Expo promotes networking
Public participation is a plus for Rome Floyd Chamber business participants.
The annual Rome Floyd Chamber Business Expo brought a big crowd to the Forum River Center on Friday as locals met with around a hundred local companies who participated in the annual event.
Steve Irmscher said making contact with a lot of other businesses was probably the best aspect of the event for his Line-X business.
“The networking and a chance to show other businesses what we do,” Irmscher said.
Bob Blumberg, chairman of the Rome Downtown Development Authority, said the event allows everyone to see the different types of businesses and services that are offered across the larger community.
“A lot of people don’t know half of these businesses,” Blumberg said.
“Look at all these businesses here. There are a ton of people they need to support.”
The event is a fundraiser for the Rome Floyd Chamber’s Shop Rome campaign.
Lila Guerra of Personal Staffing Inc., said the exposure to the public has been good for her staffing company. Brent Elliott, also from PSI, said with the low unemployment rate in Rome and Floyd County, 3.6 percent, a lot of manufacturing firms are still in the search for employees and avail themselves of the staffing agency.
“It’s typical of manufacturing companies to try before you buy, try the person out before you move them into a permanent role,” Elliott said.
Randy Quick with Rome Radio Partners said there has been a lot of new interactions between businesses in the community.
“There are a lot of local vendors who are here for the first time and I think the fact that they were able to bring the retail aspect in this year has been phenomenal,” Quick said.
Some of the local businesses were able to a actually sell items from their shops.
Patrick Wentz was working the Local Joe’s booth from Cave Spring.
“This is just great for us. It gets our name out a little more,” Wentz said. “We’ve been busier than we’ve been since we opened three years ago.”
He said the Chamber event has also helped spread the work about Local Joe’s catering business, which has also taken off in the last year.