ChamberWorks
January 2009

 » Sharp New Marketing Weapon: Restaurant Week!
 » HSBC Gets its Turn in the Spotlight
 » The Chamber's Going to CHINA! Wanna Come Along?
 » Banner Sponsors Support Our Business Community
 » Got a Small Business? Here's a Big Voice
 » Help Our Schools Get the Money They Need
 » New Year, Old News

Browse past news items in the ChamberWorks Archive

See what Fairfield Chamber members have been up to in Members News & Events

 
Sharp New Marketing Weapon: Restaurant Week!

Never mind "Shark Week." We've got more teeth, a bigger appetite, and feet. Thousands of feet.

We, the fearsome predators of the highway, are circling Fairfield and Westport eateries looking for an awesome meal to sink our teeth into, and our stomachs will not be denied. Watch out, because here it comes: Restaurant Week!

It's a simple but brilliant idea that we stole from the New Haven Chamber. For one week in April, participating restaurants (yes, our ravenous eyeballs are lookin' at you) will offer a special three-course prix fixe dinner — an appetizer, choice of three entrées and desserts, plus coffee/tea — all for just $29.95 (tax, tip and drinks not included).

Prix fixe is French for "shark bait," but it's gonna take more than a few fish with paper cuts to attract the rampaging hordes of area restaurant goers.

That's why we'll be slamming full-page ads into the Fairfield Citizen-News and Westport News, bombarding Chamber members and VIPs with fliers, pounding the drums on the Chamber's web site (like, you're reading some of it right now), spitting out press releases, plastering Fairfield and Westport* with window posters and screaming about Restaurant Week! on local radio stations.

Restaurant Week! runs Apr. 19–25, 2009, and the cost to participate is just $50 for Chamber members and $100 for non-members. But you might want to rent some shark cages for the staff while you're at it.

To sign up or get more info, call the Chamber at 255-1011. We promise not to bite you.

* Westport posters to be plastered by participating Westport restaurants

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HSBC Gets its Turn in the Spotlight

After waiting what seemed like 15 years, the Post Road branch of HSBC finally got its chance to host a Business After Hours this month. For the 75-odd attendees it was a good networking workout, as we had many new members as well as prospective members circulating around the lobby.

Those edibles that The Pantry brung us were up to their high standards as always. The shrimp in particular got the piranha treatment, with people gobbling them down before you could say "Hey, is that … was that … shrimp?"

Editor's note: An email from the International Society for the Self-Esteem of Fishes takes issue with our writer's use of the phrase "piranha treatment" in this article. They rightly point out that "piranha do not hunt in packs, despite long-standing myths to the contrary, and are just as likely to bite another piranha as anything else." We would still discourage you from slathering yourself with fish entrails before a swim in the Amazon, however.

We'll be bringing you pictures straight from the camera of Regina Madwed when she polishes off her latest slideshow, so watch this space for updates.

The Bank of the Month Club takes a short break in February as we mosey on down to Associated Community Brokers for our next Business After Hours, Feb. 11.

If that sends you into bank withdrawal, fear not as The Bank of Fairfield plays host Mar. 25. And you get not one, but two chances to network in March, with the Regional Business Networking Expo (aka the "bunch of Chambers in Norwalk" show) coming up on the 18th as well.

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The Chamber's Going to CHINA! Wanna Come Along?

In conjunction with Citslinc International, Inc, we're hosting a 9 day trip to China, and you won't have to dig a hole to get there — the hole is included in the cost of the tour.

Swooshing out of JFK International Airport on Oct. 16, 2009, we'll visit the cities of Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. From the Forbidden City to the Great Wall, the Lingyin Temple to the Yu Garden, it's a sightseeing bonanza for just $1,899 per person (double occupancy).

That includes round-trip airfare, 5-star or 4-star accommodations, deluxe tour buses, knowledgeable English-speaking tour guides, three full meals each day, fees for all attractions, any applicable taxes and the aforementioned hole to China.

Travelers interested in business and pleasure will have opportunities to explore that side as well.

