Business Growth & Employer Trainings

Summer Workshop Series

Are you an entrepreneur, employer, or small business owner looking to gain more knowledge and skills in marketing, human resources, emotional intelligence, and data analysis? Shippensburg University’s Office of Workforce Development and Small Business Development Center present a virtual workshop series that can help advance your business while maximizing your resources.

Schedule

June Sessions

June 1 – Identifying the Hard Facts About Purchasing Software
Session Expert: Melissa Hockenberry
June 8 – Human Resource Pitfalls
Session Expert: Tiffany Bloyer, MS, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP
June 15 – Data Analytics: Understand, Visualize, and Leverage Data to Make Effective Business Decisions
Session Expert: Dr. Robert Neidigh
June 22 – Building Your Company’s Brand: Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies
Session Expert: Dr. Michael K. Coolsen
June 29 – Emotional Intelligence in Business: Lead and foster successful relationships in the Workplace
Session Expert: Dr. Matthew Shupp

July Sessions

July 13 – Recruiting, Retention, and Talent Development
Session Expert: Tiffany Bloyer, MS, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP
July 20 – Innovative Thinking to Build Your Business
Session Expert: Tracy Montoro
July 27 – Company Culture: The Competitive Advantage
Session Expert: Dr. Chad Kimmel

Details

Dates:

Thursdays, 8:30 am -10:30 am (EST)

June 1 – July 27, 2023

Cost:

$75 per session

$450 early registration* for all 8 sessions

$600 series total cost

Details:

Bonus:

Every individual who completes the series (all eight sessions) will get a certificate of completion and digital badge to share on your professional social sites.

Workshop Guide

Identifying the Hard Facts About Purchasing Software

with Melissa Hockenberry

Date: June 1

Even in an uncertain economy, SMBs are expected to spend 10-20% more on software in 2023 than 2022 according to a recent study by Capterra. If your business has a software purchase slated for 2023 or beyond, how do you ensure that your investment successfully achieves your goals and does not set you back in progress or cash?

Assessing your needs and evaluating your options can feel like an elusive and massive undertaking. Steps can be taken, however, to ensure you are not one of the 33% of business to experience a failed implementation.

Join Melissa Hockenberry, an 18-year software industry veteran as she provides a clear path through assessing your company’s needs and evaluating your options. She will even provide implementation tips she learned while helping over 250 SMBs implement a new software platform.

Melissa Hockenberry is the owner of First Things First Training and Consulting. She is passionate about utilizing her 29 years of business experience to help small businesses thrive.

Melissa’s professional journey in Fortune 500, non-profit, tech startups, and medium sized technology companies equipped her with a diverse set of valuable skills. She overcame the challenges of staffing and training the right people for a B2C organization and coordinated consistently compelling agendas for a conference with over 2000 attendees.

She built training programs from the ground up in the ever-changing world of SaaS software and delivered over 700 webinars in less than 4 years.

Melissa successfully implemented an integrated software solution in over 250 SMBs. She topped off her technology journey by launching two industry online communities in less than 2 years.

And she executes every skill with a persistent focus on the customer experience.

Melissa has her BS in Business Administration with a major in Marketing from Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and her MBA from the University at Albany, Albany, New York.

Human Resource Pitfalls

with Tiffany Bloyer, MS, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP

Date: June 8

This session will cover the challenges managers face with human resources (HR) related topics. Take a deep dive into the following session topics:

HR employment law
HR policies and procedures
HR practices employers should be following to avoid the most common pitfalls

Tiffany Bloyer is the Human Resources Director for Franklin County Government. Tiffany has 20 years of experience in HR in a variety of industries but over half of her career has been in the public sector.

Tiffany holds her Bachelor of Science in Applied Behavioral Science from Penn State University, a Master’s of Science in Human Resource Management and an MBA from the University of Maryland, and her PHR and SHRM-CP certifications. Tiffany is an adjunct professor for Penn State Mont Alto and enjoys sharing her knowledge with students.

Tiffany volunteers for many local nonprofits throughout the County, she’s the President of the Board for the Waynesboro YMCA, a member of the Executive Board for the Penn State Mont Alto Advisory Board, a board member for Healthy Community Partnerships, actively involved with the United Way, steering committee for Leadership Franklin County Youth, and an active member of the Society of County Human Resource Professionals of PA (SCHRPP).

Tiffany lives in Franklin County and in her free time she enjoys spending time with her family-her husband and two daughters, she loves being a dance mom and she also enjoys traveling.

Data Analytics: Understand, Visualize, and Leverage Data to Make Effective Business Decisions

with : Dr. Robert Neidigh

Date: June 15

Most businesses have a wealth of data that has been collected, but much data is unused. Data analytics enables employees to use the data to make better informed business decisions. In this session, learners will be introduced to data visualization, data metrics, and sampling which leads to decision making. Excel will be used exclusively to illustrate the tools.

Robert O. Neidigh, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the John L. Grove College of Business at Shippensburg University. Rob received his M.M.M. and Ph.D. (Operations Management) from the Pennsylvania State University. His research is primarily in production scheduling using math programming to optimize a production schedule. Prior to receiving his Ph.D., Rob worked for 15 years in manufacturing, with 10 of those in supervision, at a quartz crystal facility in Carlisle, PA. His thesis work was based upon a production scheduling problem in the quartz facility.

