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FACES & PLACES 
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 The 42,113 attendees at the Chamber's annual meeting received a personalized, keepsake press pass credential in salute of speaker Ann Compton, long-time White House reporter for ABC News. Compton thought the idea so clever that she posed with idea guys Charlie Howlett, left, and Nick Bendian of Schaefer Advertising. See more pictures from the event here. |
Zigging and Zagat-ting: Based on user submitted ratings to Zagat, Grace Restaurant is rated "extraordinary to perfection" or, in other words, way beyond Mr. B's taste bud fantasies. Zagat has a lot of fancy words to describe the food, the service and the ambiance, and all are extraordinary. Mr. B assumes it all means Grace been berry, berry good to diners. In his meager fantasy, Mr. B dreams about an a la carte meal of Black Truffle Butter as an appetizer, Oscar as an entree, House Made Thick Cut Bacon as a veggie and Coconut Crème Pie for dessert. Thanks to Adam and Blaine, it's no fantasy for the one B2B Insider reader that wins a dream meal for two.
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Making a huge splash: One thing Hawaiian Falls in White Settlement isn't short of this summer is water. It's the re-incarnation of WaterWorld without a sinking ship or sinking box office numbers. Water, water everywhere with adventure parks and corporate team-building opportunities, too. Another thing Hawaiian Falls and Tassie (not related to Jake) Gaither are not short of is generosity. The fun-for-family waterworld is offering two chances to win: 1) A family 4-pack of tickets that includes admission, a meal and a cabana any Monday - Friday; or 2) A birthday party for 10 with private room, admission, meal, drinks, ice cream and a party coordinator.
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Sunny side of the street: Mr. B has this great idea of an invention and it is going to make him a cazillionaire and he will be able to donate back his 39-cent pay to boss Miserly Mistress and the Chamber to make Fort Worth even greater. All he has to do now is get a word with someone such as Sunny Vanderbeck, the managing partner and co-founder of a Dallas-based investment company, which has double a cazillion of money and invests in companies and thingamajigs. Sunny is being interviewed by UBS stock TV / rock star Jim Lacamp June 24 from 11:30-1 p.m. at IDEA Works FW. It's part of the Great Ideas series sponsored by Pinnacle Bank, which has its own largess of money. Pinnacle provided seats for two readers.
Star of stage, screen and...: This offer seemed too good to be true. Sue Duncan, Realtor, would stage the B Mansion. The last time it was staged, Daughter Mis Behavin' and Son No BGood were on the dining room table in their baseball uniform and cheerleader outfit singing karaoke about peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Anyhows, Mr. B went to 360 West Magazine, pulled an interior from a Westover Hills home courtesy of Meda and presented it to Sue. Sue booed. B boo-hoo'd. She can stage using only the furniture and accessories you already have. Here's one hour of Sue being truly remarkable in your home or your office. Congratulations to June 10th Prize Winners:
- Todd Collinsworth, Mutual of Omaha Bank
- April Dalton, Fairfield Inn & Suites
- Kathy Stern, Gorrondona & Associates
- Mark Grace, Gus Bates Insurance
- Steve Lackey, Sport Therapy
- Laura Geninatti, State Farm
- Kelly Pilkington, Pridestaff
- Jeffrey Clark, Consolidated
- Kristen Laramore, Ideal Partners
- Wilson Martin, Republic Title
Winners will be announced weekly
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HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAID
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OT overload: Decker Jones employment attorney Leslie Hunt says the biggest mistake employers make about pay is "thinking salaried employees are not entitled to OT. There's no category for salaried employees," she said. "You're either exempt or non-exempt." Hunt and employment attorney Monica Narvaez of Underwood Law Firm say if you want employees to not work OT, have it in your policies and procedures manual. "Then if they work it, pay for it, but warn them they face termination," Narvaez said. "And enforce the policy every single time," Hunt added. Also, checking work emails outside the office is considered work and could be charged as OT.
Hola, ¿qué tal? Larry Anfin, Chair of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber, is now interim President. Larry says he knows muy poco Spanish.
All puffed up: Wayne Canter says TriStar was looking for a "dashing macho leading man" for its fall release of Ang Lee's film "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk." Wayne, who blows things up working Bullseye Balloons, was booked; instead, he rented them a 25-foot football player and a 25-foot football they used for a tailgating scene. TriStar said it found him via Google. The movie features Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Martin and Chris Tucker.
