Well then, check out the Chamber of Commerce’s SMART Lunch Series!

The next event will feature CEMA (Chatham Emergency Management Agency), and will focus on disaster planning for businesses. Hurricane season begins soon, June 1st, so grab a seat for lunch and learn how to protect your company and your assets.

Details:
SMART lunch series

The Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council/SMART lunch series will take place at noon May 1 at the Savannah Morning News auditorium, 1375 Chatham Parkway, with networking at 11:30 a.m.

Phillip R. Webber from the Chatham Emergency Management Agency will present “10 Things Every Business Needs to Know for Disaster Planning.”

Reservations are required for lunch, $9. No charge or reservation is necessary to attend the program portion.

For information, contact Susan Smith at 912-644-6434 or ssmith@savannahchamber.com

An article on SavannahNow highlights projects in and around the Creative Coast region. I’d compile a list here, but there are over 50 sites named and there is a comprehensive and exhaustive tally already online for your browsing pleasure.

The Top Five ‘Keys’:

1.) Savannah River Landing

2.) Hutchinson Island Development

3.) Georgia Ports Authority

4.) Savannah College of Arts and Design (SCAD)

5.) Armstrong Atlantic State University

Check out the entire list at the link above.

Are there any locations you feel are missing?

IKEA, the popular Swedish furniture store, is opening a warehouse in Savannah on June 27 of this year. I wish it was a full store! If you haven’t been to IKEA before, I strongly suggest you make the drive up to Atlanta ASAP and check out their goods. IKEA is not only incredibly affordable, but it’s amazingly stylish and popular among all income brackets. I have been moving about 5 pieces of IKEA furniture around the country, from my first kitchen table and end tables to my bookshelf and my plates, glasses and bowls. IKEA has everything you could be looking for to furnish an apartment or home and you can stock up on a ton of stuff without breaking the bank. Their framed photos are very popular as is their home and garden plant selection.

Now, what does this have to do with the distribution center opening in Savannah? Well….nothing really, other than IKEA rocks and I have been dying to tell you all a little bit about the history of my affordable furniture. You should check IKEA out. The local center will be 685,000 square feet and that only represents the first phase of a 1.7 million square foot project. Plans also exist for a future expansion of approximately 975,000 additional square feet. This will be a great boom in local jobs and will be an increase in movement through our port.

No? Ok, well, that acronym might not catch on, but the Savannah Morning News is joining forces with Yahoo! to distribute news content and enhance online advertising.

As noted in the Savannah Morning News… The idea is to unite newspapers, with their focus on local news and advertising, with an Internet services company ranked among the largest in the world with 150 million users in the U.S. alone. Darryl Kotz, executive direction of online for savannahnow.com said, “Specifically, we hope to harness the power of many of Yahoo’s online products to further complement the offerings found today on savannahnow.com.”

This sounds promising for increasing online readership. Congratulations to Savannah for securing such a high profile partnership!