OUR OPINION: Showcase offers proactive example for businesses

Credit the Business Showcase for leading by example.

Sponsored by the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce, this year's showcase will be from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday at the Firley YMCA, 525 Ellis Blvd.

Aware that individual businesses must be proactive to thrive, organizers gradually have transformed the showcase from a static display to an interactive, informative and celebratory event.

The showcase offers an opportunity to interact with representatives from more than 150 area businesses. Goods and services on display will feature various industries, including health care, financial services, technology and communications.

Informative, free seminars and demonstrations throughout the day will focus on business growth, social networking and maximizing available technology.

Celebrations will include a 7:30 a.m. Small Business Breakfast, where the Small Business Award will be presented to one of four finalists. The finalists are: Huber and Associates; Prison Brews; Summit Lake Winery; and Wilson's Fitness.

The Exceptional Employee Award will be presented at 4 p.m. to one of four finalists. They are: Bonnie Heimericks, Jefferson Bank; Dan Hinds, Midwest Block and Brick; Tiffany Rutledge, RN, Capital Region Medical Center; and Derrick Strange, AmerenUE.

The theme for this year's showcase is "Tricks of the Trade."

The sluggish economy certainly has strewn some impediments onto the local business landscape.

This year's Business Showcase will offer some useful tricks to avoid stumbling on those obstacles and to reach more productive ground.