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FACES & PLACES POW                                                                                  
Self promotion: We are Worthy! The local Public Relations Society of America recognized the Chamber with its top awards. This newsletter won the top award in E-Newsletters for its re-design. All 13 editors are taking credit but Christine Gores was the brainchild for the design and weekly production. We also won a Worthy for the annual meeting creative theme Off the Record, which was an iteration of a White House Press Pass promoting the keynote speaker, retired ABC correspondent Ann Compton. Schaefer Advertising came up with the graphics, and the press badge name tags were the brainchild of Chamber Executive Special Brilliant VP of Communications and Mr. B's boss, Miserly Mistress. Finally, the Chamber took second and third in the annual report category. David House was the writer and J.O. (2014) did the design for the second-place finisher and Schaefer (2015) did the design for the third-place entry. How you could have two annual reports qualify in one year is a mystery to Mr. B, but big woohoos and shout outs to all.
PRESS YOUR LUCKPrizes
Click on the links below to enter for prizes

Santa's got to be close behind: Let's start with the big *. The 33rd annual XTO Energy Parade of Lights in the even more fabulous Sundance Square WILL NOT be the day after Thanksgiving. It will be the Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving (Nov. 22) at dark, just a few hours after the Romo-led Cowboys crush the Dolphins in sunny Miami. Parade spokesperson Claire Bloxom Armstrong of Pavlov barked that the parade date was moved so more turkeys would be around to enjoy the festivities. Featuring over half a million lights, the parade has dazzling illuminated floats, antique cars, marching bands, precision equestrian units, decorated horse-drawn carriages and carolers throughout the 1.58-mile parade route. There are activities all day, too, so why not just get a hotel room in Sundance Saturday night and spend all of Sunday square dancin'? Claire managed to strut her stuff and grab six VIP seats, which include complimentary food, beverages, padded chairs and private restrooms. 

Turkey legs: One can never predict Thanksgiving Day weather but we pray for no sore throats this year because last year, Mr. Reagan Ferguson of Pressman Printing had to stand in for the scheduled songmeister to sing the Star Spangled Banner and get the 34th annual Moritz Fort Worth YMCA Turkey Trot trotting. Reagan can run a press if you give him a pressman. He can really tell a joke. He can help the Westside Y's Chris Butler run a Trot. Singing, however, is not on  his resume. If you are as smart as the 14,000 or so runners that want to lose a few calories before overloading the rest of the day, then gobble up this chance for a team of four race registrations, a promotional t-shirt and a Trot hat.  
 
Selfies: Mr. B was trying to be self-taught about plumbing. Three flappers, two seals and one bathroom flood that looks like Hulen south of I-30 later, he is ceding the title and superlatives of Self-Taught Genius to the artists at the Amon Carter Museum. Its exhibit, Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum, features more than 100 works of "powerful and profound implications." The Self-Taught Genius collection is in a variety of forms, including textiles and needlework, ceramics, sculptural and carved figures, drawings, paintings, furniture and more, dating from the 18th century to the present. You'll be Tracy Greene with envy when you get this exhibition catalog and boxed note cards with works from the exhibit.

Clean, wholesome giveaway: Yes, we've had a lot of recent hard rain that washed away some of the pollen and battered limbs and knocked leaves off trees. The wet pollen and the sticky sap are hazardous to our cars. Is your car as filthy as Mr. B's Kia Rio, the deluxe model? Doug Cookson cooked up a great deal -- one month of free car washes for one car at Jerry's Express Car Wash. One car, up to every day for a month. Don't bring the Rio in the morning and try to come back with the Bentley in the afternoon. That won't wash. If you win and have a Rio, Mini or Smart Car, your car and Mr. B's Rio probably could fit in together. A two-fer.


Congratulations to Nov. 4 Prize Winners:
  • Donna Lasater, Justin Brands
  • Martin Garcia, Texas Secure Title
  • Brett Jeffreys, HandyMan Matters
  • Cara Kennemer, Underwood Law
  • Martha Earngey, Texas Wesleyan University
  • Katherine Curtis, Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS



 
  
HE SAID, SHE SAID, THEY SAIDSoundBytes
Health means wealth: Tomorrow from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. is the Fort Worth Better Health Through Economic Opportunity Forum, sponsored by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the University of North Texas Health Science Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The objective is to discuss  leveraging the influence of local and regional businesses to empower healthier individuals and communities through the areas of education, employment and income. And thought leader Mr. B wasn't invited. There are talks and panel discussions and then a lunch.  The event registration is full, but follow the live tweets and photos on Twitter via #opportunity4health.

B-hold! A woohoo!!!!! welcome to Consolidated Communications, the new presenting sponsor of B2B Insider. Mr. B is in the clouds with this news, which is where Consolidated is. Its tagline is master the cloud. Great thanks to all the B2B Insider sponsors. Without you (and readers), there would B no B2B or Mr. B.

Did you miss this chance? Maybe you saw that bio-pharma ZS Pharma was purchased last week for $2.7 Billion. TECH Fort Worth Executive Director Darlene Boudreaux recruited ZS Pharma to Texas as a client and helped it get a $2 million Texas Emerging Technology Fund grant. It IPO'd about two years ago at $115 million.

