While attending a seminar at the 2009 MMBA Conference I couldn't help but think about how all this stuff relates to my operation.  The speaker was Tom Shay and he was speaking about what sets your store apart from the rest of the competition.  I racked my brain to think of one thing.  But, I couldn't come up with an example!
 
For the rest of the sessions with Tom I hunkered down and took notes.  I wrote down anything I thought I could incorporate into my store.  I came out with a good sized list.
 
When I was walking out of the final session I noticed a lot of notes on many of my peers' materials.  I look at this as a real success for our association.  People are leaving the session thinking about what they could do to better their operation.  If everyone walked out of there with one good idea, that is all I could have asked for.  This is why I am so proud of our organization.
 
When I got back to my store I came upon a small but key example of how my store is different from my competition.  I am blessed to have a relatively new, highly visible store.  The down side is that I am in a strip mall with many similar looking store fronts.  One of my employees approached me and asked if she could put some flowers out in front of the store.  I was reluctant and said I couldn't budget very much.  She said it would all come from her gardens and the costs would be minimal.
 
It turns out that my employee has quite the green thumb.  It is our third season of green in the front of the store and we receive constant complements.  We also get a lot of questions about what the flowers are, where we got them, and how it makes their day!
 
Not only does my store look great but I a have a team of employees who have bought into an idea.  They are always watering, pruning and very proud of their efforts.
 
I would like to call on the members who attended the conference to give an example of how the conference benefited you and your operation.  Were you inspired?  Let's spread the word to the rest of our members and let them see what they are missing.  You can email or call me or any of the board members at the numbers and links to the right.

The City of Paynesville is currently accepting applications for the position of Off- Sale Liquor Store Manager. 
 
This individual oversees and administers the day-today operations of the off-sale municipal liquor store. 
 
Duties to include, but not limited to: Supervising staff, purchasing and inventory control, pricing, budgeting, marketing, promotions and customer relations. 
 
Minimum qualifications:  3 years management experience with municipal liquor store or similar operations including retail sales experience; proficiency with office equipment and computerized cashiering system. 
 
Must be able to work days, weekends and holidays and lift 50 lbs.
 
Salary starting at $31,903.77. 
 
Application forms available at Paynesville City Hall, 221 Washburne Avenue, Paynesville, Minnesota 56362. (320) 243-3713 or at www.paynesvillemn.com 

Resume, cover letter, notarized release forms and completed application due Monday, June 8, 2009, 3:00 PM Central.
 
Submit to:
 
Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association
PO Box 32966
Minneapolis, MN 55432
 
Fax: 763-572-8163
 
E-Mail: kaspszak@visi.com
 
Equal Opportunity Employer
 

Forbes
May 21, 2009
 
Only if you've been living under a rock have you missed all the recent buzz about the micro-blogging platform Twitter. Put simply, Twitter is a tool that people from all over the world use to express their thoughts at any given moment, on any subject, in 140 characters or less.
 
Limited as that might sound, it's actually the perfect medium to talk about new or interesting wines with other like-minded people. Because of the limitations of the medium, everyone's comments are short and to the point; all voices are at the same volume; there's no apologizing for spilling wine on someone else's rug; and, best of all, no one has to drive home.
 
There's no shortage of wine-obsessed Twitter users and, because of that, already there's no shortage of Twitter tasting groups. And there's always room for more, whether it's tasting and talking about organic wines, ports, or even different tequilas and mezcals, if spirits are more up your alley.
 
However, there are a few things you can and should do to get the discussion--about a particular wine or group of wines--going, as well as keep it lively and educational. There's a bit more to it than just opening a bottle of wine and plopping down at your computer and starting your Twitter account.
 
First things first, get in the groove with Twitter for a few weeks. Start posting your thoughts and ideas regularly (about wine and other subjects), and start building up your network of followers as well as start following other people and their tweets. Organically, in a very short time, you'll have a solid group of people you connect with regularly.
 
Getting Started
 
Once you have an idea of who should be in your tasting group, set up your own Twitter account so the relevant tweets are all aggregated together. Keep in mind, Twitter is like a large room with thousands of people shouting in it, so it's up to you to filter out what's not important to you.
 
