Following on our theme of civic engagement, this month we interviewed Brian Chavis, who's currently active in five Loudoun organizations and is a past participant in many others. Learn how he has incorporated community service into his business, and read his recommendations for getting involved.

No matter how large or small your business, crisis can come calling in the middle of the night and last a long time. For small business owner Tracy Weise, co-founder and president of Weise Communications and manager of public relations for the Medical Center of Aurora, Colorado, last year's mass shooting at a local movie theater meant fielding more than 300 media inquiries just in the first 36 hours of the crisis. Here are seven steps she recommends for preparing your business for a crisis.

Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google? Trick Questions, Zen-Like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You Need to Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy by William Poundstone.

Whether you're the one asking or answering questions in a job interview situation, you'll find this look inside the hiring practices of one of the world's top companies both informative and highly entertaining. Should you ask job candidates to describe a chicken using a computer programming language? Or how many golf balls it would take to fill a school bus? Find out what companies hope to learn when asking applicants such seemingly off-the-wall questions. Check it out from the Loudoun County Public Library.

Social TECHworking

Put away your cell phones and tablets, and take out your business cards! Join the Northern Virginia Technology Council for Social TECHworking: a high-powered networking event that connects tomorrow's tech leaders. Meet new colleagues and build your social and business networks with the future leaders of the region's technology community.

Date: May 1, 2013
Time: 6 - 8 p.m.
Place: Panache Restaurant, McLean, VA
Cost: $10 for members, $20 for nonmembers with $5 extra at the door

IdeaFusion™
What I.F.: Techies + Talk + Brains + Creativity + Drink + Food + Funds + Experience = IDEA FUSION™. Join Loudoun's tech community Meet-Up! You've heard about it, you read it about in the Washington Post; it's time to finally try it out!

Date: Tuesday, April 16
Time: 5:30 - 7 p.m.
Place: TBD
Cost: Free; registration and more details online

In each month's LoudounPreneur, we ask you to forward the newsletter on to colleagues and business associates who might appreciate it. This month each person who forwards the April edition to someone else (just copy LoudounBiz@loudoun.gov on your forwarded email) will be automatically entered to win a pint of Grade A Langdon Wood maple syrup aged in whiskey barrels from Loudoun's Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. Good luck!