Feb 25, 2008

CBS Early Show calls Chattanooga green

If you happened to miss this while running out the door to the office....check it out

The CBS Early Show recently featured "green" vacation spots and the Scenic City made it to the list. I must admit that I haven't watched the program much since they broke up the duo of Harry Smith & Paula Zahn (and the other big weather guy-not Willard or Al) Maybe we should all watch them a little more now that they're singing the praises of Chattanooga.

The report noted that “Memphis loves to sing the blues, but in Chattanooga, the tune is ‘Go Green.’ The river town has come a long way since being designated America's most polluted city in 1969. Today, 22 miles of once inaccessible riverfront have been reclaimed for public use, and revitalization projects have made the city a model eco town and tourist hotspot.”

The host, Maggie Rodriguez, having lived/worked in Los Angeles, Miami and now New York remarked "look how beautiful it is"....we couldn't agree more.

Facebook Group


So you're good about showing up to the Chamber of Commerce breakfast meetings, and have no problem attending the after hours mixers, but are you networking online? Think it's just for high school and college flunkies? Think again. Social networking for business purposes is taking off big time.

Perhaps you are on Facebook, but haven't considered how your being on there can enhance your business networking prowess. According to Charlene Li, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, there are two reasons why people don't find applications like Facebook relevant to their professional lives: 1) Your professional colleagues are likely not actively using Facebook; and 2) Most of the applications today aren’t designed for a business context.

She goes on to say..."Let’s take the first problem – you may not have many friends in these social networks. This was my problem – it was only this past spring that people I actually know started using Facebook. My friends are posting links, book reviews, the events they were going to, and suddenly, I now find myself at a near addiction with Facebook. I went to an event because five friends said they would be there. And when I saw them at the event, I congratulated them on closing a round of financing and asked about their recent vacation – all of which had been shared on Facebook. What’s the business value of staying on top of your network? As we know from experience, priceless."

"Now for the second problem. Business applications on services like Facebook have yet to take off, which is why people like Tom Davenport have a hard time seeing the business value of social networking sites. I don’t blame him – after all, the most popular applications on Facebook today include such frivolous things like playing Scrabble and Vampires (where you “bite” your friends – don’t ask). That’s because these applications are being designed by 20-something developers for their 20-something friends."

Read the full article, then click on the image to join our Facebook group.

Feb 18, 2008

Motor City anyone?


Soon we can all get away to Detroit for the weekend (although I don't know why you'd want to leave this mecca of outdoor adventure). Northwest Airlines has announced non-stop flights starting up on June 5th.

The new daily service to Detroit is Chattanooga's 13th nonstop destination and seventh airline available from Chattanooga.
Daily travel will depart Chattanooga at 7:10 a.m. and arrive in Detroit at 9:20 a.m. Returning flights will depart Detroit at 7:10 p.m. and arrive in Chattanooga at 8:45 p.m. These schedule options are great for business travelers who would like to do their business all within the same day. The new Chattanooga-Detroit service will be operated by Northwest Airlink partner Pinnacle Airlines using 50-seat CRJ-200 aircraft.

Visit Northwest Airline, or call your travel agent. Say, if you know of a good one...let us know!

Feb 17, 2008

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Business Chatt is an ongoing conversation with the people & companies that make Chattanooga a great place to live, work & play