It's your responsibility to have an up-to-date passport and the necessary visa (a visa application form is available at the Chamber office and at china.visahq.com). Cost for a visa is generally $130.

An invaluable pre-tour briefing for all participants will be held Mar. 4, 2009 at 5:30 pm in the Board of Education Conference Room (second floor), 501 Kings Highway. Please sign up here to indicate your interest. Citslinc International has 28 years of experience in the China tour business and we're confident that they have the answers to all of your questions — whether you want to know about tipping or taxis, luggage or lunches, customs or rest rooms, we will prepare you well for your adventure.

The registration deadline is July 29. Watch for online registration forms and more details about the tour, right here.

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Banner Sponsors Support Our Business Community

Just squeaking in under a tight deadline, the Chamber's Street Banner Program is now in production.

We thank everyone who purchased a banner — you didn't have much time to think it over, but the decision wasn't all that difficult, was it? Attach your name (literally) to the Chamber's new campaign to boost local businesses, let it hang in the air for two months and take the banner home with you after it's all over.

For those who still need the logo specifications, please click here.

These are the names that you (and thousands of other people passing through the center of town) will be seeing in February and March.

When February rolls around, watch those lamp posts. The message we're sending is loud and clear (and big and green, too):

Support. Local. Business.

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Got a Small Business? Here's a Big Voice

The Fairfield Chamber, like many other associations and membership organizations, can't afford its own Washington lobbyist. We can't even afford one for our own lobby. So what do you — the small business owner — do to get people's attention down there? (No, mailing suspicious looking packages to Congress is not recommended.)

The US Small Business Administration is your advocate in the nation's capital, taking its direction from small business owners like you. (What, a government agency that listens to its constituency? Get out!)

They even have a blog, the Small Business Watchdog (weblog.sba.gov/blog-advo/), and you can join the conversation in the comments.

[A note from our webmaster, currently in hiding somewhere in Argentina: If you're using a browser other than Internet Explorer, expect some ugly formatting when you visit the blog — and slightly less ugliness if you are using IE. Our government at work.]

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Help Our Schools Get the Money They Need

If you have children in the Fairfield Public School System, consider volunteering for a committee regarding grant money for our schools. The first meeting is Feb. 3, with probably three more meetings needed for the remainder of 2009.

For more information, contact Ken Seltzer, grants coordinator for the Carl Perkins Foundation. Reach him by phone at 203-255-8394, or email him at kseltzer@fairfield.k12.ct.us.

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New Year, Old News

With tight deadlines on the Street Banner Program turning the Chamber offices into a whirling barbed-wire hairball of Biblical proportions, some equally newsworthy items have been sadly neglected.

Missing Person Number One on the ChamberWorks milk carton is last month's Holiday Reception at People's United Bank.

It happened to be host Al Paolozzi's birthday. Staying late for a Chamber event on a crummy, rainy evening may not be the best way to celebrate your birthday, but the 90-odd attendees wished him well with many happy returns.

Besides serving as an accidental birthday party, the reception was the latest incarnation of our annual charity event to benefit Operation Hope. The swell of donations — a gratifyingly diverse mix of gifts, clothing, canned goods, cash donations and more — easily matched last year's generosity, despite the weather and the growing chorus of economic hiccups. The Chamber contributed a portion of the evening's proceeds as well.

As with all bank-sponsored events the food was plentiful, and the desserts provided by The Pantry were as mouth-watering as ever. Musical duo Steve Clark (guitar) and Mark Edinberg (keyboards) kept the atmosphere light and festive, never mind the rain outside.

Amidst the holiday trappings and worthy causes, the reception is also a networking event at heart, and people lingered well past the 7:30 closing time.

Check out Regina Madwed's slideshow of the festivities, and crank up your speakers — normally I'd call for a 364-day moratorium on Christmas music after the holidays, but I have to admit that the Hendrix-soaked "O Christmas Tree" really rocks. I'd love to know who recorded that.

If things seems unusually quiet around town, that's because UI and CL&P are finally done blowing up the Post Road.

After what felt like 30 years of road destruction, just before Christmas they finished the electric line upgrade — ahead of schedule after all — and now we can sleep soundly again.

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