CONNECTIONS@PARK STATION--our semi-monthly networking meeting, continues to attract some of the most interesting people in mid-Pinellas County! 

There were 31 networkers gathered this morning, and 7 were first-timers! Another 16 are members of our Chamber. 

We had Jon Farris, President of the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber, which sponsors our TampaBayNetworkers meeting; licensed massage therapist Cheryl Atkinson; Sherry Alvarez with Government Development Center, LLC; Elizabeth Richey, a new associate with Patrick Mazza's Mazza Insurance & Financial Services; Christy Warner, from SoBiz Network; Bob Kunish, owner of Robert Donald Kunish Insurance Agency; and Cynthia A. Fox, a former exec for several non-profits and a fund-raiser and "creative thinker and innovator," who came as the guest of Helen Wertel.

We're all invited to breakfast next Wednesday, April 18, when the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber hosts its monthly breakfast for members and guests. Details here.



PLEASE SHARE: The chamber is hosting a Legal Ethics class for its Success In Business Series this month. It's free and includes a lunch catered by Vincent House and sponsored by BB&T Bank, and attorneys can earn 1 CLE unit for participating. If you know any lawyers or others who need to know the Florida Bar's rules for marketing on the Internet, please share this link!
http://members.pinellasparkchamber.com/Events/details/sibs-legalities-of-social-media-internet-personal-marketing

Congrats to Rose Gasperin (Empire Lighting Resources), who won a record-setting $17 in our 50/50 drawing! She immediately put it to use, buying Girl Scout cookies from Sue Riling (Healthy Vision)! Patrick Mazza won one seriously cute balloon puppy from our own Balloon Whisperer Marj Nye; Sherry Alvarez scored a "million dollar chocolate bar" from Laureen Lofgren (Florida Bank); Bert Bussey (Body by Vi) went home with a schedule of this season's Tampa Bay Rays' games (and yes, I know it's a baseball team ...) courtesy of Helen Wertel, the Tchatchke Lady, and Walt Morey (CORE Business Solutions) won a "baby-your-car" cloth donated by Marty Gregor (AMSOIL). Wrapping up our door prizes was another gift from Laureen Lofgren, a cup filled with goodies won by Janet Landt (Juice Plus)!

TBN founder and idea-a-minute role model Carl Lucchi stepped into our Featured Networker spot to  turn our attention to some of the effective lessons we've all learned as we meet, greet, and generate business in our ever-growing networks. "Networking is not a sprint," he reminds. "It's a marathon." Another pithy observation: "You're not looking for targets to sell your products or services to. You're trying to find the people you can help."

During the aprés feature give-and-take, Sue Riling offered this great comment: "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." 

Judging by the number of people who volunteered to share their experiences with the networkers in the room, this is a group that specializes in showing how much we care!

Co-director Debbie Brown (Ace Auto Air & Muffler) sang the praises of Patrick Mazza for his skill in finding the right insurance product for her business. Bert Bussey appreciated Eric Conte (Marathon Marketing Services) for helping him on short notice. Eric, in turn, thanked Walt Morey for helping boost his business with spot-on coaching, and Sue Riling started off the day's double shots of appreciation, thanking Debbie Brown, Almer Hargrave (AJ Technology Services, Inc.) , and Marty Gregor for great service all around! Patrick Mazza followed Sue's lead, praising Debbie and Marty for great car care and products, and Rose Gasperin for the quality and environmentally-conscious lighting she provided to him. Marj Nye jumped in to thank writer and storyteller Billie Noakes for inspired identification, Carl Lucchi (DSI Media) for help with her website, Debbie and Marty, Walt and Janet Landt for being her Juice Plus "pusher." 

ANNOUNCEMENTS were made, and if you'd like them included in this recap of our meetings, please e-mail them to writer@billienoakes.com . I can't remember all the great things you have going on, but I'm happy to help promote if you'll send me the details!

We're Invited to the next Membership Breakfast of the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber of Commerce on Wed., April 18, 8:45 a.m., at the Pinellas Park Senior Citizens' Center, 7625 - 59th St., N. Free, but we need a head count for our food order, so please register here.

