August 26, 2011

Hurricane Preparedness Conference Call today 2 pm

Citibank Shopkick - have you registered yet?

Digital DC Week - November 4-11, 2011 - host an event in your business?

New businesses opening in Adams Morgan!

Hurricane Preparedness Conference Call - today at 2 PM

REGIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE CALL – 2 P.M. TODAY FRIDAY, AUGUST 26

The current hurricane track raises serious concerns for the Greater Washington Region. Storm surges, high winds and heavy rains all bring risks of outages, transportation challenges, business continuity difficulties and more. Business leaders and their teams should be taking action now to prepare for an extended disruption to commerce and operations should this storm intensify and approach this region.

In an effort to assemble a “situation awareness” update, the Greater Washington Board of Trade is convening a special emergency conference call on Friday afternoon, August 26, at 2:00 p.m.

They will receive status updates and outlooks from:

Metro's CEO and General Manager

PEPCO's senior management

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority

Safeway's Eastern Division President

American Red Cross' CEO

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments' Executive Vice President

And, several other key leaders

Conference Call Agenda & Speakers

This call will last one hour and begin sharply at 2:00 p.m.  There is no cost for this special conference call.

Conference Call: (866) 576-7975
Access Code: 144556

To help you prepare, the Board of Trade has compiled Business Preparation Guidelines for Hurricane Irene . I hope that you will find this information and conference call of value to you and your business.

Sincerely,

Jim Dinegar

President and CEO

Greater Washington Board of Trade

P.S. We are also assembling a collection of resources for preparedness and tracking on the Board of Trade's Emergency Preparedness webpage .

Citibank Shopkick - have you registered yet? It is FREE!

Citibank is sponsoring a new program to drive more traffic into your small and local business.  Sign up here to be selected: http://shopkick.com/local/apply IT IS FREE!

Why is Citibank sponsoring this program?

1) To help local businesses grow.

"Citi is excited to be part of the team offering this innovative opportunity to local businesses – one that is already embraced by many major national brands, such as Target, Macy's and Crate & Barrel. This is an exciting retail program that small businesses can use to help them connect with their customers and community."

2) To deliver a new and innovative mobile app to shoppers.

"The mobile device is changing the way consumers are interacting with retailers. shopkick is creating a personalized experience that users can enjoy when shopping at local merchants in a new and exciting way."

3) Because Citi likes shopkick.

“One of Citi's four core principles is ingenuity. Citi is working to deliver simple, innovative solutions to its clients and shopkick is the leading mobile shopping app, helping both consumers and businesses. Citi is happy to help make this opportunity possible for shopkick, consumers and small businesses.”

How does ShopKick work?

Shopkick is amazing, simple and very effective. And it does not reduce your margins. Join the first mobile shopping network that drives customers into both large national stores and local coffee shops, yogurt shops, stores and restaurants. Find new customers, and increase the loyalty of your current customers. With its patent pending Shopkick Signal™, Shopkick is the only app for iPhone or Android that can reward customer for simply for walking into your business (that means for foot traffic). By giving consumers simple incentives, smart offers, and a fun experience, you'll soon have more, and more loyal, customers.

1) Consumers download the free app and look for interesting stores and offers.

2) Consumers find nearby stores and restaurants with great products and kicks™ rewards

3) Consumers walk into your business, get rewarded just for visiting (courtesy of Citi), and make a purchase!

How does the selection happen?

First of all, any local business can apply and may be selected.

Please understand that the 1,000 local businesses that will receive the Citi sponsorship will be selected at shopkick’s and Citi’s sole discretion. Certain factors will be deemed favorable, but again, any local business can apply.

Preferred cities:

New York, Los Angeles, SF/Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Seattle,

Washington, D.C., Detroit, New Orleans.

Preferred types of businesses:

Coffee shops

Yogurt shops

Bakeries

Family restaurants

Local fashion stores

Other factors influencing the selection:

You have less than 20 store locations

You're located in a shopping area

Or you are part of a Simon Mall

Your business has a good Yelp rating

Your store design stands out

For more information click here: http://shopkick.com/

Digital DC Week - November 4-11, 2011 - host an event in your business?

DIGITAL DC WEEK November 4-11, 2011- Digital Creative and Socially Innovative

DIGITAL DCWEEK is a week long festival in the US capital focused on bringing together designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and social innovators of all kinds.

It’s a series of 100s of distributed events powered by the community and complemented by core conferences, parties, and projects created by the festival organizers iStrategyLabs and Tech Cocktail . DCWEEK 2010 was assembled in 3.5 months and drew 6,000 attendees from around the world. This year we’re planning on 10,000+. A full recap with over 600 blog posts and 13,000 tweets can be found here .

What you can do now:

Submit an idea and we’ll make it happen. Host an event at your business.

Join the Facebook Group to meet others. Follow us on twitte. Explore the full website: www.digitalcapitalweek.org

For sponsorship or other info email: goto@digitalcapitalweek.org.

New businesses opening in Adams Morgan!

We are pleased to welcome Marrakech Lounge at 1817 Columbia Road, NW.

We learned this week that Ahmed Ouihman (formerly of Napoleon's on Columbia Road) and Matthew Mohler (formerly of Adour at the St. Regis) will be opening Marrakech Lounge in the former Evolve space at 1817 Columbia Road. They will serve traditional Moroccan dishes such as bisteeya — a savory pie made with shredded chicken and almonds and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon - along with tagines, flatbreads, couscous and baklava. The two-story, 75-seat restaurant is scheduled to open September 1.

Marrakech Lounge will serve dinner and brunch. Small plates are expected to cost $10 to $15.

We've also learned that Citibank has signed a lease in the former Blockbuster location at 1805 Columbia Road, NW and that the new owners of the former Adams Mill Bar and Grill at 1815 Adams Mill Road, are close to signing a lease with a new tenant. More to come! Stay tuned!