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| MATR Newsletter - Tue Apr 9, 2013 |
"Men still run the world and I'm not sure that's going so well." Cheryl Sandberg - COO Facebook http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
Become a sponsor now - 6th Annual Missoula BarCamp Sat. April 13, 2013 http://www.matr.net/ar ... .html
2013 Montana Legislature
Visit Montana - Montana Dept. of Tourism
- URGENT ACTION requested to Save the Montana Main Street program!
Last week an amendment to reinstate funding for the Montana Main Street Program in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee failed with a 10 to 10 vote. HB2 will move to the Senate floor this week and, at this time, does not contain any funding for this exemplary and most effective program.
Great Falls Development Authority
- Montana tourism office keeps up with shift in media, sees big influx in travelers
"Right now it's about mobile, making sure we have all of our marketing and all of our websites in a mobile friendly (format)," said Jeri Duran, the administrator for the Montana Office of Tourism.
Inteneo Systems
- Great Falls Development Authority President Brett Doney: Active service clubs boost city's appeal to new businesses
"Our community supports a healthy diversity of service clubs and other non-profit groups that provide substantial volunteer and financial support," Doney said. "It's pretty amazing."
Come Home Montana
- Small, rural hospitals lag on some quality measures - "You can't improve what you don't measure."
Although it might not seem fair to judge small, rural hospitals by the same standards, those facilities could likely benefit from collecting and tracking quality data.
- The Promise of Big Data in the Public Sector
Federal, state and local governments alike are sitting on a treasure trove of information, but often don't know what to do with it or how to use it.
- Planning for big data - A special package from McKinsey
"Big data: What's your plan?" unifies insights from many real-world analytics projects to show you how to get started.
- Big Data's lessons for old school in new media
Big Data can be helpful to old-school companies selling diapers, beer and bubble bath in today's digital world.
Leadership Montana
- Montana Career Opportunity - Marketing Manager, Communications Specialist - StoneRiver National Flood Services, Inc.
Through innovative solutions, flexible services offerings, and strategic sourcing options, StoneRiver provides the agility to remain competitive in the changing insurance landscape - today and tomorrow.
Montana Business
- Applications open for the Leadership Montana class of 2014!!
Leadership Montana is a collaboration of business leaders, community members, higher education and government coming together to form a strong partnership for the betterment of Montana.
Warren Miller Freedom Foundation
- Missoula's Acuity Design uses 3-D printer to create art
An increasingly accessible technology, 3-D printing is creating opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs alike.
- Merle Haggard, Robert Earl Keen and many others coming to Red Ants Pants Festival
While just over 900 people live in the ranching town of White Sulphur Springs, more than 8,000 people poured into the town for the Red Ants Pants Music Festival last year.
- Missoula man's sausages going international
Company owner Bill Stoianaff says he's been cooking sausage for over 25 years, and his dreams have finally become a reality.
- StoneRiver's Unclaimed Property Advisory Services help companies achieve and maintain compliance, while reducing liability
StoneRiver delivers the industry's widest range of technology solutions and services to insurance carriers, agents and broker-dealers.
- Cloud Technology Summit, 4/9, Billings, Montana
Make plans to attend the Billings Cloud Summit on Tuesday, April 9th at the Crowne Plaza. You will have the opportunity to learn from global leaders in the Cloud Industry and listen as they demystify the Cloud and explain its benefits for your business.
- Vann's to close Missoula, Hamilton stores and move headquarters to Bozeman
"We just didn't think we'd get into a situation where we were told to buy the buildings or move out."
Careers
- Montana Skiing with Warren Miller
My advice is to put one or more Montana ski resorts on your ski trip itinerary and who knows, with some luck, we might run into each other waiting for the chairlift somewhere at a ski resort where the skiing is exactly as it was in the old days.
Business Plan Forums
- Which Words Matter The Most When You Talk
Language, like anything else, can be hacked for greater effectiveness. Here are some techniques to make your words--your best tool at work--more powerful.
Government
- Startup Challenge, offering $10,000 grant and free rent, attracts 235 applicants
Nothing sells like "free."