Connections @ Park Station draws about 27 networkers to each meeting, and about 1/4 of us are first timers, so this is a great way to reach out to new people who are eager to make your acquaintance, and learn about your business.

Have you joined the TBN Meetup group? It's free to join and once you do, you can find all the TBN meetings in one convenient place, along with reviews of past meetings and automatic announcements of upcoming TBN meetings. Check it out here:

http://meetup.com/tampabaynetworkersfl/

Be sure to JOIN the Meetup group--it's free, and it has GREAT tools for sending out meeting announcements! 

If you are a TBN director with a meeting to promote, you really need to join Meetup so we can make you an EVENT HOST with access to the management side so you can post meetings on the easy-to-read Meetup calendar. 

So, that's it for this week. Hope to see you April 27 for our next Connections @ Park Station networking meeting!

To all the Chamber members who turned out to participate in our Trade Show, either as vendors with information or wares to share, or as sponsors of one of our non-profit tables, THANK YOU!

We had 66 tables available, SOLD OUT by Thursday night, and even had a new member sign up on the spot and pitch his own tent between our exhibit tents.

That enthusiasm permeated the entire day-long festival!

No, wait! It started FRIDAY NIGHT with the Pinellas Park Fire Fighters’ Chili Blaze chili cook-off, and it kept building from there.

Many thanks to table hosts:

• England Bros. Construction (Pinellas Park Art Society)
• Attorney Meni Kanner (Girls Incorporated)
• New Hope Auto & Truck Services (Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast/Pinellas Park)
• Pet Supplies Plus (American Cancer Society)
• Elliott Steele (Vincent House)
• CORE Business Solutions (Leash on Life Pet & People Services).

These businesses helped get important information out to the MANY thousands of people who came through out tents, and helped provide the Chamber with needed funds, too!

Of course, this couldn’t happen without our Board Volunteers and Chamber members and friends who managed set-up and tear-down without a hitch:

• Jon Farris (Chamber Pres./Crosspointe Church)
• Lynda Ferrera (Membership Recruitment)
• Nancy Hodges (Chamber Treas./Optek)
• Julio Marquez (Board/First Home Bank)
• Barbara Lombardo (Synovus Bank)
• Walt Morey (Board/CORE Business Solutions)
• Barry Moses (Mac's Interiors)
• Ethel Mudd (Board/Mainlands Real Estate)
• Billie Noakes (Chamber Admin.)
• Hope Peterson (Pres.-elect/New Hope Auto & Truck Services)
• Elliott Steele (Board/Vincent House)
• Larry Steinlauf (Chamber Admin.)

Seen on the grounds filling other responsibilities that day:

• Ricky Butler (Rick Butler Realty)
• Tim Caddell (City's Government Relations Administrator)
• Housh Ghovaee (Northside Engineering)
• Patti Johnson (Amber Glen Feed Depot/Newly elected Council member)

From the Chamber’s table at the southeast corner of the Trade Show, we managed to get our vendors checked in, touch base with every one of them at least once to be sure all was well (got lots of compliments for how smoothly it all went, too!), and even took donations for our Relay for Life team, collecting more than $250 for this very worthy effort!

Special thanks to Ethel Mudd and Nancy Hodges for putting together a beautiful gift basket for a door prize, and to Alco Associates/Blue Cross Blue Shield, for bringing a SECOND basket to boost the bottom line even more!

Many, many thanks to the City’s Government Relations office, headed by Tim Caddell. Tim, Joel Garren, and Pamella Roberts are the “management team” for Country in the Park, and they juggled city departments, community groups, entertainers, and the chaos that is part and parcel of a large-scale event like this with humor, grace, and incredible calm.

We made a special presentation to (now retired) Mayor William F. "Bill" Mischler, a replica of the F-35 fighter jet that Lockheed-Martin Aeronautics helped produce. Mayor Bill was a vigilant ambassador, helping this Department of Defense contractor to see the benefits of its location in Pinellas Park.

And there's MORE!

We had FIFTEEN NEW MEMBERS (joined since last Trade Show) this year!

