Hint: Swagatum
Where Am I? for August 18, 2010 was exactly where Matt said it was: “Yellow Springs, OH. Entry to the village along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.” I’m impressed. Y’all know Dayton.
Community
HYPE in the Northern Miami Valley
HYPE stands for Helping Young Professionals Emerge and is the centralized way for YPs in the Northern Miami Valley to meet new people, have fun with creative social events, and volunteer together to make a difference in the community. I spoke to HYPE chair, Doug Eakin to get the scoop on this “new” YP group. Doug grew up in Columbus, but spent most of the last 10 years in Indiana. A job opportunity as a Business Banking Representative for Unity National Bank brought him to the Miami Valley.
There was no HYPE for a long time. Doug was contacted by the Executive Director of the Piqua Chamber of Commerce and invited to get involved with this new initiative. In January 2009, the EDs from Covington, Tipp City, Piqua and Troy invited a group of young people together to come up with a way to represent YP interests in the Northern Miami Valley. Eakin dove as the chair of this new organization in and started planning. In May 2009, the group launched with their official kick-off and have been going since then. According to Eakin, “HYPE is a group developed for and by young professionals who are dedicated to Social Opportunity, Professional Development, and Community Involvement, and have a shared interest in promoting the Northern Miami Valley as a place to live, work and play.” And they have grown substantially since the beginning – social events (like monthly happy hours and a successful canoeing collaboration with Gen D), volunteer opportunities, and really creative networking events (like their wine education series) have helped them gain momentum.
HYPE members volunteer at Habitat for Humanity Miami County
But although they are growing quickly and getting more people involved, one of their greatest opportunities is in the newness of the organization. According to Eakin, “Given that we’re still such a young organization, people still have the opportunity to get on at the ground floor and really have an active role in shaping the organization.” And it’s in the leadership opportunities that Eakin has found some of the greatest rewards. He says being in a leadership position give him “the chance to make a difference. It lets me see how my ideas and thoughts play out to the members of the organization… it’s very rewarding.” And beyond Eakin’s leadership role, just being a part of the organization has “absolutely” helped him professionally. He’s a big believer in the tried-and-true argument that “success in the business world relates directly to the people that you know.”
Similar to the downtown Dayton region, the Northern Miami Valley struggles with some negative stigma about what’s available for people. Eakin is adamant about where it comes from; he says, “I don’t think for a second that this negative stigma comes as a result of lack of opportunities. Some of the bad feedback we’ve gotten about our organization has come from people that show up at an event and take no personal responsibility for involving themselves in what’s going on. Getting involved is an attitude – you have to make the decision to do it, it’s not going to happen if you’re not open to the possibility.”
Steering Committee at Holiday Kick-Off Party 2009
Final words regarding his mission with HYPE and involvement? Eakin shares that “The world doesn’t stop at I-70; there’s plenty of things to do and places to see up north.” HYPE doesn’t cost a penny to ‘join.’ So, for any YPs who are interested in learning more about what’s going on – check it out! If you want to know more, visit www.hypenmv.org.
JumpstART Announces Upcoming Events
As the 2010-2011 arts season starts to get underway, JumpstART – the YP activity arm of Culture Works – announced some new deals and upcoming events. This is a group dedicated to providing great arts opportunities to plug local young professionals into the arts scene. From their email:
Lots of great arts opportunities abound in Dayton – ranked #1 for arts and culture in midsized cities. But sometimes YPs have a hard time knowing about what’s happening and finding events that fit well into the pocketbook. That’s where JumpstART comes in – a no-membership/no-commitment way for YPs to get great deals on arts events and stay in the know. All you have to do is “like” us on Facebook for all the latest updates.
JUMP INTO MODERN MASTERS at the Dayton Art Institute – Thursday, September 16 at 5:30 PM.
RSVPs are requested for this event to get a proper food count – Email Claire at [email protected]. For only $10 (payable at the door), each YP gets:
- a tour of the special exhibit, Modern Masters (featured in the Columbus Dispatch here and highlighted on Bucher’s Beat here),
- two drink tickets,
- appetizers from Elegant Fare,
- a ticket to the upcoming party – OKTOBERFEST,
- and great networking with other YPs from many different groups.
PORGY AND BESS at the Dayton Opera with music by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
(Note – This is not an official “jump,” but it is considered THE Great American Opera, so we wanted to provide ways to get a great ticket deal and encourage YPs to check it out together. JumpstART will be attending on Saturday, October 23, but your group can use this discount for any performance.)
Porgy and Bess is celebrating its 75th Anniversary, and Dayton Opera is honoring this George and Ira Gershwin classic with an extraordinary international cast of rising opera stars. Neil Gittleman conducts the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and the production includes Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and chorus members from Central State and Wilberforce Universities.
Here’s the DEAL: Order your Porgy and Bess tickets now before they go for sale to the public and save 15% on groups of 10 or more. Mention the JumpstART group deal for the group discount when you call Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630.
