday February 1st at 8am at the Mt Airy Fire Hall (corner of Watersville Rd and Main St, park at the rear/lower level and enter through the back doors).

We will have our usual hour of introductions, committee reports, and discussions of new and old business.

Remember that minutes of all our monthly meetings can be found on the Chamber website at www.mtairybusiness.com

Every month members also get to see all the advertising, newspaper coverage and correspondence for the past month.

SPEED NETWORKING EVENT

A speed networking event will be held on Thursday February 8th, 8 - 9.30am. Adventure Park USA will be hosting the event – they are located on West Baldwin Rd, New Market.

Please RSVP to Leslie Brenneman at w330mkt01@costco.com or (301) 644-1483.

If you didn’t attend our event last year, here's how it works.....Everyone will be assigned a table upon arrival, each table will consist of 5-8 members, once we are all seated you will be given 1 min each to talk about your business, then everyone will get up and move to new tables with different members and do the same thing over again. This will happen 3-5 different times depending on time constraints.

So work on your elevator speech for this event, you will need it! If you would like to enjoy breakfast and mingle before-hand please arrive 15 min early. We would like to start at 8am. [Social Committee Chair Leslie Brenneman, Costco]

BUSINESS CARD EXCHANGE

A Business Card Exchange will be held Tuesday February 13th from 4-7pm at Super Suppers, 2904 Back Acre Circle.

The event is being co-hosted by Steve Rose of Torn2Shredz.

As usual, door prizes are welcomed - door prizes can be a gift certificate to a local business or maybe something to promote your business like a T-shirt with your business name and number on it.

MEMBERSHIP REPORT

The following 4 businesses joined in January:

Diamond Personal Concierge, LLC

Faith Community Church

Network Referral Group

Woodbine Recreation Council

We have 199 members signed up for 2007.

[Membership Committee Chair Dennis Emerson, Sherman Emerson Insurance.]

OFFICER ELECTION

Congratulations to Paul Clay, The Real Estate Consultants Of Re/Max Realty Group - Paul And Paula, who has been elected to the Chamber Board of Directors.

COMMUNITY EXPO 2007

The 2007 Mt. Airy Chamber Community Expo will be held on April 21, 2007,
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the Mt. Airy Volunteer Fire Co.'s Activities
Grounds.

Register today as one of sponsors or exhibitors by visiting our website at
www.mtairybusiness.com/expo2007 and mail it with your check by
March 23, 2007, to Filomena Thompson c/o The Greater Mt. Airy Chamber of
Commerce, Community Expo, P.O. Box 15, Monrovia, MD 21770.

DROP-IN NETWORKING LUNCHES

The Ambassador Committee invites everyone to join us for a drop-in lunch at Noon on Tuesday, February 13th, at the Olive Leaf Café in the Twin Arch shopping center. The restaurant will provide a special menu for you to choose your own entree, and the price of $11 will include the tax and tip. No reservations are necessary, just drop in. This is a continuation of our Second Tuesday Lunch series.

Bring a friend, and bring some business cards, as these lunches are a great networking opportunity.

Information on these and future lunches will be posted to the website at www.mtairybusiness.com/dropinlunches

PHONE BOOK UPDATE

The countdown to the new 2007 Mount Airy Phone Book is well underway.

Detailed information and application forms are available on the website – the deadline for applications is Friday February 16th.

All advertisers from the 2005 Book (plus new businesses that opened since then) will receive a 5% discount. All display advertisers will receive a $95 credit if they join the Chamber for 2007.

For additional information please contact Keir Knight at (301) 829-1982 or by e-mail phonebook@mtairybusiness.com

BUSINESS CARD EXCHANGE REPORT

Thank you to Tamarah Clarke and her staff at The Jeanne Bussard Center for hosting our January Business Card Exchange at their facility in Frederick.

We had more than 40 people in attendance including 9 visitors.

LUNCHTIME BUSINESS CARD EXCHANGE

A Business Card Exchange will be held Tuesday March 13th from 11.30am to 1pm at The Links at Challedon, 6166 Challedon Circle.

A lunch will be served so please RSVP to Leslie Brenneman at w330mkt01@costco.com or (301) 644-1483.

2007 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS

We will be holding two seminars this spring.

On Monday, April 23, 6-9pm the topic will be Developing Advertising Materials for Your Small Business, at the Mount Airy Library on Ridge Avenue.

On Tuesday, June 12, 6.30-9.30pm the topic will be Tips and Tricks of Quickbooks, at the Carroll Community College Business Training Center.

The workshops are FREE to Chamber members and $10 to non-members.

To register, please call (410) 386-8012 or email mtitus@carrollcc.edu.

SECOND E-MAIL LIST

The new Chamber e-mail group "mtairybusinessgeneral" is now live.

Unlike the main group, this new group is not moderated and members
are free to post anything related to their own business or to the
local business community in general.

To view messages posted to the group, or to join, please visit:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/mtairybusinessgeneral/
An edited digest of postings is submitted to the main e-mail group once a week.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Keir Knight at (301) 829-1982 or klknight@pipeline.com

ADVERTISING & MARKETING COMMITTEE

A meeting of the Advertising & Marketing Committee will be heldWednesday February 21st, 4-5pm at the Mount Airy Library on Ridge Avenue. All Chamber members are welcome to attend.

Agenda items will include advertising spending and budgets, the Chamber website and future advertising and marketing strategies.

CHAMBER FOLDERS

The Greater Mt Airy Chamber of Commerce now has pocket folders available for all members to use. The glossy folders include four interior sheets: committee descriptions, Chamber events, leadership and an application form.

The folders are available at all Chamber events and meetings – or by contacting Ambassadors Committee Chair Ellie Bonde of the Blossom & Basket Boutique at (301) 831-0010.

They are perfect to use to introduce potential members to the Chamber.

INFO TO SHARE?

If you have information you would like to share with other Chamber members – either through the monthly newsletter, the Chamber website, or Yahoo e-mail lists – please contact Advertising & Marketing Committee Chair Keir Knight of Plain English Writing & Design at (301) 829-1982 or klknight@pipeline.com