Our MEMBER vendors included:

• 2-1-1 Tampa Bay Cares
• 66^th Street Flea Market
• A Touch of Wellness
• American Cancer Society
• Adams Outdoor & Survival
• Affordable Senior Resources
• Alco Associates
• American Housing Builders
• AutoWayToyota/Scion of Pinellas Park
• Bay Area Bookkeeping and Accounting
• C-5 Biotechnologies
• Cathy McKyton, Attorney-at-Law
• Classical Christian School for the Arts
• Community Health Centers of Pinellas
• Connechusett Animal Hospital
• Della Costa & Neville, P.A.
• Educational Homestay Programs
• Edward Jones
• Family Resources
• Foundation for Wellness Professionals
• Garden Sanctuary Funeral Home
• Gilrs Incorporated
• Grow Financial Federal Credit Union
• Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County
• Healthy Vision
• Hood Chiropractic
• Sen. Jack Latvala
• Kimberly A. Campbell, P.A.
• Lease on Life Pet & People Services
• Manhattan Hairstyling Academy
• Melaleuca/Amy Abrams
• Memorial Park Funeral Home
• Pet Supplies Plus
• Pinellas County Solid Waste
• Pinellas Park Art Society
• PNC Bank
• Qoggo, Inc.
• Robert Donald Kunish Ins. Agency
• Scott and Fenderson, Attorneys-at-Law
• Tampa Bay Community Development Corporation
• Tampa Bay Newspapers/Pinellas Park BEACON
• Verizon Wireless Sales
• Vincent House
• Wain Roberts Firearms
• Woodmen of the World

Non-Members and Non-profit Guests included:

• Bob Gualtieri for Pinellas County Sheriff
• CASA
• CredAbility
• Dog Tag Heroes
• Grateful American Coin
• Healthy Start Coalition of Pinellas
• Korean War Veterans
• Operation PAR
• Perenich, Caulfield, Avril & Noyes, Attorneys-at-Law
• Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
• Shelter Box
• Special Olympics
• Tampa Bay kidCare Outreach
• Third Party Voter Registration
• Saddle Up Riding Club

 For those members who couldn't make it this year: MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Next year's event falls on March 16!

CONNECTIONS@PARK STATION--our semi-monthly networking meeting, was a great place to be on March 23!

We numbered 36 strong, and 10 of us were first-timers!

Among them were Tim Caddell, Government Relations Administrator for the City of Pinellas Park, and Julio Marquez, of First Home Bank, both on the Board of the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber of Commerce; Jeri Kallush, from Sunset Palms Mobile Home Park; Beth Ann Cooper, guest of Janet Landt; Tom Austin and Cheryl Hott from Deaf and Hearing Connection; Marlene (invited by Laureen Lofgren?); Matt Jerabek from MR. DRY OUT; Tom DeBella, Southland Real Estate, Inc.; and Tracy Baer, North Shore Insurance Group. Welcome! We hope you'll join us often!

Co-director Debbie Holman Brown (Ace Auto Air and Muffler) gave a terrific recap of Chili Blaze, the Pinellas Park Firefighters' annual fund-raiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. She says lots of people said her "chili station" was the loudest ... make that the most enthusiastic ... group there!

Laureen Lofgren (Florida Bank) won our 50/50 drawing, donating her winnings to Featured Networker Janet Landt's (Juice Plus) Relay for Life team. You know what? Laureen also won two tickets to today's Grand Prix, donated by Patrick Mazza (Mazza Insurance and Financial Services)! Tom DeBella won a set of fragrances from Avon, donated by Birgit Wilhelm (Birgit's Avon), and Gregg Rose (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) won a just-in-time-for-Easter balloon chick, fashioned by The Balloon Whisperer herself, Marj Nye (Balloon Creations and Fun).

Janet Landt was our Featured Networker this time, and she shared the story of the significance of the afternoon-to-morning schedule of Relay For Life. Janet is heading a team on Treasure Island on April 14 and 15, and team members are staging fund-raisers right up till they set up camp behind the Bilmar Hotel.