North Dakota Business and Economic Development
- Sen. Max Baucus moves to reshape tax code
"I don't dispute" that the White House has shown little interest in comprehensive tax reform, Baucus said. "But it's irrelevant. Because I'm just going ahead."
Other Economies
- Growing entrepreneurship in North Dakota
Our work ethic is second to none, and businesses here enjoy a competitive edge from our innovative workforce, stable and solvent government, fair tax and regulatory climate and overall positive business environment.
Regional Business
- State treasurer: State needs to raise investment capital
"We've done 24 economic studies ... and they all say the same thing, you need to have investment capital to grow business.
South Dakota Economic Development
- 6 Ways States Are Addressing the Doctor Shortage
The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the country will be 90,000 primary care doctors short by the end of the decade, leading many to ask what the point of giving people health insurance is if they don't have adequate places to go to use it.
University of Montana & Montana State University Tech Transfer
- In era when small-town lawyers are vanishing, South Dakota tries subsidies
"South Dakota has enough attorneys--they're just not in the right locations," said state Senator Mike Vehle, who sponsored the bill. "We do this for doctors, dentists and nurses, so why not lawyers?"
- Looking for a way to grow your businesses and sustain your community? Become a Dakota Rising Site
"The Japanese proverb 'None of us is as smart as all of us' aptly describes the philosophy of Dakota Rising and the resulting outcome of a community's involvement," Turner said. "Dakota Rising encourages and cajoles a community and its entrepreneurs to stretch, reach and grow with amazing results."
Washington State Business
- Entrepreneurs-in-residence school colleges in business
With millions of dollars of research funding and teams of experts at their disposal, more universities are seeking ways to turn research breakthroughs into business opportunities.
Wyoming Business
- Worm composting plan takes Spokane economy summit spotlight
A worm farm could be the next big business plan to boost Spokane's economy.
21st Century Education Initiative - "You Should Care..."
- State Board of Education to hold teleconference on accountability - 4/8 from 4 to 6PM
The Wyoming State Board of Education plans to discuss an update on accountability during a teleconference from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Monday.
Montana Education Excellence
- MSU offers Science of Everest curriculum for teachers
The eight-lesson series was created last year when MSU geologist David Lageson and graduate student Travis Corthouts climbed on Everest with Bozeman-based mountaineer Conrad Anker and a team from National Geographic and The North Face.
- National Autism Awareness Month holds special meaning for Bitterroot Valley families
For two years, the families have been gathering together as a small support group with parents and siblings.
- Adding Preschool to a State Constitution
"Our kids are way too important to give up on this issue."
Montana Education/Business Partnerships
- The University of Montana Greater Yellowstone Magazine
We hope you enjoy the the very first issue of the University of Montana's Greater Yellowstone magazine, which we will eventually combine with the Crown of the Continent magazine.
Bill Payne
- Montana students receive financial help from New West Health Services
"Montana is blessed with such caring and hard working students."
- MSU business students turn to professional clinic to help reach career goals
"My idea of coaching is to meet students where they are and take them where they want to go. Encourage them to do things they might not do on their own to reach a goal quicker and more efficiently."
Community
- US Angel Groups vs. European Business Angel Networks (BANs)
Both the BAN and the US network models result in entrepreneurs receiving funding from angel investors. To outsiders, the models may seem quite similar but, to members and entrepreneurs, the two models are quite different.
Funding and Building your Business
- Portland's Street Seats program expands to allow more restaurants to place seating platforms in parking spaces
Portlanders will soon be able to eat, drink and relax in parking lanes on some streets throughout the city as restaurants and nonprofits convert parking spaces to dining areas or mini-parks.
- Montana's growing homeless and living in poverty school children problem. How many are there in your community?
Of all the Class AA school districts in Montana, Great Falls Public Schools has the highest percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch — meaning their family income is at or below the federal poverty line — at the elementary school level (51 percent) and the second highest percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch at the secondary level (31 percent), only 1 percentage point less than high school students in Butte.
- Interactive app highlights historical landmarks in Missoula, surrounding areas
The University designed the mechanics of the app, and HRA is going to be the sole content provider for it, Strohmaier said. HRA developed the content for Missoula for free to give back to its community, said Strohmaier, historian and project manager.