In other words, you don't want to start a wine tasting and have every relevant comment about the wine followed by dozens more unrelated ones--about anything from how great the weather is in New Orleans right now, to what Obama should do about Guantanamo Bay or why someone's putting off emptying their dishwasher--before you get to the next relevant tweet.
 
You can do this using a simple search, such as Search.twitter.com. So let's say your tasting involves using one of 10 particularly affordable wines, such as Geyser Peak sauvignon blanc from California. If you set up a search just for that wine name, you'll only see tweets related to that wine.
 
Or, you can use what's called a hash tag (e.g., #GeyserPeak). Hash tags allow you to use a tool such as Hashtags.org to aggregate the tweets of the theme. Make sure that your hash tag adequately reflects the theme of your group or tasting, but is also unique enough to appropriately aggregate all the right content.
 
Another method is to create a Twitter account just for your wine-tasting group (e.g., \www.twitter.com/WineTwits), and everyone else in the group follows the Tweets under that name. If you tweet everyone's comments on the wine or wines being tasted--say, low-alcohol wines--all the followers of the tasting group, whether present or not, can follow the group's thoughts on the tasting whenever they want to.
 
Stay Focused
 
If you truly want to learn about new and different wines--and other people's impressions of them--it's important to keep your Twitter tastings focused. Otherwise, it might as well be an online party, which sort of defeats the purpose. Organize the tastings either by theme or by setting up specific topics in advance.
 
Both have their advantages and drawbacks. A thematic tasting such as, say, the existing #winesofChile group, is a streamlined, ongoing feed of dialogue by the tasting-group participants about any wine from Chile that a group member happens to be tasting at the moment. These types of Twitter tastings are more of a free-for-all and are, for that reason, easier to orchestrate and even jump into and out of. They don't, however, offer as much of a personal touch or connection between the individual participants.
 
If that's a bit too free-form for you, a pre-determined Twitter tasting might be the way to go. These tend to be organized by commercial wine purveyors (an e-commerce site, a winery, etc.), and are the sort of thing you can easily set up yourself. Either way, the idea is that one wine or set of wines of particular interest to the group are tasted by all the group members at the same time, with everyone tweeting their notes, ideas and impressions about the wines in an organized fashion.
 
The beauty of this type of setup is that it allows for a structured wine tasting to be conducted with everyone participating from wherever they want to. The downside, however, is that it could get dull after a while, just tasting one or two wines, sharing thoughts and packing it in until the next time. To pick up as much knowledge, insight and tasting experience as possible, think about joining or setting up both types of tasting groups.
 
Just remember, wine is meant to be shared in a social setting, so Twitter shouldn't replace any of your other wine-tasting activities. Instead, add it to the ones you engage in already since, no matter how much you may learnor how many friends you might make through a Twitter wine-tasting group, it can't replace a good, old-fashioned gathering.
 

According to the Minneapolis StarTribune,  Minneapolis attorney, head of the Minnesota Wine & Spirits Wholesale Association and long-time supporter of MMBA and its members, Sam Kaplan (pictured above with wife Sylvia) is in line to become the U.S. ambassador to the North African kingdom of Morocco.

 Morocco is a moderate Arab nation and U.S. ally.

Kaplan is being vetted by White House officials and is expected to be named to the post soon, according to the sources.

 

His appointment would be subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

 

Kaplan would be one of a small number of Jewish ambassadors who have been sent to the region.

Steve Hunegs, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said the region is a sensitive one for U.S. policymakers and was for a long time off-limits to Jewish diplomats.
"Sometimes the State Department likes to make statements with their appointments," Hunegs said.

 

While he has no direct knowledge of the Kaplan appointment, Hunegs added, "This would be saying that Morocco plays an important role in the Middle East negotiations, and it's seen as a trusted nation for the U.S."

 

Morocco, with a significant Jewish minority, has served as an intermediary in Arab-Israeli negotiations in the past and could be expected to serve a constructive role again by the Obama administration.