Cryin' in our beer: In what is unfortunately a prudent move, Andrews Distrbuting no longer is donating beer to nonprofit events. Liabilities! It could, however, donate cash to a nonprofit and the nonprofit could buy beer...especially beer that Andrews distributes.
Welcome ya'll: Justin Rutledge, the new Market President for BB&T, should be here for good right about ... now. Wife and kiddoes flew in last Thursday and Jeff and dog were driving from North Carolina. Dog wasn't given a choice.
Social upheaval: Historically, a Chamber breakfast crowd draws more business owners or top executives. Get in, have breakfast, hear a speaker, get to the office shortly after 9 a.m. Half, if not more, are men. Last week's Impact Your Business breakfast at Colonial Country Club was a social media tutorial by Paige Rodges and Erike (not related to Mark) Aguirre of J.O. Fewer than 20 percent in attendance were men. Lots of young professional women. A quick Mr. B survey with +/- 84 percent error factor shows that young women are being hired to do social media. Some tips from Paige and Erika: - (Paige) "Post something you know people care about; it's all trial and error."
- Limit your branding (company or self promotion) to 20 percent of your content.
- (Erica) "There's no rule about frequency of posting, but establish a cadence and be consistent."
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"Guess I'm in an industry now that deals with a different type of 'fracture.'"
-- Director of Communications, Pam Percival
on move from energy field to Plaza Medical
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Car older than daughter: Abby Ferguson just graduated high school. Dad Reagan (Pressman Printing) gifted Abby a hand-me-down Toyota Camry when she had turned 16. The Toyota made it to graduation with 315,000 miles and it and Abby are off to Texas Christian University.
Shameless transition: Wonder if Reagan and Abby got all those miles because they visit Advance Auto Parts? Chamber Am-Bass-Adorables will be at a new Advance, 2224 Jacksboro Highway, at 9:45 a.m. next Tuesday. Here's an advance notice; pictures from that ribbon cutting and many Chamber events can be seen here.
She rocks: If that woman in the rock ensemble for the just completed Buddy Holly play at Casa Manana looked familiar ... it WAS Julie Rhodes of the Rhodes Securities family. She's a veteran of Casa performances, but this was her first "Broadway" series outing.
9-1-1 emergency: Patty Revis is on a contract to fill dispatcher positions for the Fort Worth Police Department. There are all the standard criteria and, in addition, a background check. "Final candidates will be subject to a comprehensive criminal and personal background investigation, polygraph examination, drug test, physical and psychological evaluation. Applicants must not have used marijuana during the last 12 months nor illegally used any controlled substances within the last ten years." Yikes, Patty, that might end up being a lifetime contract.
Very de-greeable: Mr. B heard about an eMBA from University of Texas-Arlington at the Fort Worth campus. Mr. B doesn't have his (a), (b), (c) or (d) MBA, or even his Florida State bachelor's, but if this (e) were for easy, he was easy listening to what UTA's John Laudenslager was pitching. Just $69.5k complete, John said. Whoa, that's 113.654 years of writing B2B Insider, Mr. B thought.
Jetting ahead: At his 39-cents pay, Mr. B qualifies as a nonprofit. You hear that, Karen Hager? Karen sent over a large tidbit about the Lockheed Martin employees' Aero Club charity donating $245k to 13 north Texas nonprofits. That brings the 2015 giving total to $650k smackeroos. Latest recipients included AIDS Outreach Center, Camp Fire First Texas Council, Cook Children's Medical Center, Lena Pope, Cenikor Foundation and Trinity Habitat for Humanity, among others.
Milking favor with the boss: From Chamber membership maven Netty Matthews and her posse of punsters -- A cow that doesn't give milk? Is it a milk dud or is it an udder failure?
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
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SUMMER SALE: FORT WORTH: ENERGIZED FOR THE FUTURE COFFEE TABLE BOOK
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Chamber's 200-page coffee table book tells the story of our city's remarkable growth and opportunity. This hardcover book highlights Fort Worth's people, companies and diverse culture through richly photographed pages. Purchase it today for $25.00* Contact Christine Gores to purchase or for questions.
*Member price. Price excludes tax.
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