Connections Director Billie Noakes (Writer and Storyteller) asked how many of us had actually done business with someone else in the room, and almost every hand shot up! Is this networking at its finest, or what?

ANNOUNCEMENTS were made but they came too fast to write down!  If you're at a meeting and you'd like your announcements included in this recap of our meetings, please e-mail them to writer@billienoakes.com by the end of the meeting day!

You're Invited to the next Membership Breakfast of the Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber of Commerce on Wed., April 18, 7:30 a.m., at the Pinellas Park Senior Citizens' Center, 7625 - 59th St., N. Free, but we need a head count for our food order, so please register here.


Connections @ Park Station draws in about 25 networkers each meeting, and about 1/4 of us are first timers, so this is a great way to reach out to new people who are eager to make your acquaintance, and learn about your business.

Have you joined the TBN Meetup group? It's free to join and once you do, you can find all the TBN meetings in one convenient place, along with reviews of past meetings and automatic announcements of upcoming TBN meetings. Check it out here:

http://meetup.com/tampabaynetworkersfl/

Be sure to JOIN the Meetup group--it's free, and it has GREAT tools for sending out meeting announcements!

If you are a TBN director with a meeting to promote, you really need to join Meetup so we can make you an EVENT HOST with access to the management side so you can post meetings on the easy-to-read Meetup calendar.

So, that's it for this week. Hope to see you April 13 for our next gathering of networkers at Connections @ Park Station!

The Pinellas Park/Gateway Chamber of Commerce welcomed FIFTY new members this year, and we're hoping to double that gain in 2012.

How? By continuing to provide our members with interesting program speakers at our breakfast meetings!

Breakfast meetings are free to Chamber members and guests, and we meet on the third Wednesday of most months.

Ken Burke, Clerk of the Circuit Court, will talk about the relevance of public records to our businesses at our January 18 meeting. That's at 7:30 am on Wed., Jan. 18, at the Pinellas Park Senior Citizens' Center. 7625 - 59th St., N.

OH! And our Ambassadors Committee meets just before that, at 7:15 am.

On Sat., Jan. 21, 6:30 pm, we're holding our Annual Installation Banquet at the Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center, 4951 - 78th Ave., N.

Our new Prez, Jon Farris, will be joined by Officers Hope Peterson, Elliott Steele, Nancy Hodges, Tim Caddell, Housh Ghovaee, Terry England, Ethel Mudd, and Immediate Past President Paul Ziegler.

Join us to welcome our officer and Board for 2012, and to applaud award-winning businesses and individuals.

TALLAHASSEE, HERE WE COME! 

Our Chamber is heading north to hobnob with our elected officials in Tallahassee.

We'll make our own travel and accommodations arrangements (call the office if you want some help with logistics), and meet the evening of Tuesday, January 31, for dinner with a couple of our legislators and others in-the-know. Wednesday morning, February 1, it's breakfast and then on to the state House and Senate chambers, and scheduled meetings with representatives and state senators.

More details as they're available, especially at that Breakfast meeting on Jan. 18!

Looking for some great networking and a chance to make new contacts? Join us on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month for Connections@ParkStation. We meet in Room 101 at 8:45 a.m., and we enjoy an hour (plus 15 minutes) of making great connections. Bring your business cards and flyers! Our next meeting is set for Friday, Jan. 13, and our Featured Networker is Nick Mazeika.

We all want our businesses to succeed, and the Chamber is dedicated to helping them do just that. We have a great series of classes, our Success in Business Series, that provides you with two full hours of information geared to one specific topic. On January 26, we're talking about The Art & Scienc of Sales  with member Nick Mazeika. And get this: the class and a light lunch cost only $19.95 ($24.95 if you're not a Chamber member). The class runs from 11:30 a.m. till 1:30 p.m.

Thinking it's time to take Social Media by storm? We have a class for that, too. Our first class is on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and you'll learn how LinkedIn and Twitter, and blogs, can give your business a serious boost. These are hands-on classes, so if you don't have a LinkedIn or Twitter account (both are free), call the office and we'll get you set up. This class starts at 11:00 a.m. and runs till 3:00 pm here at Park Station. Cost is $39.95.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

It's time to start thinking about Country in the Park, our city's celebration of all things country!