- Artists Revitalize Manufacturing in Small Rural Communities
The ideas they generate serve as the precedents necessary to inspire incremental change block-by-block, essential for community resurgence.
Energy and Climate Change
- Gen-Y Should Thank Gen-X For Social Media Today
Gen-X is the group that will bridge the two larger generations of Boomers and Gen-Y.
- SEC Letters Give Nod of Approval to Online Venture Capital
The legal door just opened a crack, to make it easier for investors and startups to find each other and come together -- using online platforms.
- Great Startups Sell Around Gartner Hype Predictions
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the Gartner Hype Cycle characterizes the over-enthusiasm or "hype" and subsequent disappointment that typically occurs with the introduction of new technologies.
- The mother of all business plan templates
The true value of the business plan template below is not in filling it out but thinking about the points of focus and using them as areas to keep in mind and refer back to as you spend your time building your company.
Connectivity & Communications
- When will wireless power reach the tipping point?
What's it going to take for this technology to hit the mainstream?
- How US energy policy fails to address climate change
Current U.S. energy policy is, in fact, a hodgepodge of disconnected policies designed for specific constituencies with no coherent goal. The country has subsidies for fossil fuels, subsidies for nuclear power, subsidies for wind and solar, and subsidies for insulating and retrofitting buildings. We also have energy standards for some appliances and miles per gallon standards for automobiles.
- Ex-Obama team member pushes White House to reject pipeline
Recent oil pipeline spills in Arkansas and Texas, which weren't related to the Keystone project, have nonetheless brought renewed attention to the proposed pipeline, especially among those who oppose it. Burton cited the oil spills as a reason his team decided to move forward with their launch of the coalition.
- Paris Marathon will harvest energy from runners
Every footstep can generate as much as 8 watts of energy.
- Scientists Question Impact as Vineyards Turn Up in New Places
Will the contentious wolf hunts near Yellowstone National Park be complicated by new vineyards that crowd out everything else -- wolves, elk and hunters?
- A thinking refrigerator? Smart kitchens are coming
Manufacturers are already building "smart" home appliances that can interact with their owners and with each other, connect to smartphones, call a repairman when something is wrong, and even negotiate rates with the power company.
Government Technology
- Tech Titans Plot to Reprogram Internet of the Future
"This is something the networking industry desperately needs," says Cisco chief technology of engineering David Ward. "It's critical at this point in the history of the internet -- and open source is the way to do it."
- Santa Clara Uses Smart Meters to Expand the Reach of Free Wi-fi
"The costs of digital exclusion -- of not having access to Internet at home -- are rising every day."
- Senator Baucus Announces High-Speed Internet and Cell Phone Coverage for Signey and Fairview, Montana
"High-speed internet and phone service are just another part of doing business in most parts of the country today, and we can't let rural communities be left out."
Cool Stuff That's Coming
- Missoula considers using drug forfeiture funds for 9-1-1 records system
At the meeting, Jaffe said he would not support the contract, and he explained his stance on his listserv http://www.Missoulagov.org . He was in the minority; the committee voted to recommend the council approve the purchase.
- How to Improve Government-to-Citizen Communication
Before reaching out to citizens with notifications such as emergency alerts and traffic updates, for example, agencies must first build a strong database of contacts. By consolidating existing email contact lists using automated and integrated solutions, governments can more efficiently add new contacts, and reach their constituents.
- Digital Cities & Digital Counties Survey - Best Practice Guide
Today, elected officials lust after any job-creating business, but "high-tech" jobs are particularly attractive. Leading-edge elected officials expect the technology of their government to keep pace and to contribute to attracting business.
- This heart rate sensor is worn around the ear, connects with an app aimed at reducing stress
A suite of accompanying apps focus on guided breathing to help users lower their stress levels, increase focus and improve sleep quality. The company's LinkedIn page says they're "based on clinically proven methods and applications ranging from reducing high blood pressure to help in quitting smoking."
- A (Wireless) Doctor In Your Pocket
Modern medicine is highly information-driven, but most physiological data is collected when patients visit a doctor or emergency room.
- A great way to spend a few very thought provoking minutes - Awesome Inventions
Awesome Inventions brings you the coolest, weirdest, funniest, smartest inventions on the planet, straight to your news feeds!
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