He profits Most Who Serves Best, August 1911
1124_ 12/12/11 - With over 700 in attendance, the Colorado Rotarians celebrate the culmination of 100 years in Colorado at the 6th annual state of the state luncheon. Christy Ramee, President, Rotary Club of Denver Lodo introduces Governor John Hickenlooper. The first motto of Rotary International, "He profits Most Who Serves Best", was approved at the second Rotary Convention, held in Portland, Oregon, in August 1911. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a geologist-turned brewpub pioneer who had never run for political office (not even student council) before being elected Denver Mayor in 2003, was elected Governor of Colorado on Nov. 2, 2010. One of the topics the governor talked about is one of Colorado’s challenges. Colorado is ranked #42 out of 50 states on per student costs, speed and access to the internet at our schools. Our neighboring states of Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah offer high speed internet access at one-tenth the current Colorado costs. In 2000, approximately 45,000 classes throughout the US school systems were taken online. In 2009, approximately three million classes were taken online. The expectation is that by 2019, one half of all high school classes will be online. The students of Colorado deserve access to high speed internet at an affordable price to meet the challenges of the 21st century global economy! Here’s the solution. With the support of the three Rotary Districts in the State of Colorado and many current and former Rotarians, the Rotary Club of Denver assisted EAGLE-Net (Educational Access Gateway Learning Environment Network, www.co-eaglenet.net ) to acquire a $100.6 million federal stimulus grant, plus $46 million additional in in-kind services to install high speed internet to 234 community anchor points (CAIs) throughout the State. These CAIs include all 178 school district buildings. The other CAIs are libraries, museums and some colleges and universities not already served. This network is referred to as the “Middle Mile” and construction has already started...get involved and listen, there's much more...
Related Links: Colorado State Web Portal || EAGLE Net || Rotary District 5450 || Rotary Club of Denver Club 31 || CO High Speed Internet Project || PodCast Directory || Keywords: Governor, John Hickenlooper, Colorado, Rotary, High Speed Internet Project, EAGLE-Net, Educational Access Gateway, Learning Environment Network, Community Anchor Points - bytes=18269730
LISTEN TO: Gov. John Hickenlooper

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Expert advice for managing social media
1126_ 12/12/11 - Today Lucy Sanders, CEO for the National Center for Women and Information Technology or NCWIT along with Larry Nelson, Director of w3w3® Media Network are interviewing Clara Shih the best selling author of The Facebook Era and founder/CEO of Sequoia-backed Hearsay Social, one of the fastest-growing and most exciting technology companies in Silicon Valley. Clara is a renowned social media authority and technology leader whose New York Times-featured book has been translated into nine languages and is used as a textbook at Harvard Business School. Hearsay Social develops social media software to enable large franchise brands to create, measure and distribute content out to local reps, agents, and franchisees' Facebook or Twitter pages. Consider insurance agents, financial advisors, coffee houses or restaurant chains. They are part of important corporate brands, but what makes them thrive are local relationships. Social media can help, but it needs to be managed in a way that supports the brand, customer satisfaction and hence the business bottom line. Our listeners are familiar with “customer relationship management” for businesses this is something like, social media relationship management. In 2007, Clara created the first business application on Facebook and subsequently authored the New York Times-featured best selling book The Facebook Era, which has sold over 21,000 copies worldwide. Previously, Clara was a marketing executive at salesforce.com, and held technology and product positions at Google and Microsoft. Clara has a BS in computer science and economics and MS in computer science from Stanford. She is a frequently invited keynote speaker on social media at global conferences including AlwaysOn, Web 2.0 Expo, Enterprise 2.0, CRM Evolution, Social-Loco, American Marketing Association, Toronto TechWeek, and Social Ad Summit. There are a number of learning points for entrepreneurs and leaders offered by Clara...listen for more...
Related Links: Hearsay Social || Find Clara on Facebook || and Twitter @clarashih || NCWIT Home || NCWIT Practice || NCWIT Blog || Heroes Channel || Why Facebook Matters for B2B || Keywords: Clara Shih, Hearsay Social, National Center for Women in Technology, Lucy Sanders, NCWIT, Entrepreneurs, The Facebook Era, Facebook, Twitter, Social Media, - bytes=152933443
LISTEN TO: Clara Shih, CEO/Founder, Hearsay Social

