•  Getting a lot of good PR from members who are involved with the E-Business Consortium coordinated through UW-Madison.  A great learning opportunity, with thrusts for technical understanding, marketing, and social media.  Several hundred company members, including all the forward-looking ones in the state.  Great sharing/learning mechanism.  Go to www.uwebc.org.

•  Several members are talking about how high tech companies are organizing their work areas on the two coasts.  Whereas we're still into cubicles, they're organizing work groups with no panels or walls; people work in close proximity with each other, with frequent interaction.  Energy, they say, is palpable when you're nearby.  Everyone helping each other, interacting, working towards the goal.

•  ObamaCare:  A lot of analyzing and waiting going on.  But one action step being taken by MORE THAN A FEW:  To set the effective date of their next annual insuror agreement BEFORE Jan. 1, so that it extends a year to late next year.  Buys time to see how the initial thrusts of ObamaCare shake out.

•  We're used to talking about salespeople as either Hunters or Farmers ... Hunters driven to find the next customer, Farmers are the account servicing people.  Now, I'm hearing about Carpenters ... not in sales, but the type of person who gathers materials and does the job!  A Farmer has to plan much further ahead, dealing with the ambiguities of seed availability, weather, fertilizers/weed chemicals.  All this is important in the interviewing process, to make sure you're getting a habit/mentality that fits the job needs.   Requires open-ended questions, where you know the responses you're seeking.

•  At one meeting, got onto the topic of company picnics and lack of attendance.  Opinions were that some people like them, and others don’t ... so do it for those that do.  Regarding “Holiday” parties, one success story was to have it at noontime on a day the afternoon would be free, for employees only, and have a program and treats.

•  TEC members are attuned to following the economic forecasts of Brian Beaulieu and his team at ItR Economics in New Hampshire.  Right now, we're watching his forecasts of a boom in 2015/2016 followed by a downturn in 2017/2018 ... and how the current energy explosion (fracked natural gas) would impact it.  View was that subsidized alternative power would continue, but never be a major energy factor for the U.S.  Lower cost energy would be offset by implications of the federal debt debacle.  He's also forecasting a global debacle eventually due to so many countries letting their welfare states drive incredibly increasing deficits, and creating a financial/economic doomsday.

•  Safety:  A new member reports that he fosters workers to build a collage of photos of family members and remembrances at work ... as a reminder of why they want to go home in a safe condition every day.  They also publicize photos of unsafe conditions.

There's lots more ... for next time!