Our Chamber Trade Show is a big part of the day's events, and you can reserve YOUR table NOW. We've kept prices stable, just $125 for members ($300 for non-members), and you'll get your message in front of the 10,000 visitors who stream into Pinellas Park to enjoy the day's offerings. Call the office at 727-544-4777 for information.

MORE? Yes!

The Chamber is fielding a team in the Relay for Life to help raise funds for cancer research and patient care. We need you to be on our team, to help us sell ribbons on our Tree of Hope/Tree of Life, and to generate revenues the day of the event. It's scheduled for April 13 and 14 at England Brothers Park.

TIME FOR YOU, too!

If your business is celebrating an anniversary, staging a ribbon cutting, or hosting an event for the community, you can announce it on our calendar. Log in with your username and password at http://pinellasparkchamber.com, and post your event. We check every day, so once we see your listing, we'll make it public.

UPCOMING MEMBER EVENTS: 

Old Fashioned Story Swap. FREE. Sunday, Jan. 8, 3:00 pm at Park Station, 5851 Park Blvd. Tales tall or small, for kids or grown-ups (but all should be family-friendly). Tellers and listeners--all are welcome. Info: 727-647-8057.

Housewarming Party at Weight Watchers, 7322 US Hwy 19 N., Pinellas Park. FREE. Saturday, Jan. 14, 9 am - 5 pm. Special one-day-only offer, prizes refreshments, recipes, and MORE!

BAHA Horse Show. FREE. Sunday, Jan. 18, 8 am - 4 pm at the Equestrian Center at Helen S. Howarth Park, 6331 - 94th Ave., N., Pinellas Park. Open show, Juvenile, Adults, Special Olympics.

Grand Re-Opening at Bayside Terrace. FREE. Thursday, Jan. 26, 4 - 6 pm at 9381 US Hwy 19 N., Pinellas Park. Refreshments, live DJ. See what's new at this independent/assisted living community, which has a memory support unit.

CAMS Local Talent Open Mic. $3. Friday, Jan. 27, 7-10 pm at the Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center, 4951 - 78th Ave., N. Cabaret seating.

Pinellas Folk Festival. $5 donation (suggested), Saturday, Jan. 28, 10 am -4 pm. Heritage Village, 11909 - 125th St., N., Largo. (Chamber member Billie Noakes tells stories on the Log Cabin Stage at 11:00 am and 3:00 pm.)

Remember, too, that you can send your press releases to office@pinellasparkchamber.com and we'll post those on our website, too.

OK. That seems like plenty of information for you to think about. If you'd like to submit a blog for the Chamber's website, please send it to office@pinellasparkchamber.com.

GULF COAST REHAB & WELLNESS sponsored a TERRIFIC "Get Connected Lunch" for our Chamber members on November 22!

Dr. Kevin Lee is a gracious host, Becky Burton is an organizer extraordinaire, and we got to see first-hand how, at Gulf Coast Rehab & Wellness, they "got your back."

Helen Fizell (Affordable Senior Resources) brought guest Suzanne Williams (Perfect Fit bicycles), then won a FULL-HOUR massage to enjoy at her leisure. Board Prez Paul Ziegler brought Matthew Brown (both of BB&T), and we also saw Board member Walt Morey (CORE Business Solutions) and 2012 Board electee John Della Costa (Della Costa and Neville, P.A.). New member Dowling Graphics was represented by Jennifer Bertisch, who announced a special drawing for our Dec. 9 holiday lunch. Wendy Sutherland and Heather Hutto (Bay Area Bookkeeping and Accounting), Almer Hargrave (A&J Technology Svcs.), Billie Noakes (Writer and Storyteller), Rose Gasperin (Empire Lighting Resources), Viviane Ramsey (H&R Block), Shari Swafford (Partners in Travel Service), and Janet Landt (Juice Plus) rounded out our guest list.

See you DECEMBER 9 at the Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center for our HOLIDAY LUNCH! (Bring a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots, and be registered to win 300 imprinted pens, courtesy of Dowling Graphics!)