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Fifty-two percent of U.S. employers are having trouble filling jobs
1120_ 12/5/11 - Unemployment has been around 9% for some time and it doesn't look like there's any change in the immediate future. We have with us today, an expert in the employment arena, Melodie Reagan, i2i Workforce. Larry's question relates to the employer's view of the dilemma, even with the high unemployment it is difficult to find people for the jobs and yet people seeking employment are having a hard time finding work. Melodie said, "It's a very paradoxical situation, but it is a reality. There are a couple of trends and situations emerging that make it ever more complex." She explains, very simply it is a supply and demand issue. Manpower does an annual talent shortage survey and 52% of U.S. employers are having trouble filling jobs. According to Manpower the top three jobs they're having difficulty selling are skilled trades, sales representatives and engineers. The openings are now in double digits, so it's getting worse. One of the issues they're running into is about fit, it's about having the right skill. What is happening is we have workers with a specific skill set and employers looking for a specific skill set but they're not necessarily coming together. An example, you're not going to hire a sales rep that sells cars to sell software, right? The employer has a list of requirements and it's difficult to find someone who fits all the requirements. Another issue is with employers, once they bring someone, because of longevity. Longevity in the U.S. is actually under three years. Compared to the top 13 industrialized nations, we have the shortest job duration. Consequently employers can no longer afford to train workers unless they come to the job with the appropriate skill sets. Employers are willing to train for job specific skills but not marketable skills. They'll train you if they use a CRM, but they're not going to train you to be a sales person. Consequently what's happening is we are running into skill gaps. Situations that Melodie's company has run into are companies hiring marketing managers - and the marketing manager doesn't know anything about social media; or sales representatives that they don't know how to use a CRM, or Sales Force or an online web tool. They have even seen situations where they've had engineers that don't know how to use computers or automated tools because of the industry they've been in ...listen, there's more detail...
Related Links: i2i Workforce || Colorado Companies to Watch || In the News || Blog || Keywords: Melodie Reagan, i2i Workforce, Colorado Companies to Watch, Talent Strategy, Recruiting, Jobs, Unemployment, Manpower, Training - bytes=6965606
LISTEN TO: Melodie Reagan, i2i Workforce

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Increase the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
1122_ 12/5/11 - Recently w3w3® attended the very exciting public launch event of Startup Colorado. We're here now with Dave Mangum, a Silicon Flatirons Research Fellow and the Executive Director of the Startup Colorado program. Dave tells us Startup Colorado is a regional project to increase the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Colorado. The goal, over the coming years, is to build the communal backdrop for new companies to emerge. The national program, Startup America is basically a convener bringing together different startup regions to share best practices, to learn a little big about what they're all doing. So Startup Colorado is really where the action happens for Colorado. As the executive director for Startup CO, Dave's responsibility is to be the driver on the first year goals. Dave says of these goals he feels Startup Summer will have the biggest impact. They will get college students from across the state come to Boulder for a summer, working as interns for Boulder based startup companies. The students will by day work as interns, by night they will have a full range of courses and dinners, through the summer that will help them get a stronger sense of what entrepreneurship is really about. The second example is to expand the very popular and successful community events in Boulder, like Community Office Hours, Open Coffee Club or New Tech Meetup, we want those same events that have the community component to expand outside of Boulder to Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Larry noted it is a grassroots movement. Dave said, "Absolutely. It's not going to work if we don't have entrepreneurs working with us each step of the way ay." There are two ways of being involved. The first is just being cognizant of what's going on and showing up - it's always great to have a strong community spirit at our public events. More deeply, at this stage, they're trying to have as many conversations as they can with people across the Front Range and tell us what they want to do and how they want to get involved. So start the conversation. Listen for more
Related Links: Startup Colorado || Startup America Partnership || Startup Colorado public launch || Silicon Flatirons Home || House of Genius || Entrepreneurs Channel || Photos || Keywords: Dave Mangum, Silicon Flatirons Center, Startup America Partnership, Startup Colorado, Startup Colorado Public Launch, Entrepreneurs - bytes=6652972
LISTEN TO: Dave Mangum, Exec. Dir., Startup Colorado