If there's a will, there's a way: Brian Yarbrough is 8 years old and could be the future of the Aledo football dynasty. The son of Robert Yarbrough (Tom's Mechanical) is a defensive tackle in his first year of football with pads. He is all of 55 pounds and playing a defensive tackle playing against 120-pounders. "He's quick and he crawls under them to get to the quarterback," a proud papa said.

Wow! Late last month, Texas Wesleyan President Frederick G. Slabach and his task force on athletic programs met to discuss the possible addition of football and women's lacrosse programs.

Take a moment:
Shout out and salute VETERANS, it's their day! At the Chamber's Job Links Excelerator monthly series, organizations helping vets and companies with employment opportunities abound. Next Excelerator is Dec. 2 at Tarrant College County Southeast, which oddly is on Southwest Parkway.

Where you lead, I will follow: T.D. Smyers was Commander of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base. He is currently the CEO of the American Red Cross' North Texas Region. Last week, he spoke on leadership at IDEA Works FW. Some highlights:
  •  His five tenets of leadership are transparency, integrity, risk tolerance, embracing continuous change and innovation. Integrity is what you bring to the table; transparency is what you practice.
  • Innovation, he said, is a team sport. Test your ideas and open everything to scrutiny.
  • Risk tolerance is not foolhardy, it's calculated.   
Stars & stripes: Michael Roundtree and Karl Giere merged branding, marketing and creative skills to form Zebra Crossing and late this summer bought two businesses doing digital consulting and SEO. They have clients in DFW, Ghana and working on a China deal. Zebra Crossing? In many foreign spots, it's what we would call a crosswalk. 

Take it to the Sheriff: If you like Robert Taylor, Lou Diamond Phillips and Katee Sackoff in the TV show Longmire as much as Mr. B and the Prospective Ms. B, then you'll want to be at the Southwest Regional Fort Worth Library Nov. 19. Longmire creator and author Craig Johnson speaks for free at 6:30 p.m., courtesy of the Fort Worth Library Foundation.

We're No. 6! We're No. 6! Leave it to Chamber economic expert David Berzina to point out that the North Texas region is the sixth largest economy in the country. Leave it to Mayor Price Is Right to point out "We're the envy of every other state and municipality ... And we're rapidly gaining on our friends in Houston."

"BBQ? Amateurs practice until they get it right. Pros practice until they can't get it wrong."

                                                -- Garret Cox, area manager at Red Hot & Blue Tarrant County
Dollars and sense: Robert Dye, a nationally honored Chief Economist for Comerica Bank, spoke recently at a luncheon of bank friends at City Club and opened with, now I'm going to "ruin a good lunch." How does he see the economy?
  • This "IS a recovered economy" for this business environment.
  • Fed will "crawl to normalcy" with gradual rate hikes over a couple of years. He said they may top out at 2.5 percent.
  • Oil prices and the China/Asia-contagion keep him awake at night.
  • Consumers will spend. They have less debt, more household income and more equity in their homes.
  • Growing communities should focus on infrastructure and schools.
  • Houston is in a regional recession. As you move north, the economy improves marginally.
  • Dennis Johnson, the bank's chief investment pinstriper of $30 billion, says forget about double-digit portfolio gains. And bonds won't see 4-5% returns any time soon. 
Sticky celebration: Next Tuesday is Entrepreneurs Day and a big cheer goes to all of the business owners within the Chamber. You might consider waiting until next Friday to celebrate because it's Peanut Butter Fudge Day.

Band camper: Brent Jeffreys had two kids -- well, he still has them -- performing on tenor sax in the recent Band of America competition in San Antonio. The family had to leave around midnight to make a 7:30 a.m. performance. The HandyMan Matters franchisee started making props for the performance back in August.

Civility: The ambitious, multi-month education campaign by the Fort Worth Opera centered around its original JFK opera next spring continues in Fort Worth Nov. 19. It's described as a candid conversation exploring JFK's civil rights initiatives and the progression of the civil rights movement and race relations in modern America since his presidency. Moderator is former Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders and one panelist is former Black Panther Eddie Griffin, a Fort Worth resident. It's 6:30-8 p.m. at the I.M. Terrell High School auditorium and is free, but you should register on the Opera's website.

Homey feeling: Next Wednesday at 6 p.m., Gladney Center for Adoption is returning to its former "home." Frost Bank is co-sponsoring a reception for Gladney at 2100 Hemphill to celebrate National Adoption Month. The Bastion resides there now.

Drillin' & dreamin': Chamber Am-Bass-Adorables give off positive vibes and the re-birth of oil and natural gas prices sure would be a positive vibe for the American Association of Professional Landmen, who are ribbon cutting because they see pipelines of great things in 2016. Adorables visit the AAPL, 800 Fournier Street, at 4:15 today and there could be lots of gushing. Next Wednesday, it's off for an 11:45 scissors and siesta event at the Radisson Hotel Fort Worth South, 100 E. Altamesa Blvd., where the rooms are dreamy. Photos from these and many Chamber events can be seen here.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS Calendar 

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BOOK OF LISTS END OF YEAR SALE. Resources 

Compiled and published annually by Fort Worth Business, this directory includes lists of top companies in more than 60 industries in Tarrant and Denton counties. On sale for $25.00 for both Chamber and non-Chamber members!
 
Contact Christine Gores to purchase or for additional information.




For sponsorship inquiries, contact Jennifer Vuduris or call (817) 338-3335

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