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| MATR Newsletter - Fri Jun 24, 2011 |
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy Has Success Eluded You Because You Eluded Failure? http://matr.net/articl ... .html
Sen. Jon Tester Hosts Women's Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 7/22, Billings, Montana http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html --- Montana Department of Commerce Business Resources Division Newsletter SUMMER 2011 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Globalization Partners International
Montana Department of Commerce
- Highlights from Search Marketing Expo (SMX) 2011
Read on for what we feel are major trends to watch for in SEO and SEM this year.
- Hey Startups: Here's How To Totally Screw-Up Going International
Crowdsourced translations are invariably awful.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- Montana Department of Commerce Business Resources Division Newsletter SUMMER 2011
The Montana Department of Commerce http://commerce.mt.gov/ has created this quarterly newsletter to update you on the status of our business resources financing programs and other program news.
- Montana Department of Commerce, Special Events Grants Now Available
"Since its inception in 2002, the Special Event grant program has been able to provide $574,500 in grant money to 77 events across the state," said Dore Schwinden, Director of the Montana Department of Commerce.
Missoula BarCamp
- New project could improve results from school web searches
"Educators and students miss out on education resources available online because it is takes too long or is too hard to find appropriate content," said Catherine Casserly, CEO of Creative Commons. "A common metadata schema will make this search more efficient and effective so educators can quickly discover the educational resources they want, including those they can reuse under Creative Commons licenses."
- Learning Empathy by Looking Beyond Disabilities - The Pearls Project
The unusual lessons are part of a new effort, called the Pearls Project, to promote tolerance and empathy in a school culture where being different can mean social exile.
- In Anaconda, Montana: Four-track high school curriculum approved
"There were actually no negatives cited. From a student's viewpoint, they have a lot more flexibility."
- Some Suggestions for the Early Learning Challenge
"a tremendous opportunity for states to improve the quality and continuity of education for young children,"
- America's Best High Schools
NEWSWEEK, which has been ranking the top public high schools in America for more than a decade, revamped its methodology this year in hopes of highlighting solutions.
- Green literacy new graduation requirement
Under the rule, public schools will be required to work lessons about conservation, smart growth and the health of our natural world into their core subjects like science and social studies.
Visit Montana
- Missoula BarCamp 2011 - Thanks!
Perhaps we'll see you on Saturday, or at the next Missoula BarCamp, or "wherever it happens"!
Come Home Montana
- Grand Opening - Destination Missoula - Convention And Visitors Bureau, 6/24, Missoula, Montana
Please join us for the official grand opening of the new Destination Missoula convention and Visitors bureau
Montana Business
- Montana Career Opportunities - Business Development Specialist, Contract Manager- Administrative Specialist, Economist -Senior Research - Montana Department of Commerce
The Department of Commerce is committed to the state's vision for economic prosperity and serving the many citizens, communities, businesses, and organizations.
Montana Economic Development
- Setting the Gold Standard in Workplace Safety in Montana
A new web video shows how Montana's MillerCoors elevator keeps workers and farmers safe, while handling the finest barley.
- Muzeview News: June 2011: How Industry Focused is Your Firm?
This month we challenge you to think about how industry focused your firm really is -- and whether this even matters to your clients and prospects.
- Governor Schweitzer: Montana has $366 million in the bank
"It is more good news for Montana. We have one of the best cash positions in the history of the state," said Governor Schweitzer.
Regional Economic Development
- Montana Governor Schweitzer says state exports to China will grow
"They are going to be a large purchaser of things we do well in Montana for a long time to come."
- Montana Senator Max Baucus Announces Open Registration for General Electric Symposium Unveiled at APEC
Senator Encourages Qualified Montana Businesses to Take Advantage of Opportunity to Expand Business, Create Jobs
- 3 Western Montana biomass projects to share $650K federal grant
"This is design and permitting money," said Susan LeVan-Green, biomass project manager at the Forest Service's forest products laboratory in Madison, Wis. "They've done their feasibility studies, they've got their resources, and now they need construction details. The next stage is project financing."
- Sen. Jon Tester Hosts Women's Small Business Opportunity Workshop, 7/22, Billings, Montana
"As we strengthen Montana's small businesses by empowering them with tools needed to create more jobs, we also need to expand opportunities for the thousands of Montana women looking to start or jumpstart their own companies," Tester said. "Women business owners face some unique challenges and opportunities. And this workshop will provide resources and ideas from folks who have a strong record of creating jobs through successful small businesses."
Careers
- Confronting the coming American worker shortage
With the job market inching toward recovery, most of America's collective attention is set squarely on the here and now. But signs of a coming shortage of skilled American workers have begun to draw concern from leaders in the public and private sectors, and for good reason.
Funding and Building your Business
- The 20 Hardest Corporate Interviews In America
Google, a company known for their interesting interview questions, was just shy of the top twenty. eBay and Amazon interview questions are actually harder.
- How to Activate Your Entrepreneurial Leadership
Leadership is not a skill one is born with, but it can be learned and honed from experience and failures.
- Headhunters Reveal 11 Ways To Ruin Your Chances Of Getting A Job
Headhunters aren't career counselors...they're motivated by earning the commission."