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Seminars / Keynotes

It is more than doing well, by doing good
1123_ 12/12/11 - Kim Jordan, CEO, New Belgium Brewing Company shares the story of her journey and that of hundreds of team members in becoming a profitable and socially responsible enterprise. Chris Pelley, Founder and Managing Director, CIMCO, has been encouraging a greater understanding of social enterprise within the Colorado business community for almost seven years. In collaboration with ACG, he was very pleased to announce this year’s 5th Annual Business/Social Entrepreneurship event with keynote speaker, Kim Jordan, CEO and Co-Founder of New Belgium Brewing. Blending business acumen and social needs is something that Ms. Jordan has mastered quite successfully. She’ll share how aligning with social enterprise attracts the best and brightest talent, improves retention and ultimately enhances employee morale. There’s nothing better than having your employees boast with pride in their company’s purpose in the world to help improve your bottom line! Social enterprise is more than merely, "doing well, by doing good." Watch and listen to her message.
Related Links: New Belgium Brewing Home || CIMCO || Community Reach || Social Entrepreneurship || M&A Channel || ACG Denver || Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference || Keywords: Kim Jordan, New Belgium Brewing, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Enterprise, Association for Corporate Growth, Denver, ACG, Chris Pelley, CIMCO, Community Reach -
Watch: Kim Jordan, CEO/CoFounder, New Belgium Brewing Co.

Building a phenomenal culture and a real value proposition
1125_ 12/12/11 - We're back at the Defrag Conference, lot of great speakers, super booths, lot of executives, some very interesting people and some money walking around too, by the way. We're talking with Bill Heuston who is senior account executive at ViaWest. We interviewed Bill a few years ago. Bill has been with ViaWest for nine years. Via West is 12 years old so Bill has been around for a good chunk of it. When we last interviewed the co-founder, Roy Dimoff, he pointed out they have a lot of long term employees. Bill adds, "There are. We've got a phenomenal culture - not much turnover, people like to stay here." Larry asked for an overview. Bill replied, "ViaWest, got started in 1999" [Coincidentally that's the same year w3w3.com got started.], "here in Denver, Colorado, slowly growing in the hosting business, and acquiring data centers around the country. And, 12 years later, fast-forward, we are now the largest privately held collocation hosting company in North America." That's quite a success story. Bill's focus is in sales on the entrepreneurial and enterprise space. It's a big gambit, but any company that has a mission critical web application, are the people Bill loves to talk to. He likes to solve problems in a hybrid manner. The thing that ViaWest brings to the table, that's a real value proposition vs. all the other hosting companies that they compete with, is that they have all the core competencies under one roof. They have collocation, dedicated hosting and cloud computing. All three of those are core competencies to ViaWest and value to clients in that they can build solutions that are what Bill calls 'hybrid' and use pieces and parts of each one, all under one roof and cross connected to make it a seamless connection. Larry recalls, way back when ViaWest was first launching there were many other hosting companies that had started but are no longer in business. Bill tells us that seven out of ten of ViaWest competitors when they got started are not longer here. That's 70% and ViaWest continued on to become this super success.
Related Links: Viawest || Green Solutions || Defrag 2011 || Software Channel || Keywords:Bill Heuston, Viawest, Collocation Hosting Company, Dedicated Hosting, Cloud Computing, Green Grid, Defrag, Accelerating the AHA Moment, Value Proposition - bytes=3403340
LISTEN TO: Bill Heuston, ViaWest

