September 1, 2015
Next BAH is Coming Soon - September 10th at Vintage!
The Next Business After Hours is Thursday, September 10th at Vintage Chop House - Wine Bar at The Inn at Bay Harbor from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Business After Hours is a well-attended "end-of-the-work-day" networking event designed to help participants make new business contacts, develop potential new customers, and build exposure for their businesses. Admission cost is $7 for members; $12 for not-yet members. 

This month's event is our annual Health Theme event and our sponsors include Blue Cross Blue Shield of MI, McLaren Northern Michigan, and Dermatology Associates of Northern Michigan.  

In addition this month's BAH will take place after the "Healthy at Work, Happy at Work, Retain Employees with a Wellness Plan" Seminar that will take place from 3:00 -5:00 p.m. at the Inn at Bay Harbor. Learn more and sign up now for this great seminar and get a FREE PASS to the Business After Hours!

Does your business work or relate to a Healthy lifestyle? Are you looking to get the word out about a new service or product or increasing visibility?? An average of 100-125 chamber members attend each event for networking opportunities, along with hors d'oeuvres, cash-bar refreshments and door prizes at our member properties. Be a sponsor of and upcoming BAH and you will be promoted in the e-mails and press releases prior to the event, the night of the BAH you will have a table for display, 10 admission passes to the event (a $70 value), plus be able to interact with the attendees and have microphone time at the event. Hurry space is limited so call Nikki Devitt at 347-4150 or email nikki@petoskey.com to reserve your spot today.

In addition, this month's BAH will take place after the 
"Healthy at Work, Happy at Work, Retain Employees with a Wellness Plan"

This is a seminar that will take place from 3:00 -5:00 p.m. at the Inn at Bay Harbor. 

Learn more and sign up now for this great seminar and get a FREE PASS to the Business After Hours!
In This Issue
Quick Links
Events Calendar
Downtown Petoskey 
Health Seminar
Upcoming BAH
Don't Miss out! Opportunites to Promote Your Business at the Sept. 17th Golf Outing Petoskey Bay View Country Club
The 20th Annual Golf Outing provides promotional opportunities for your business or organization.  We hope you will consider supporting this important chamber event which draws 144 golfers each year. 
  
Chemical Bank is the Marquee sponsor of the event.
Here are Seven ways you can get involved:
1.       Enter a team (foursome) to play in the outing. Only a few team openings are left.
2.       Be a hole sponsor - for $125 you can have staff at the hole to greet the golfers. You receive much publicity as a hole sponsor.
3.       Be an event sponsor - for $100 you can pick your event - longest putt, longest drive, closest to the hole in 2 and receive much publicity as event sponsor.
4.       Donate items for the golfer goodie bag (pens, coupons, sun screen, golf towels, golf tees, hand sanitizer)
5.       Donate a door prize (value of $25, gift certificate, shirt, sweatshirt, product, gas card)
6.       Donate an item for the Raffle (golf club, golf bag, spa package, gift basket, hotel stay, dinner)
7.         Donate an item for the live auction ($200 plus value)
 
Click here to email Nikki if you want to get involved, or call at 231-347-4150. You can also download a registration form here.
 
All sponsors and donations receive recognition in emails leading up to the event, on the website and in the golfer program.
 
Thank you to all of our sponsors, donators and golfers who have already committed to this year's fun event!. The event takes place Thursday, September 17, at Petoskey-Bay View Country Club.
Back to School Time!
Public Schools of Petoskey

First Day of School - Tuesday, September 8th

Open Houses and Orientation - Wednesday, September 2nd 
High School Orientation and School Photos - 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. 
(Sophomores: 10-11 a.m.; Juniors: 11-12 p.m.; Seniors: 12-1 p.m.;  Freshmen: 4:00-5:30 p.m.)
Middle School Open House, 4:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Elementary School Open Houses, 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Congratulations Kent!
Our director of Government Relations, Kent Wood, is among those on the latest 40 under 40 list issued by the Traverse City Business News.  The list names the most influential people under the age of 40 based on their profession and their contributions to community causes.  Kent represents the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce and its partnering chambers in the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance.  He is a registered lobbyist and leads the eight chambers in their advocacy programming.  
Safety Pays Off For Accident Fund Clients
Members of five northern Michigan chambers of commerce will see more than $200,000 in workers compensation dividends from Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.  In all 190-businesses from chambers in Traverse City, Alpena, Cadillac, Benzie County and Petoskey will receive the dividend checks which will range between $20 to more than $9,000.  The dividend amount of 6% is based on each participant's premium costs and is based on the safety performance of the risk pool.  Petoskey chamber members who choose Accident Fund for their workers compensation product immediately receive a 5% discount on their premium, and then become eligible for an annual dividend based on the performance of the risk pool.  2015 marks the second time in the last three years that Accident Fund has paid dividends to their clients who are PRCC members.  
Proposed Overtime Rules, Deadline for Comments is September 4th, 2015
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed changes to overtime rules that would impact businesses.  The changes are targeted at what has been known as "white collar" exemptions for executives and higher level professionals.  The proposed rules would change the current salary threshold for the exemption of employees from overtime pay from $455 per week ($23,660/year) to $921 per week ($47, 892/year).  The Dept. of Labor is currently accepting comments on the proposed changes.  To learn more or to make a comment before the September 4th deadline, visit here.
This weekly email product is produced to inform members about
community and Chamber related news, specials or events. Members looking to share something to the membership may do so in our Friday edition email periodically for FREE. Items are run for up to two weeks. If have something you want to share with the membership, you can e-mail it to nikki@petoskey.com.  Please keep event, special offer & business news submissions to 125 words or less. Deadline for Friday email content is Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Any questions contact Nikki at 231.347.4150
Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce | 231-347-4150 | www.petoskeychamber.com
401 E. Mitchell St. Petoskey, MI 49770