- Veterans Virtual Career Fair, 9/12, Online
Veterans - Take a moment to register and enter the environment to visit employer booths, chat with recruiters, view/apply for jobs, and chat with peers in the networking lounge.
Incubators and R&D
- Sitting on a pile of information Gold?
Using business intelligence to drive internal processes is nothing new. But where many companies fall short is answering: How can all the data I collect help our customers?
- 7 Tips for Bootstrapping Your Startup
There are plenty of startups that have been successful without taking outside capital.
- 10 Things Entrepreneurs Should Never Say -- to Themselves
Are you your business's worst enemy?
- You Can't Afford to Stifle Innovators in a Startup
Entrepreneurs are usually highly creative and innovative, but many innovative people are not entrepreneurs.
- Five Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From the Navy SEALs
One final humorous note - Brendan observed that the spouses of Navy SEALs are as tough as nails themselves and impossible to impress. They still make their spouses take out the garbage, do the dishes and change diapers - no matter how impressive their accomplishments in the field of battle. I suspect many start-up executives have similar, appropriately humbling marital arrangements!
- Abolish Board Meeting Update Calls
I've come to believe that the board update call is worthless. There tend to be three parts - all which are easily separable:
- 5 Must Haves For That About Us Page
Tell a story
- 25 Rules for a Perfect Brainstorm
Every one of us has experienced failed brainstorms.
- Ten Action Items to Reduce Entrepreneur Stress
Wearing all the hats required to initiate a startup is tough in the best of situations. Then your business really starts to take off, and it gets even more challenging. As an entrepreneur, you need to seriously apply the discipline of these principles early and always to survive, and hopefully even enjoy the journey.
Montana Education Excellence
- Student entrepreneurship exploding at Arizona State University: Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative applications increase 32 percent
The Edson Initiative -- which offers student teams funding, office space, mentorship and training to accelerate their venture concepts -- attracted 250 applications in 2011, a 32 percent increase over the 190 entries the previous year.
- University of Montana Biologists discover that birds 'flap run' instead if flying over obstacles to save energy
Why do adult birds flap and run up steep objects when they are perfectly capable of flying?
University Business Plan Competitions
- Montana can build on success at lowering the dropout rate - Graduation Matters Montana
The latest numbers are in, and they hold some encouraging signs regarding dropout rates in Montana.
- Juneau Announces New K-12 Data Warehouse
Juneau Announces Contract for New K-12 Education Data Warehouse that will Benefit Schools, Policymakers and the Public
Utah Business
- Student Business Plan Competitions: Who Really Does Have Access?
With such a large number of business plan participants (70%) and a corresponding group indicating that success at a business plan competitions (45%) was an important measure of success, one might infer that a lack of success at business plan competitions, when judged against your peers, could be indicative of a less than successful entrepreneurship center or program.
Education
- ATK poised to fire up new Utah plant, begin hiring
Although ATK is based in Minnesota, two of the company's three operating groups call Utah home.
- Utah's top entrepreneurs honored
"Entrepreneurs are visionary, they are generous and they are inspired."
Other Economies
- Oregon Legislature unleashes flood of education bills, from open enrollment to all-day kindergarten
"We've succeeded in shifting the debate about education from solely focusing on K-12 funding to the structural changes needed to deliver better results for students, more resources for teachers and more accountability for taxpayers." Gov. John Kitzhaber
Community
- Governor woos entrepreneurs - Imported workers wanted in jobs-poor Michigan
Spurred by data that show the value that foreign-born engineers, scientists and cutting-edge tech savants bring to new U.S. business startups -- half of those in Silicon Valley were begun by immigrants -- the new Republican governor has created his Global Michigan initiative.
Connectivity & CommunicationsEnergy and Climate Change
- Kevin Kelly's 6 Words for the Modern Internet
"Whatever it is, we know that we're not late. We just started this."
Government Technology
- How to split water with silicon and sunshine
Researchers have overcome a major obstacle to using solar power to split water into pure oxygen and hydrogen fuel--the Holy Grail for clean energy.
- Planning for Electric Cars - Electric Car Feeds Grid
Adding an electric car to the driveway can be like adding another house to a neighborhood.
- Tech Turns Junk Plastics into Diesel
Billions of tons of "end-of-life" plastics could be diverted from landfills and turned into gas for vehicles.
The Creative and Cultural Economy
- Google Apps Goes Statewide in Wyoming Government
By moving 10,000 state employees to Google's cloud-based e-mail and productivity suite, Mead said the new tools will enable improved communication and collaboration, and provide better storage capacity and cyber-security protection.
- Missoula looks to spend $800K on software upgrade to improve permitting process
The new system will be linked to the state of Montana so a contractor can get all required permits in a jurisdiction online, Bender said. The program will manage engineering permits, building inspection, business licensing and also wastewater treatment records.
Transportation
- 7 Nobel Laureates "Origins Of The Universe", 7/26, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana
The Museum of the Rockies has distributed free tickets to Museum members and the general public on a first-come-first-serve basis.
- Study: Bike lanes the best job creators
For those who get frustrated when they see city workers painting another bike lane, here's a little news you can use: Cycling projects may be the best ways to create local jobs.
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