Pipeline Newsletter - April 25, 2012

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

In this issue of Pipeline:

Hamilton Economic Summit-5th Annual:Thursday May 10
City budget 2012: 0.9% tax increase
McMaster University hosts employment crawl and reception
Input sought from Chamber members:
a. City's Open for Business Review Committee
b. Mohawk College Talent Drive Strategy Survey
Upcoming Chamber Division and Committee meetings and events
Chamber Updates and Chamber Events
Community Calendar

Hamilton Economic Summit - 5th Annual: Thursday May 10

On Thursday May 10, the Chamber will host the 5th Annual Hamilton Economic Summit at the Hamilton Convention Centre based on the topic "Hamilton's role in the regional economy and beyond". This is the must-attend business event of the year. There will be both an Executive and Sales track. Dr. David Foot, author of "Boom, Bust and Echo", will deliver the Summit's keynote address and David will provide important demographic information for business to use in their everyday work. The day will also include break-out sessions covering eight subjects: Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Industries, Education, Health Sciences, Real Estate, Small Business and Transportation. Registration is now open at www.hamiltoneconomicsummit.ca

City Budget 2012: 0.9% tax increase

The Hamilton Chamber applauds City Council's approval at its last meeting of the 2012 municipal budget. The 2012 increase is 0.9%, the second lowest municipal tax increase in Ontario. Last year, the City approved a 0.8% budget increase, so this marks two consecutive years of tax increases below 1%, and the lowest tax increases in over ten years. City departments are to be commended for coming in with budgets either with no increase or below last year's allocation. The budget increase is a result of budget requests from Boards and Agencies.

McMaster University hosts employment crawl and reception:

On April 25 and 26, McMaster University's Student Success Centre is hosting an employment crawl for McMaster students. They will be visiting a number of Hamilton based businesses and not-for-profits and discussing career and employment opportunities. On April 26, from 5:30-7:30pm, Chamber members are invited to attend a networking reception at Theatre Aquarius.

Input sought from Chamber members:

City of Hamilton's Open for Business Review Committee:

Input requested

On April 11, Chamber President and CEO David Adames as well as former Board Chair and Chamber member Ed Fothergill presented the Hamilton Chamber's brief concerning the City's Open for Business Review at the Committee's at City Hall. The brief is posted on the Chamber website. The Chamber would like to thank the Business Development Committee for spearheading the Chamber's input. We have an opportunity to provide additional input from our members, through the following questions posed by the City's Open for Business Review Committee (please provide any feedback by April 27 to hcc@hamiltonchamber.ca):

1. Do you believe City Hall is "Open for Business"? Please explain why or why not.

2. What are the one or two critical processes or services that need to be improved when doing business at City Hall?

3. Where/how does Hamilton excel in helping businesses open or expand?

4. What are the most important elements of customer service when dealing with the City?

5. Based on your experience, if you had to do your project(s) over again, what would you have done differently and/or what mistakes did you or your agents make that would have made the approval process smoother?

Mohawk College Talent Drive Strategy Survey

At Mohawk College our vision is to be internationally renowned for our innovative culture and highly skilled "Futuready" quality students and graduates who will drive tomorrow's economy today!

As we continue to develop educational/industry collaborative partnerships the "key" to workforce development for Mohawk is to position ourselves as the catalyst to partner in that workforce development. We invite you to join us in a collaborative and innovative partnership to find that "right fit" in our "right sizing" economy. Whether it be a co-operative education experience, full time, part time, seasonal, or contracted worker Mohawk has Futuready Quality students and graduates ready to fill that gap.

As the educational partner in workforce development our commitment to your successes is to collaboratively assist in the development of your workforce needs not only today but also for the future. By developing a strong Innovative partnership linkage our co-operative education programming provides year round access to students reducing your future recruiting costs and allows you to "road test" potential employees before you buy.

Our commitment at Mohawk is to provide you the best fit employee and develop Sustainable opportunities that inspire learning, develop leadership, foster citizenship and advocate innovation in whatever we do!

