Stark County Workplace Survey

The Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, in collaboration with Stark Development Corporation, is surveying businesses with employees in Stark County to learn about current and foreseeable future employment needs. If you have employees in Start County, you are welcome to participate.

Responses are anonymous and all information you provide will be used only in combination with those of other survey respondents. If you wish, you may request to be notified of qualified candidates identified by the Strom Center that match your requirements. No contact information will be given to candidates or shared.

Although our primary targets are entry-level and college new-grad positions, we also have access to resources with more experience, and we welcome as much job availability detail as you can share.

To access the survey, click here. Responses completed by September 8 will be included in the combined results.

Susan Miller
Business Technology
Strom Center

Does technology really help?

One battle we sometimes see at the Strom Center is people trying to understand how technology can help their business. You may be surprised that in some parts of southwest North Dakota there is only one option for internet access, and it’s via very slow satellite with penalties if you use too much bandwidth. With online technology like that, it’s no wonder people can be skeptical about its usefulness.

Another argument is that technology is making us dumber because we don’t have time to think and are constantly distracted by our Blackberries and interruptions — that no one knows how to concentrate for more than five minutes anymore. Some argue that it’s not the technology that makes us dumb, it’s how we use that technology (one point of view can be found here).

CNN did a story recently about neuroscientists that left their technology behind for several days while they explored the great outdoors. They wanted to see what not using technology for a while would do to their thought processes (video is here).

Through all these debates, it seems like technology is equated with online activity, email, cell phones, and maybe high definition video. But those are just communication methods – the means to get to the real technology: accounting packages, credit processing systems, inventory management, CRM systems, data analysis, process management – tools that can make a business prosper.

So yes, technology does make a difference – both the technology that helps us run our businesses and the technology that helps us access that other technology.

Susan Miller
Strom Center
Business Technology

Who best represents your company on social media?

Social media has become key to helping businesses attract and keep customers, but it can be a time-consuming activity, plus there is a knack to being a good blogger. So who should do the blogging and take care of your twitter feed? This short article offers one perspective about why your intern may be a better blogger than the boss.

The Strom Center is working to expand the number of people contributing to our own social media efforts so that our best blogger, Kim Goldsmith, can prepare and deliver the extensive web and social media training we have planned for this fall. The class schedule is in process, and Kim will be in several North Dakota communities to share her expertise and help businesses in the areas of expanding their web presence and improving their social media skills. Stay tuned for more information about where and when the classes will be.

Susan Miller
Strom Center Business Technology

50 Asks in 50 Weeks: How to Jumpstart Your Small Development Office

DICKINSON, N.D. – Reserve Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. for 50 Asks in 50 Weeks: How to Jumpstart Your Small Development Office audio conference to be held at the Strom Center in Dickinson.

COCO (Coalition of Charitable Organizations) will be holding educational opportunities via audio conference for non-profit training. This audio will be presented by Amy M. Eisenstein, MPA, CFRE. The sponsor for the event is the Strom Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. COCO’s educational opportunities are free to COCO members, $25 for non-members.

For more information or to register one week in advance, contact: Julie Raatz at (701) 483-2757 or email her.

Posted by: Kim Goldsmith
Web & Social Media Manager

Welcome our new Marketing Specialist!

In April, we welcomed Clay Kraby as the new Marketing Specialist here at the Strom Center. Clay comes to us from Grand Forks, ND where he was a graduate of the University of North Dakota with education in Graphic Design and Entrepreneurship.

Since 2006, Clay has been a civilian employee of the 319th Force Support Squadron’s marketing office at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. While there, Clay worked as a graphic designer, sponsorship coordinator, and marketing assistant in order to provide quality of life programs to our military members and their families stationed at GFAFB.

His skills and experience will allow the Strom Center to begin providing additional marketing services such as logo creation and brand management. Clay has created logos and branding strategies for small businesses, non-profit organizations, and high-profile events such as the 2010 ‘Thunder Over the Red River’ air show being held this month in Grand Forks.

Clay’s wife, Amanda, works as a teacher at the Dakota Horizons Youth Center in Dickinson. They are excited to be a part of the community and enjoy living in SW North Dakota.

If you would like assistance in marketing your business or organization, please contact Clay at Clayton.Kraby@DickinsonState.edu.

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