February 2008

Mapping Your Entrepreneurial Success… Knowing Where to Turn– The 2008 STAR TEC Entrepreneurship Conference, March 26-27. STAR TEC's second annual entrepreneurship conference will take place at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park. The luncheon keynote will feature Lifestyle Family Fitness founder, Geoffrey Dyer. Barry Alpert, Managing Director at Raymond James & Associates, will offer welcoming remarks. Topics will include Success Breeds Success – Discussions with Entrepreneurs; Doing Business with SOCOM and the SBIR Program; Building the Take-Off Team – Scaling Your Venture; and From No Dough to Cash Flow – Early and Mid-Stage Funding. Details and online registration are available at www.STARTECflorida.com/conference. For corporate sponsorship information, contact Wendy Plant at (727) 548-0868 or plantw@ctc.com.

Bilingual Job Fair in Pinellas – Feb. 13, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The need for employees with bilingual proficiency is increasing and many employers in the Tampa Bay area are faced with difficult recruiting challenges. To help address this issue, WorkNet Wednesday will host its first-ever bilingual job fair, focusing on the recruitment of bilingual job staff. Nielsen, BIC Graphic and Bright House Networks are just some of the employers who are taking advantage of the upcoming job fair. WorkNet will advertise the event on television, Telefutura and in the St. Petersburg Times. Participating employers will have access to WorkNet staff the day of the event, and computer resources to accept online applications. To register and view a complete listing of WorkNet Wednesday job fair events, please visit www.worknetwednesday.com.

Pinellas 18 is now PCC-TV. Pinellas County's government access television station now has a new name to reflect the changing times and focus of connecting citizens with government: Pinellas County Connection Television, call-letters PCC-TV. Good Business Pinellas TV will continue to air on the newly-named channel. Visit www.pinellascounty.org/tv for more information on PCC-TV.

Are You Interested in Exploring Growth Opportunities in London and Scotland? Enterprise Florida and the Tampa Bay Partnership would like to gauge the level of interest for a trade mission to Scotland and London in April 2008. The mission would provide private business meetings, country briefings and networking events through numerous foreign partners such as Scottish Development International (SDI), Medical Devices in Scotland (MDIS), and the US Commercial Service, among others. A regional grant may provide reimbursement of some travel and participation costs to Tampa Bay participants that qualify. Click here to complete an interest form, or contact Kathleen Good at kgood@pinellascounty.org.

USF Spring 2008 Career Fair, Feb. 20, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Employers from the private, government, and not-for-profit sectors are encouraged to attend this University of South Florida (USF) event. The Career Fair is an opportunity to identify quality, degree-seeking applicants for internships, co-ops, and permanent openings; to market your organization to students and the campus community; and, to provide occupational information. Employer representatives will be provided with a display table, lunch for up to two company representatives, and one parking pass. The event will be held in the St. Petersburg Campus Activities Center.  Visit www.stpt.usf.edu/career/events.htm to learn more.

Give Your Company's Recruitment a Competitive Edge with Career Expo '08, Feb. 28-29. This coming February, high-tech companies in the Florida High-Tech Corridor can gain exposure to an applicant pool of thousands of college graduates through Career Expo '08. A special initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) and its economic development, higher education, workforce board and governmental partners, Career Expo '08 is designed to introduce the Corridor's high-tech employers to career center directors (CCDs) from many of the nation's top universities. Participating companies will have the opportunity to meet with attending CCDs face-to-face in both formal and informal settings as well as having their company name and contact information included in the Career Expo '08 directory. Visit www.floridahightech.com/careerExpo to learn more.

February 2008 Pinellas County Success Story

Communities of Pinellas – Redevelopment Wrap-Up Q1-2008. Redevelopment in Pinellas County maintained a brisk pace in 2007, with hundreds of millions of dollars of development projects in progress. While much attention is paid to the slowing residential market, the varied redevelopment projects throughout the Communities of Pinellas are steadily growing our economic base.

Click here to read the entire report.