COMING UP:
Social Media 140Conf Road Trip – Dayton
Blind Bob’s in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio will host Jeff Pulver, Internet celebrity and 140 Character Conference organizer, this coming Sunday, Aug. 22, 2010.
Dayton was selected as one of the stop-over cities by Pulver for his road trip leading up to the Detroit 140conf in October, 2010.
The Dayton meetup is scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. at Blind Bob’s, 430 E. 5th St. in the Oregon District. Attendees work in many fields of interest, including technology, youth sports tournaments, photography, journalism and business.
You can RSVP and see who else is attending here.
Pulver is an internationally known technology leader is is co-founder of Vonage, the company that provides telephone service over the Internet.
Pulver asked followers on Twitter to suggest places to stop during his road trip. Several dozen Dayton-area residents replied back with pleas to stop in Dayton. Within minutes, Pulver decided that Dayton, Ohio was on his 140conf Road Trip map, along with Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Dayton is home to a growing community that uses social media for personal communication and business. Social media includes Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs and various other community websites and Internet tools. Leading the charge in the Dayton area is a group known as New Media Dayton (http://newmediadayton.com/) which hosts regular ‘tweetups’ at local restaurants to share ideas, techniques and build connections among participants.
For more information about the Dayton 140conf Road Trip, including a short welcome video by Blind Bobs, visit http://www.dogwalkblog.com/
ABOUT JEFF PULVER
Jeff Pulver is the Chairman and Founder of pulver.com, and one of the true pioneers of 
the VoIP industry and a leader in the emerging TV on the Net industry. Leveraging well over a decade of hands-on experience in Internet/IP communications and innovation, Mr. Pulver is a globally renowned thought leader, author and entrepreneur. He is the organizer for the 140 Character Conference.
CONTACTS for more information:
Carole Baker-Hicks, Owner
OH! Social
937-620-2320
Chris Celek, Owner
Celek Media Consulting
937-681-4120
Gerard McLean, CEO
Rivershark Inc
937-836-6255
Jeff Pulver
140 Characters Conference
http://140conf.com
http://140roadaug22l.eventbrite.com/
###
Where Am I? August 18, 2010
Hint: Helen, John, and Dave.
Last week’s Where Am I? August 11, 2010 was the clock tower at Dayton Children’s Medical Center. The best nurses in Dayton work at Children’s, and parents can find a world of helpful information on their website.
Dayton Spiritual Leader Celebrating 25 Years
In 1985, Father Tandoh completed his Novitiate year in the religious order of the Holy Sprit Congregation in Ghana. He took his first vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a layman before he began his studies at the School of Philosophy in Insukka, Nigeria.
Dayton became Fr. Tandoh’s home in 2000 when he became the Religious Education Director at Resurrection Catholic School. By the end of the year, he was appointed the Pastor of Resurrection and St. James parishes. Today, he is the pastor of five parishes in Montgomery County: St. Mary’s Camden, St. Mary’s Dayton, Holy Family, St. Augustine and St. Benedict the Moor.
To improve the quality of life for the first community that welcomed him, Fr. Tandoh lead a $4.5 million fundraising campaign to build a new church for the 500 families of St. Benedict the Moor parish. Completed in 2005, it stands as the only predominantly African-American Catholic Church in Ohio built by African-Americans. During this time, Fr. Tandoh continued to serve the children of the Dayton urban area by teaching at Mary Queen of Peace School.
Fr. Tandoh’s civil rights service has been greatly demonstrated by his work with Leaders for Equality and Action in Dayton (L.E.A.D.). One of his first acts with L.E.A.D. involved working with the city commissioner to increase the removal of dilapidated homes from 75 in 2004 to 800 abandoned structures in 2008. He called upon the Dayton Police Chief in 2008 to outline a plan to implement a Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) program in the city. Chief Richard Biehl has reported that the first steps of the program have begun.
Montgomery County has no publicly funded medical detox program for the thousands who suffer from drug addiction. Fr. Tandoh asked Dayton Commissioner Dan Foley to create a comprehensive plan to provide effective, quality treatment for those suffering from substance abuse. Commissioner Foley and his task force have devised a plan and started implementing it.
Throughout his service to the community, Fr. Tandoh has used the power of his vows to help him, “Vows make your life easier. In every situation, you know the right thing to do because of the vows. No confusion. Just do the right thing.” His 25 years of spiritual service will be celebrated during the Sunday service on August 22 at 12:30pm at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church, followed by a reception.
Want To Help?
The Ronald McDonald House provides a temporary home-away-from-home for families of critically ill, hospitalized children and supports efforts that improve children’s health within our region.
Over the next 4 weeks they are in need of volunteers to help them on a large upcoming project. Volunteers are needed between 8am – 5pm Monday through Friday. If you’ve got as little as 2 hours to help, you’ll be put to work on a mailing project or perhaps making phone calls. Minimum age is 16 and small groups are welcome to volunteer together.
