A Few Good Seats Still Open for this Week’s Communicate BIZ Roundtable
Hampton Roads) Creating Awesome Social Media Marketing Campaigns for events, product launches, referral programs, and more…
Strategy for social media is often overlooked when we are ready to promote an event or any new product, service or business. How many topics do you need to keep interest and volume for posts? What visuals or videos can you implement or incentives? How can you better build “likes” and “followers” in the process and get more sharing of your messages? Be ready to get creative, think deeply, and network with people who can validate your strategies!
Join us for great networking, share your successes, and learn some new tips for your social media marketing campaigns. We will take a look at:
Engaging your team to evaluate current products and services with creating marketing campaigns
Identify key messages, visuals, and language specifically appealing in social media
Understand how to develop a mini-strategic plan for a social media campaign
When: Wednesday, July 23, 8:30 to 9:45 a.m.
Location: Simply Fresh Café & Market, Town Center, Virginia Beach
Fee: $15 includes Continental breakfast. Reservations required by check or credit card. No shows will be in-voiced. Includes complimentary coffee and sampling.
Pre-registration Required: Call Susan Long-Molnar, 757-513-8633
8:30-8:45 Networking and Introductions
8:45-9:05 Presentation
9:05-9:30 Interactive practicum
9:30-9:45 Sharing results and Q/A
And you will receive…
Opportunities to network
Chance to win a complimentary 1 hour marketing consulting session
List of attendees and contact information for future relationship building
Communicate BIZ Roundtable is a monthly seminar series for small business owners and professionals responsible for marketing, PR, sales and internal communications within their companies. We want you in the room if you are responsible for increasing revenue and/or engaging others to bring success to your organiza-tion in 2014! Monthly sessions are facilitated by Susan Long-Molnar, President of Managing Communications Consulting, who will often partner with another expert on the topic.
The 10th Anniversary of my 1st Father’s Day by Michael Camden
Every June, we celebrate Father’s day. It is an opportunity to honor our dads. Some people may call it a Hallmark holiday that has evolved into an attempt to cash in on our love and devotion of our fathers. Maybe it is, but I’m a lucky dad, so bring on the celebration.
According to Wikipedia, Father’s Day was not created by Hallmark. Instead, it was founded in Spokane, Washington at the YMCA in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd. Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there. After hearing a sermon about Mother’s Day in 1909, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father’s birthday, the pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father’s_Day)
This June is the 10th anniversary of my first father’s day; the first one playing the role of father rather than son. Thanks to my very first father’s day gift 10 years ago, my daughter honors me 365 days a year. That gift was something we have since come to call “Daddy Tree”. In fact, every one like it is now called a daddy tree. These trees have not always been indigenous to the Hampton Roads region. Thankfully someone realized there was a market for them this far north.
I will never forget my first Father’s day. Ten years ago, I returned home from a trip on Father’s day for a photo opportunity with my little girl in front of our daddy tree, a 2 foot tall palm tree in our front yard by the mailbox. It was so cool! Ironically, I had just returned from sunny Florida, where no one would think twice about daddy trees. A few years later, on our first family trip to Disney, I’ll never forget her reaction to the trees in Orlando. Daddy trees were everywhere and my daughter was in heaven. We had not even seen the Magic Kingdom yet. But not in our yard, there is only the one. Today, it towers over our driveway and stretches to the power lines. It has grown taller from year to year, just as my little buddy has matured and blossomed.
The tree has served as a symbol of our family’s love and of our recognition of father’s day. It is a lasting and living memory reminding me, daily, of the joy and blessings of fatherhood. Every year, we return to the foot of the daddy tree for another photo op; my daughter and the tree – each taller, and me – another year older with a little less hair.
I would not have anything to celebrate or to write about if it were not for my father (and mother), my loving wife, and of course my little girl. Thank you, sweet Caroline, for 10 awesome years. Happy father’s day dad and to every dad out there. Go spend some time making lasting memories with your kids. Perhaps you can plant your own daddy tree.
Michael Camden, MBA (father, husband, and son) is the Enrollment Coordinator for the Hampton Roads site of Troy University. He may be reached at 757-451-8203 or michael.camden@troy.edu.
Why Wait Until April for National Volunteer Month by Michael Camden
Every April, organizations and institutions around the country promote opportunities for all ages to volunteer in support of events, campaigns, and activities for non-profits, churches, government, and academic institutions. But why wait until April? And what happens after April? It would seem apparent that volunteers are needed year round.
Volunteering can be fun, motivational, and rewarding. Of course it can also be time consuming. There are many diverse ways for us to put our valuable time to work for others. Donate blood to the Red Cross. Organize a clean the neighborhood day. Join your civic league. Run or bike for a charity like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Take care of animals at the local shelter. It is a drop in the bucket to join organizations that do great works all around our region. Once you join, then step up and take on a leadership role on boards and committees. You will feel doubly worked and doubly fulfilled.
There are so many ways to put your talents to work for the good of everyone. You say you have no talent. What if you lack a certain talent that you would like to gain? Volunteer so that you can learn a new skill, while building your resume at the same time.
There are many great reasons to volunteer. Help others and feel great about yourself. Teach others and develop leadership and team building skills. Benefit from professional and social networking. Support the community. Experience the pure enjoyment and satisfaction!
Find your passion and get involved today. Most of us would agree that we are passionate about our children and their education. What better place to volunteer than through the Parent Teacher Association at your local school. The $5 membership fee helps fund programs throughout the school year. Equally important is your time: volunteering to sell refreshments on movie night, chaperoning your child’s class on a field trip, reading to an enthusiastic audience, landscaping the school grounds, or sponsoring a fundraising event. The list is endless. You and all of the children benefit from volunteerism in our local schools.
According to the March 2014 edition of The Voice (the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organization’s newsletter), the city of Virginia Beach acknowledges over 20,000 volunteers with a monetary value of $20,661,040.
As we close out the month of April and National Volunteer Month, please share your time and talent feely. Still I hope to see you out there doing your part 12 months a year! In fact, a great opportunity occurs on May 17 with Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup. Events are being planned locally, regionally, across the commonwealth and the nation. Together, we all can make a difference.
An avid volunteer, Michael Camden is the Enrollment Coordinator for the Hampton Roads site of Troy University. He may be reached at michael.camden@troy.edu.