Building Your Company’s Brand: Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications Strategies

with Dr. Michael Coolson

Date: June 22

This webinar will introduce participants to integrated marketing communications strategies, with an emphasis on building your brand’s story through digital and social media tools. Marketing research and analytics strategies to develop key performance indicators in the marketplace will also be discussed.

Dr. Michael Coolsen’s (PhD – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) research interests include close relationship theory, its application to the consumer-brand relationship, and IMC/social media. Michael teaches a variety of marketing courses including marketing analytics, marketing research, and consumer behavior. His work has appeared and been cited in various media outlets, journals and trade publications, such as the New York Times, CNN, Ad Age, PR Week, the Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, the Journal of Interactive Marketing, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. His recent co-authored book Brand Storytelling: Integrated Marketing Communications for the Digital Media Landscape highlights the effect of dramatic narrative in marketing.

Emotional Intelligence in Business: Lead and Foster Successful Relationships in the Workplace

with Dr. Matthew Shupp

Date: June 29

Intelligence. Does the word make you think of a person’s cognitive ability? Is there only one way to be smart? Although some people define intelligence as being the smartest in the class or on a job, being “smart” can have many different meanings. For instance, you can be smart about yourself and others—you can have intelligence about your emotions and how you interact with people in certain contexts and situations. This, at its core, is Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence has been cited as the top predictor of career performance and is an invaluable skill, often as important as one’s cognitive ability. This session will cover aspects of emotional intelligence to help participants manage their emotions and relationships with others.

Dr. Matthew R. Shupp is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counselor Education at Shippensburg University where he developed and teaches a course on Emotionally Intelligent Leadership. Prior to his role as faculty, Dr. Shupp was a student affairs professional in a variety of institutional settings. He is both a National Certified Counselor (NCC) through the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) as well as a Board Certified Tele-Mental Health Provider (BC-TMH). He is an Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) and licensed as a professional counselor in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Most recently, Dr. Shupp was selected for addition to the Fulbright roster asa Fulbright Specialist (2021-2025).

Recruiting, Retention, and Talent Development

with Tiffany Bloyer, MS, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP

Date: July 13

This session will cover current hot topics of recruitment, retention and talent development. Learn more about how your hiring process, policies, and benefits can impact your workforce.

Tiffany holds her Bachelor of Science in Applied Behavioral Science from Penn State University, a Master of Science in Human Resource Management and an MBA from the University of Maryland, and her PHR and SHRM-CP certifications. Tiffany is an adjunct professor for Penn State Mont Alto and enjoys sharing her knowledge with students.

Tiffany lives in Franklin County and in her free time she enjoys spending time with her family-her husband and two daughters, she loves being a dance mom and she also enjoys traveling.

Innovative Thinking to Build Your Business

with Tracy Montoro

Date: July 20

This session introduces a thinking technique that helps individuals and teams look at issues from a variety of perspectives and add creativity and innovation to their solutions. The Six Thinking Hats ^TM is a disciplined process that directs you on ‘how to think’ rather than ‘what to think’, making it universally applicable. The six hats thinking simplifies thinking by maintaining focus on one element at a time and allowing a change in thinking while minimizing conflict between members in a group.

The process will:

Reduce meeting times and make them more productive
Improve the quality of decision making
Diversify the voices at the table
Achieve significant and meaningful results in less time
Move the group together toward a new idea or solution

Tracy Montoro is the Director of Workforce Development at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania. Tracy works closely with regional employers and university faculty to provide quality professional development opportunities to the South Central PA workforce. She has 25 years of experience in both the classroom and administrative sides of education. Prior to her role in workforce development, she served as Associate Director of the Career Center at both Shippensburg and Dickinson Universities where she directly supported students and alumni in their career readiness goals. Tracy has earned both her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her master’s degree in counseling at Shippensburg University. Tracy is a certified 6 Thinking Hats training provider.

Company Culture: The Competitive Advantage

with Dr. Chad Kimmel

Date: July 27

Research tells us that a strong company culture can increase net income 756 percent over an eleven-year period. Companies with healthy cultures are more productive and more engaging; they have a higher morale and less turnover; employees communicate more effectively and efficiently and have greater levels of trust; they are more creative and innovative and, overall, happier. Yet why do so many companies, small and large alike, ignore culture? Indeed, it is estimated that 70 percent of American workers feel disengaged at their jobs. Sociologist and business owner, Dr. Chad Kimmel, will help participants understand and address their company culture. He will outline and describe six critical employee needs that are fundamental to building healthy company cultures. Dr. Kimmel will also provide a selection of management practices aligned to meet these needs. Finally, he will describe the role and responsibility of an authentic leader in creating and sustaining a shared value system.

Chad Kimmel is both a Sociologist and a small business owner. At Shippensburg University he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in community studies, downtown revitalization, and community development and was the Director of a grant-funded research project studying Main Street Programs in Pennsylvania. Along with his wife, Chad Kimmel owns Grand Illusion Hard Cider and Grand Illusion Escape—a three-story cider & wine bar and escape room—in beautiful Downtown Carlisle.