Chamber to ‘Focus Forward’

Five-day virtual event to help businesses survive, thrive in novel coronavirus pandemic

The Lorain County business community will have five days’ worth of events to survive and thrive in a post-novel coronavirus pandemic world.

The Lorain County Chamber of Commerce will host or join other organizations for Focus Forward Lorain County starting Sept. 14.

It is a series of five events for business owners, educators, elected leaders, philanthropic organizations and nonprofits to “focus on moving past COVID-19 and what our new normal looks and feels like.”

The culmination will be the Chamber’s Economic Summit, an annual presentation about economic, business and community development, local officials say.

“We’re going to talk about what’s going on with COVID, what’s going on with small businesses, what’s going on with the workforce, what’s going on with education, how this all fits together,” said Tony Gallo, Chamber president.

“This is truly meant to help everybody.” — Tony Gallo, president of Lorain County Chamber of Commerce

Lorain County Community College, the Small Business Development Center there, Team NEO economic development group and the Community Foundation of Lorain County also will participate.

Events are free and open to Chamber members and nonmembers alike.

“This is truly meant to help everybody,” Gallo said.

For the Chamber, it is a chance to show business owners why the organization is worthy of investment and why Lorain County would be worse off without it, he said.

The Chamber supports the community as a whole and wants all businesses to succeed, Gallo said.

“We don’t benefit by having nonmembers’ businesses close,” he said. “That hurts everybody. That’s just not good for Lorain County.”

Due to the virtual nature of the events, registration is required through loraincountychamber.com. The events are:

• SBDC Workshop at 1 p.m., Sept. 14.

Speaker Diane Helbig will present “The Key To Selling Through The Pandemic Is Discovery.”

The presentation is made possible by the Chamber and the Small Business Development Center at LCCC.

• Coffee and Conversation at 9:30 a.m., Sept. 15.

The Chamber has used the online morning sessions to keep members connected during the novel coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, Gallo said.

The virtual meetings have generated a good response,

he said.

• Aligning Opportunities Virtual Launch Event at 8 a.m., Sept. 16.

The program by the Team NEO economic development organization will focus on “meaningful discussions around solutions to the talent supply and equity gap.”

Sessions will focus on improving the workforce and talent within companies.

• Connect to a Cause 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sept. 17.

The Community Foundation of Lorain County is holding the 12-hour crowdfunding event to mark the Foundation’s 40th anniversary. There are 56 participating organizations raising donations and vying for part of $40,000 the Foundation will donate as part of the program.

• The Chamber Economic Summit at 12:15 p.m., Sept. 18.

There will be online presentations by LCCC President Marcia Ballinger and Jacob Duritsky, vice president of strategy and research at Team NEO.

The keynote speaker is author Jason Broadwater, who discussed technology and connectivity as economic drivers at the summit in 2018.

The timing of the summit is pared down to 90 minutes instead of the usual two to three hours, Gallo said.

In the pandemic, people have discovered new methods of keeping in contact, he said.

For some workers, that includes hours of online and virtual meetings.

Gallo said this year’s Economic Summit will not be electronic overkill for the afternoon.

“I think it’s going to be worthwhile,” he said. “I wanted people to listen, glean something off of this, and go on with their day.”