To this end we are asking that you, your staff, your members and colleagues please join us in completing the attached linked survey:

http://echo.mohawkcollege.ca/limesurvey/index.php?sid=33534&lang=en

Thank you in advance for your participation. We would appreciate all surveys to be completed by May 4th,2012.

Upcoming Division and Committee meetings and events

Transportation Committee: Tuesday May 1, 8am: Waterfront Centre: Guest speakers from McMaster Institute for Transportation Logistics

Human Resources Committee: Wednesday May 2, 8am: Waterfront Centre.

Innovation and Technology Committee: Thursday May 3, 8am: McMaster Innovation Park: Guest speaker Juan Lopez, Pipeline Studios

For more information about becoming a member of a Division or Committee, please contact the Chamber's President and CEO at, d.adames@hamiltonchamber.ca

For an overview of the Chamber's committees and divisions, please visit, http://www.hamiltonchamber.ca/committees/committees

Chamber Events and Updates

Hamilton Chamber Office:

We are moving our office effective April 30 to:

120 King Street West

Suite 770 (this is a temporary office while the permanent location on the Plaza Level is completed)

Hamilton, ON

The phone number will remain the same:
905-522-1151

Second Annual LiON's LAIR:

The Hamilton Chamber is pleased to be collaborating once again with Innovation Factory to present the second annual LiON's LAIR on October 4. More information is available at www.pitch-it.ca. To get ready for the event and submissions, the following key dates are coming up in April:

April 30 is the submission deadline for proposals - apply at https://innovationfactory.wufoo.com/forms/lions-lair-2012/
Plus, a great video of the finalists from 2011 talking about their experience at http://pitch-it.ca/finalists/current-finalists

Business After Business

Thursday, April 26

Network with other Chamber member and guests

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Host Location: Beverly Golf & Country Club

To Register: Whitney at w.simmons@hamiltonchamber.ca

Coffee with the CEO

Friday, May 11th

8:00 a.m. Mulberry Café - $10.00 at the door

Guest: Terry Cooke, CEO Hamilton Community Foundation

Business After Business

Thursday, May 24th

Network with other Chamber member and guests

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Host Location: Netaccess, 21 King Street, Suite 1500

To Register: Whitney at w.simmons@hamiltonchamber.ca

Women's Golf and Glamour Day

Monday, May 28th

Fun Day of 9 holes of golf, spa treatment, shopping, lunch and more...all for charity

To Register: www.hamiltonchamber.ca or E-Mail: Whitney at w.simmons@hamiltonchamber.ca

Sponsorship opportunities are still available

Chamber's Annual Golf Tournament

Tuesday, June 5th

Heron Point...play with other members and their guests.

Sponsorship opportunities still available

To register www.hamiltonchamber.ca or e-mail Whitney at w.simmons@hamiltonchamber.ca

Directory Early Bird Rates going Soon!

The Early Bird discount is still available until April 30th so hurry and book your Chamber Directory ad today. A 5% discount will be deducted from your total with a signed contract received by us by the end of the month. If you choose not to be invoiced until the Directory is printed (in November) you will still receive the discount provided you have booked your ad by April 30th. Don't delay... book now... pay later. Click here for rates or contact Patricia at p.dieryck@hamiltonchamber.ca For more advertising opportunities with the Chamber, click here.

Community Calendar and Member News

Be sure to check out the Community Calendar and the Member News links on the right side panel of this newsletter. Contact Diane Stephenson at 905-522-1151 ext. 220 or d.stephenson@hamiltonchamber.ca to have your information included.

*Please Note: Member News is reserved for Not-for-profit member news and Hamilton Chamber Member milestone news i.e. Anniversaries, Grand Openings, Awards etc. All Chamber members are welcome to include their events in the Community Calendar.

Look for our weekly newsletter every Wednesday morning. This will be The Chamber's main vehicle of communication with members on a weekly basis for events, important news and updates.

THIS WEEK'S MEMBER PROMOTIONS

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