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Recognition program that recognizes second stage companies
1119_ 12/5/11 - Colorado Companies to Watch is a business recognition program that recognizes second stage companies in every geographic area in Colorado and every industry across the State of Colorado. Stephanie Steffens tells us, it is very diverse. The important thing is that COCTW is out there looking for companies that are beyond startup but not yet mature. They have somewhere between six and 100 employees - $750K to $50M in annual revenue and they're experiencing growth. They're not just surviving; they are growing, creating jobs and fueling the economic fire of Colorado. On the first week of December every year, Nominations are Officially Opened. It's really easy to nominate a company by going to the COCTW website, click on the link, and provide minimal information about the company you're nominating and why you want to nominate them. From here, the company is sent an email telling them they've been nominated by you (unless you want to remain anonymous) - That it is an honor to be nominated, Who nominated them and asked to fill out an application. So as a nominee you're not asked to have any private information about the company, just a top person's name, email address and why you want to nominate them. Often overlooked is the payoff or benefit to the nominator. Think about this, what better thing can you do for a client or someone you would like to have as a client; for a family member or friends to say, 'Hey, I think your company is so amazing and incredible that you deserve to be recognized in this great program.’ And, it's not only a fantastic program for Colorado but a national program that acknowledges and provides visibility to some of the best companies in Colorado. Even if they don't win or even if the company chooses not to fill out the application (which we hope wouldn't happen) - that's kudos in your cap because you told them you think they're important and valuable and they matter to you. Now they know that. The program as a whole is a benefit to the state and to the local communities those companies are in. When you nominate and bring attention to the companies in your community (or the companies in your industry) you're helping to fuel the economic fire by bringing attention to your community and as a group to Colorado as to how economically vital we are; That this is a place companies want to do business in. We want to start businesses here, grow businesses here and keep businesses here and we want other businesses to come here.
Related Links: Colorado Companies to Watch || Colorado Companies to Watch Channel || Top 50 Companies to Watch || Gala Event || Keywords: Stephanie Steffens, Edward Lowe Foundation, Colorado Companies to Watch, COCTW, Nominate, Second Stage Companies, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade - bytes=5240688
LISTEN TO: Stephanie Steffens, Program Director, Colorado Companies to Watch

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Inspiration, inventions and innovation lead to winning
1121_ 12/5/11 - Back to the DaVinci Institute Inventor Showcase. This was a tremendous event! We have seen everything under the sun here from Evacuated Tube Transport (ET3) transportation technology for people and goods that is faster than jets, to a connector that allows anyone to easily build a geodesic dome. And, if you want to stay dry, check out NeverWet you will be seeing it in stores soon and possibly spraying it on your shoes too. At this event the public got the chance to see new innovations and inventions as well as interact with inventors on a personal level, a great teaching opportunity for families of wide-eyed children... we saw many and took advantage of the opportunity bringing our own grandchildren, Ahern and Nikaela.
      Now we're going to introduce you to Francisco Garcia inventor of the Klinggon, based in Miami. He and his partner and co-inventor, operate the Mako Design Firm. They are young and active - Francisco is a runner and biker, his partner a skater and musician, and both are part of the smart phone / Apple iPhone generation. Having been frustrated with the tangle of the ear bud cable/cords, they sat down realizing they had a nice idea and began drawing. Definitely burning the midnight oil and cast a vast array of not less than 15 to 20 prototypes. They ran computer simulations subjecting their invention to the stresses and strains just like testing for parts in an airplane. They used all the simulation models to carve around the shape and make a slot that would hold the cable in place. Wow, all of this to hold those pesky ear buds in place, really cool. BTW they also were awarded the daVinci Institute 2011 Consumer Product of the Year! They caused quite a stir at their booth, as so many others did. But Francisco wasn't about to ignore the opportunity for this interview. Listen to Francisco Garcia and see if you don't get just as excited...
Related Links: Klinggon || DaVinci Inventor Showcase || daVinci Institute || Mastering Change Book || Economy Builders || Showcase Photos || Keywords: Francisco Garcia, Klinggon, Mako Design Firm, Ear Buds, DaVinci Inventor Showcase, daVinci Institute, Entrepreneurs, Inventions, Consumer Product of the Year - bytes=4586164
LISTEN TO: Francisco Garcia, Klinggon

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Achieving Your Personal and Professional Goals
933_ 11/29/10- Don't Let Another Year Go By - The Ultimate Win is Yours - Larry Nelson has taught this material in seminars in over a dozen countries, from China to Canada, from Norway to Australia, from Germany to Japan as well as throughout the USA. He shares the results of his international research about the Characteristics of an Achiever and then goes on to help you lay out your "personalized blueprint" to personal and professional success. Larry is an internationally published author, has been a consultant to many Fortune 1000 companies and is best known for his train-the-trainer programs. ...listen now a complete step-by-step program including a downloadable manual and resource guide...this is an in-depth strategic planning and goal setting system for achievers...Read More about how to Supercharge Your Business... The links below are valuable and extremely helpful to setting your course for the next year! And they're free. Related Links: Ultimate Win Resources || Training Trends || 3-Filters Technology™ || Podcasting Directory || Your Goal || Keywords: Ultimate Win, Your Goal, Training Trends, 3-Filters TechnologyTM, Setting Goals, Larry Nelson; 11/29/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs