March 2023 Chamber at a Glance

Chamber at a

MARCH 2023

Glance What's Inside A Message From Your President Upcoming Chamber Events 3 Podcasts for Business Leaders Engaging Students to Build Your Talent Pipeline By Cora Dupuis & More!

A Message from YourPresident February sure went by quick for me, and maybe for all of you as well, which I am A-OK with as that means spring, and summer are closer.

and advantage for our members. Our question, as an executive, and a board, and a chamber, is always what or how will this help our members?

A topic that has come up recently at our board table is community partnerships, and how vital they are to the health and workability of a community. While researching what good looks like in terms of community partnerships, I stumbled onto this set of parameters that I align with. Below is an excerpt from the Community Partnerships Resource Guide published by the Province of Ontario. (Source: https://rb.gy/40qndt)

I have mentioned a few times at our luncheons that we are working on establishing an Economic Development team for Brandon, and area. This is an endeavour that has been discussed over the course of many years, but for various reasons, nothing has come to fruition. We are hopeful now is our time. The economic development of Brandon, and area, must have community partners to succeed.

It is hard to come up with a universal definition of what makes a community partnership, since their very nature is determined by the partners who participate in them. There is a broad spectrum of collaboration, ranging from loose associations to formal unions, which qualify as community partnerships. This view of partnerships is based on some assumptions, that apply to any type of community partnership.

These include: • Partnerships take time, skill, and effort – on all sides.

• Power‐sharing is necessary in partnerships – with some loss of autonomy.

• No partnership will work if it comes together only for funding purposes.

• Partnerships are beneficial to all partners involved.

As a Chamber, we create and foster many partnerships. Some of those include postsecondary institutions, municipal, provincial, and federal governments, media organizations, other not-for-profit organizations like the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba, Brandon Downtown Development Corporation, and Community Futures Westman. With each partnership we are looking to create knowledge

Our Economic Development focus will be seeking to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for Brandon. We have our own challenges, and priorities, and the team that is comprised will be tasked with identifying those very things. Examples of strategies for economic development are creating more jobs, and job variety, keeping businesses here and getting new ones, improving everyone’s quality of life, increasing our tax base (individual and business), ensuring we are using our property productively, promoting our community assets, making, and selling more local products, and getting more skilled workers living in our community.

We look forward to bringing you more information on the development of our Economic Development strategies, and we encourage you to have a voice in this endeavour by sharing your thoughts and ideas with our team at the Chamber office, or myself. You can email me at president@brandonchamber.ca. Have a great March!

Tanya LaBuick, Brandon Chamber President

UPCOMING EVENTS First Friday Coffee Stop by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce office and enjoy some delicious coffee and donuts while you chat with other business owners, board members, and your Chamber staff!

9:00am-10:00am | Friday, March 3rd, 2023

Sponsored by

Free | 1043 Rosser Avenue | No registration Required

Superwoman 4.0 This year’s Superwoman Conference is all about “Protecting Your Powers”! Jenn Jenkins & Dr. Alise Gaiser-Edwards, coowners of The Wellness Clinic, will provide an interactive workshop that will teach attendees to “Embrace the Mess, Quiet the Critic”. Our conference will also have an Empower Hour, along with a panel discussion featuring Tracy Baker, Elizabeth Modersohn, and Lindsay Seafoot!

8:45am-1:15pm | Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 MNP Hall, Keystone Centre| Registration Required

Thank you to our Superhero Sponsor

Chamber Luncheon Our March luncheon is going to be filled with great food, lots of networking opportunity, and a keynote speaker that will have you leaving the luncheon informed and entertained! Keep an eye on our social media and emails for updates on this event!

11:30am-1:00pm | Thursday, March 16th, 2023 Vic Inn | Registration Required

Welcome to our

New members Eastside Eatery Brandon

Brandon Chamber staff support the Special Olympics with some "Special O" donuts by Tim Horton's!

Colin Ferguson, CEO & President of Travel Manitoba, speaks at our February luncheon

3 PODCASTS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS & ENTREPRENEURS HBR Ideacast A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in business and management. These episodes are around 30 minutes long, and feature topics such as "A Deeper Understanding of Creativity at Work", "LinkedIn's CEO on Hiring Strategies and the Skills That Matter Most(from the New World of Work)", and "The Growing Do Good Economy".

The $100 MBA Show The $100 MBA Show is a podcast where you simply get better at business with practical business lessons for the real world. Omar Zenhom shares some of the best lessons, concepts, examples and insights from inside The $100 MBA community.

Omar also calls upon some of the industry's top experts as guest teachers on the show. One of their recent podcast topics was all about how to spend less time on social media!

Beyond the To-Do List This podcast explores all aspects of productivity, as Erik Fisher talks with productivity experts on how they implement practical productivity strategies in their personal and professional lives. This podcast believes the true end goal of productivity is to live a meaningful life. They talk about productivity books, keeping a calm mind and how that increases productivity, and turning passions into profits.

Engaging Students to Build Your Talent Pipeline

By Cora Dupuis, Co-operative Education (Co-op) Coordinator, Brandon University

I lead a work experience program at Brandon University, which is an opportunity for students to gain work skills as a part of their degree and for employers to build their talent pipeline.

A talent pipeline? What is that?

Simply put, it is having a group of high-potential, pre-qualified candidates on a shortlist when a vacancy becomes available. It is smart to be thinking about the talent pipeline for all of your organization's positions, but companies often struggle with attracting early-career candidates who are ideal for entrylevel roles. This is where students and work-experience programs like Co-operative Education or Co-op can help.

What is Co-op? And how can it help me build my talent pipeline?

BU Co-op works with you to create a role within your organization that would be ideal for a student to fill while still ensuring it adds value to your bottom line. There are many different ways that companies have done this. For example, some of our employers recognized that they needed some additional support during the peak vacation season over July and August. They hired a student who started in May and did eight weeks of training alongside key people. Then, those key people could take holidays in the summer, and business operations could continue. Other organizations see our co-op students as future employees and use the four-month work term as an ongoing probationary period. They hire the student full-time from May to August, and if the student is a good fit, the employer keeps them part-time throughout the school year. When the student graduates, the employer has an emerging professional ready to join their team.

If making a new position for a student within your organization is financially challenging, there are federal dollars (up to $5000) to support the creation of a net-new role. And there is also the provincial Coop Student Hiring Incentive, whereby employers can claim 15% of the salary and wages, paid to the co-op student for work performed during an approved co-op work term. This tax incentive can be leveraged everydo time you hire a co-op student.

How I get started?

To learn more about how BU Coop and students can help your organization build your talent pipeline, please reach out to Cora Dupuis, dupuisc@brandonu.ca, or 204-571-7848. We have dozens of high-potential, pre-selected students who are eager to kick-start their careers this summer and add value to your organization.

Members celebrate First Friday Coffee with our board and staff

Chamber at a Glance is published twelve times per year by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce 1043 Rosser Avenue | Brandon, MB R7A 0L5 Phone: (204) 571-5340 | Fax: (204) 571-5347 info@brandonchamber.ca www.brandonchamber.ca BOARD OF DIRECTORS Tanya LaBuick | President CW2 Construction & Design Guardian Fencing LaBuick & Co. Jaime Pugh | Vice President MNP LLP Lois Ruston | Secretary-Treasurer Chamber Member Barry Cooper | Past-President Heritage Co-op Courtney Baxter Bushel Plus Ag Products

Roster book notice Roster books are officially out! If you haven't received one in your mailbox, or if you would like another, stop by our office for your copy!

Although we work very hard to make the roster book accurate and updated, mistakes happen. We suggest also using our website member directory for updated, accurate membership and contact information.

If you need to update your membership information, reach out to our office today and we can update it on the website immediately!

Matt Berg Livingstone Outdoor Emelio Brown IntriTech Digital Marketing Juggernaut Computers Laurie Brugger Century 21 Westman Realty Ltd.

SEE YOU IN

Andrea Epp Epp Law Office Samantha Falloon Myphone - TELUS & KOODO Authorized Dealer Chris Finley Mazergroup Tilda Fortier Greenstone Building Products Meredyth Leech Leech Group Jennifer Ludwig Super Thrifty Drugs Canada Ltd. CHAMBER STAFF Connor Ketchen General Manager Jessica Saler Member Relations & Marketing Coordinator Erin Houck Events & Program Coordinator Emily Belhumeur Office Coordinator

Who We Are: The Brandon Chamber of Commerce is an independent, membership funded, non-profit organization that represents Brandon business from the grassroots level.

Our Mission: To encourage growth in the Brandon community by fostering a progressive business environment, favourable to enhancing existing and attracting new business.