Chamber helps firms with lingo

Don't understand the jumble of buzz words floating around the technology world?

You're not alone.

The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce has been hearing from its members that they often don't understand many of the tech phrases and want some help deciphering how technology can help their small business.

To do that, the chamber will begin hosting "e-coffee" seminars about how decoding tech jargon can help a small business make better decisions about what kind of technology to use.

"What we want to do is demystify a lot of that," said Scott MacDonald, chairman of the chamber's e-coffee committee.

The first of the quarterly e-coffee meetings is scheduled for Sept. 2, and will include a 20-minute presentation by the Web director for Gap Inc., followed by about an hour of networking. The meetings will be held at different golf courses, with an optional round of golf after the meetings.

While the meetings are similar to the monthly breakfast networking meetings organized by the Greater Dayton IT Alliance, MacDonald said the e-coffee meetings are designed for a different crowd and therefore not designed to compete with the IT Alliance events. Deena Dickey, projects coordinator for the IT Alliance, is a member of the chamber's e-coffee committee.

Deborah Sibert, president of local marketing firm Willis Case Harwood and a member of the e-coffee committee, said the goal is not simply to promote the chamber's member companies, but to educate the small and medium-sized businesses in the area.

"We want to help them advance their businesses through the effective use of technology," Sibert said. "We're going to take the fear out of technology."

Rob Miller, co-director of the i-Zone group supporting technology entrepreneurs, said he thinks the e-coffee program will be another benefit to the region.

"I think the more information that can be brought into the community the better it is," Miller said.

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