Marketing and sales are two areas in which budding entrepreneurs find themselves woefully inadequate. Yet these are usually the most important functions of any company, especially small businesses that lack abundant resources.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods (312) 353- 4540, www.scorechicago.org

Join technical communication consultants and independent contractors on August 7 for a lively conversation about how to deal with difficult clients. Keeping with our goal of building a sense of “coopetition,” where independent consultants cooperate to better compete, this meeting will be in a discussion format, guided by Eric Schieler and Jill Spealman.

Topics will include:

• What makes clients difficult?
• Lessons learned by participants
• How to keep clients happy
• Strategies for handling difficult situations
• Strategies for handling late or missed payments
• When to leave the client vs. completing the project

Where

Illinois Institute of Technology
Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Campus
201 East Loop Road
Wheaton, Illinois 60187-8489

Agenda

• 6:00 Registration, networking
• 6:15 Dinner
• 7:00 Program
• 8:30 Close

Registration

Register today at http://www.stc-chicago.org/portal/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=322.

Advance registration ($ 30) ends Tuesday, August 5, at 7:00 PM. After then, you must register at the door and pay $ 40 by cash or check (payable to Chicago STC CIC SIG).

Questions? Contact: cicsig@stc-chicago.org

SocialDevCamp Chicago is an unconference for individuals passionate about social networks, web applications, platform development, new media, and any of the exciting (but messy) topics between.

Join some of the brightest minds in the Midwest for a day of fun, learning, and coding. Discussions will surround topics including Google App Engine, Data Portability, Online Trust, and mobile application development.

Please sign up and contribute to the topics list on the official BarCamp Wiki.

To add your name and contact info to the wiki, use the password \\\”c4mp\\\”

Also feel free to help us SPREAD the word by blogging, tweeting, forced coercion, word-of-mouth marketing, fortune cookie inserts, etc. Link to either this event page or the official Wiki.

BLOG, BLOG, TWEET, POWNCE, BLOG, TUMBLE, SHARE THIS…enter your social media buzzword of choice and help spread the message!

Finally, thanks to Nik Rokop and the Illinois Institute of Technology staff for helping to secure the amazing McCormick Tribune Campus Center. Don\\\’t forget to look up from your computer to enjoy the Mies van der Rohe and Rem Koolhaas designs.

(A successful SocialDevCamp East already occurred in Baltimore on May 10. The next East installment is tentatively scheduled for Fall 08).

Questions? Contact: Tim Courtney - tim at timcourtney , net

This workshop covers cash flow and break even analysis to help you achieve financial success in your business.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, (312) 353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Purpose of e-Learning Showcase:
This is a full day celebration of the best e-learning found in Chicago. The Showcase focuses on the topics of synchronous virtual presentation programs and supporting software, such as webinars, online seminars, virtual classroom, blended learning, and online business simulations. But you can also expect to find presenters demonstrating their work on these topics and more: Authoring tools, development companies, and knowledge management tools will all be discussed and explained.

Who Should Come: Mark your calendar for August 20 to pre-register at the astounding price of $ 25 ($ 50 nonmembers) to hear and see e-learning in all its shapes and forms. You will be able to network with instructional designers, instructional developers, technical writers, trainers, training managers, content managers, and media developers just like yourself to learn the newest and best. Registration will soon be available at the websites of the sponsoring organizations STC-Chicago www.stc-chicago.org and CISPI www.cispi.com

Questions? Contact: Mike Tillmans, 630-584-0134, eyedee@aol.com

Taking Your Business Online is an opportunity to learn best practices for your business website. The first half will focus on the objectives, terms, technologies and tools to get a website up and running. Learn about terms like HTML, review web hosting, and understand alternative development approaches. Find out about shopping carts, shipping costs and fulfillment. The second half of the workshop will provide you with design techniques to evaluate and improve an existing website, including user interface optimizations and enhancements like blogging. If you are looking to take your website to the next level, or just get started with your first business website, this workshop is for you.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, (312) 353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Taking Your Business Online is an opportunity to learn best practices for your business website. The first half will focus on the objectives, terms, technologies and tools to get a website up and running. Learn about terms like HTML, review web hosting, and understand alternative development approaches. Find out about shopping carts, shipping costs and fulfillment. The second half of the workshop will provide you with design techniques to evaluate and improve an existing website, including user interface optimizations and enhancements like blogging. If you are looking to take your website to the next level, or just get started with your first business website, this workshop is for you.

Questions? Contact: Dave Wopds, (312) 353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Marketing is vital throughout a business to give you direction, to help you to set goals/objectives that will contribute to your success, and to ensure that everyone involved is focused on the same targets; this workshop will cover effective and strategic utilization of pricing, promotion, product planning and distribution to give you a competitive edge.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Improve business results by effective use of financial tools for forward planning and analysis. This workshop covers cash flow (as different from an income statement) and break even analysis to help you achieve financial success in your business. Attendees will have access to a cash flow template in Excel format which they can customize.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

A thoughtful and well-executed business plan is the first step for every potential entrepreneur. Good planning increases the odds of success. This workshop covers the essential elements of business plan development. Topics include: setting goals and objectives, preparing marketing and financial plans and defining action steps to attain appropriate goals. With a good plan, build your roadmap to success.

Questions? Contact: Dave #Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

WindyCityRails is a gathering for all who are passionate about Ruby on Rails. Developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists will interact for a full day in the Windy City. Only 150 seats are available and they are expected to sell fast. Visit http://windycityrails.org for registration and details.

Questions? Contact: http://windycityrails.org

Understand the various ways you might finance your business and how to approach friends and family, angel investors, banks and venture capitalists. Learn to prepare the documents you need to submit for each. A guest banker will also present criteria to obtain financing.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Once you have determined the answer to the question, \”Who is my customer\”, you then need to know how to effectively get your product or service into that customer\’s hands. Marketing and sales are two areas in which budding entrepreneurs find themselves woefully inadequate. Yet these are usually the most important functions of any company, especially small businesses that lack abundant resources. Mike Sullivan is an accomplished entrepreneur who used these techniques to build a very successful company. He is an award winning public speaker and a member of The Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

Do you have what it takes to start and run a successful business? If so, what are the first steps you should take? This workshop will help you assess your prospects, give you the initial direction you need, and inspire you to move forward to realize your dream

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods, 312-353-4540, www.scorechicago.org

This workshop will cover effective and strategic utilization of pricing, promotion, product planning and distribution to give you a competitive edge.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods (312) 353-4540

This workshop shows you how accounting statements like an income statement and balance sheet can help you understand and manage your business. It also covers the basics of federal, state and local taxes and the importance of good record keeping. Finally, it gives you an introduction to evaluating business risks and insuring against them

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods (312) 353-4540

A thoughtful and well-executed business plan is the first step for every potential entrepreneur. Good planning increases the odds of success. This workshop covers the essential elements of business plan development. Topics include: setting goals and objectives, preparing marketing and financial plans and defining action steps to attain appropriate goals. With a good plan, build your roadmap to success.

Questions? Contact: Dave Woods (312) 353-4540