If you are available please contact Brandy McFall at 937-224-0047 x 20 or email her.
The Ronald McDonald House in Dayton, Ohio is able to keep the doors open for families in the Miami Valley Region because of generous donations from individuals, groups, businesses and corporations in our community.
They are an independent, not-for-profit organization. The families that utilize our facilities while their children are hospitalized do so at no cost. There are many ways you can help provide this home-away-from-home for families in their time of need. If you are not available at this time, please keep them in mind for future volunteer projects.
Where Am I? August 11, 2010
Hint: It takes a village
Last week’s Where Am I? August 4, 2010 was Winston Heat Treating. You’ve seen the sign, 711 East 2nd Street- right across the street from the 2nd Street Public Market. What do they do? They heat things up for food processing, medical tooling, aerospace industries to name a few. Kinda cool, er, I mean, hot, right?
How Do You Get YOUR News These Days?
Sitting around the pool last week, my friends and I were discussing the Dayton region news media options. We all agreed that since we have young children, watching the evening news introduces too much violence and complex subject material. Most of us had canceled our newspaper subscriptions long ago and use the web as our primary news source. The conversation went something like this.
“Do you find yourself getting your news from your Facebook newsfeed more than DDN?”
Practically in unison, my 3 friends replied “yes.” One said “The news covered in DDN isn’t really news for me… it is like reading the police blotter. And a house fire on the other side of town just isn’t news.” Another said “I connect with the Facebook pages for news sources that I like – NPR, DMM, and Huffington Post. Then I read the stories that are of interest to me.” My other friend said “You don’t get neighborhood specific news anymore from a newspaper… but you don’t really need it because you have your neighbors as your Facebook friends and they tell you the news… or you have the city of Dayton as your Facebook friend and they give you the news. With so little in-depth investigative reporting, the traditional media just doesn’t have much more to offer.”
While I live in something of a bubble devoid of news sometimes, I hear about the important things… Proposition 8, toxic fires causing air pollution where I live, LeBron James going to Miami (ok, not important but keeps me from “living under a rock” status)… etc. all from Facebook first… then I go to another source to get more details.
Here are some interesting statistics…
- Facebook is considered the 4th largest source of traffic for news and media sites after Google, Yahoo! And MSN.
- 44% of news readers say they share news and information via social networks (usually Facebook and Twitter)
- Traffic to news sites directed from Facebook has grown to over 3.5% from .5% in the last year. Google News has not seen significant growth in the same time period (only 1.39%.)
What about you? Do you still rely on traditional media sources, or do you find yourself using social networks to get local and national news? Do you now Google or Facebook more?
Calling all Crafty Dudes and Divas of Montgomery County
My Best of Show cookies from the 2009 Montgomery County Fair
Hello, I’m Holly Michael – farm wife, mother, blogger , DMM crazy headline writer and communications professional who has worked at some of Dayton’s largest companies. I straddle the sometimes equally stinky worlds of agriculture and corporate life, so you don’t have to.
As you might have imagined, the Montgomery County Fair is an important event to a farm family like mine. And while it isn’t practical to invite all our friends from DaytonMostMetro.com to visit us on the farm or accompany us to the Ohio State Fair, we CAN encourage you to visit us at the Montgomery County Fair—happening September 1-6 in downtown Dayton.
And guess what! You don’t have to be a farmer to participate in the fair and even earn some blue ribbons.
Photos, antiques and more on display in the historic Roundhouse at the Montgomery County Fair
The Montgomery County Fair is currently accepting entries for everything from cakes and pies to giant pumpkins; antique collections to photography; crocheting to quilts. Entries are a bargain at $1 each (although, if you get ambitious like me, the one-dollar entries start to add up) and pay out premiums for first through fourth place (this varies by category).
So even if you don’t have three barrows (boy pigs), two gilts (girl pigs) and two dairy heifers (girl cows) to enter, you can still take on the Michael family with a scarecrow, decorated cupcakes or photos.
Visit the Montgomery County Fair website to download the fair book PDF. Mail-in entries are due by August 16. Walk-in entries are accepted August 12, 13, 16, &17, 9 am – 5 pm. NOTE: you don’t actually take your goods to the fairgrounds until fair time—see the book for details.
If you are a regular fair-goer or have never checked it out, try making an entry this year. The fair is an important part of downtown Dayton and nothing beats the thrill of seeing your chocolate cake take the top prize (trust me, I’ve done it!)
Be a part of the Mu Crew!
This article written by Mu Crew member Matt Grimm.
The Mu Crew is a Mpowerment program with AIDS Resource Center (ARC) Ohio. This LGBTQ group is designed for young gay men between the ages of 18 and 29, however all are welcome. Founded in 2004, the program’s mission is to create a happy, healthy and united gay community through education and empowerment.
The Mu Crew hosts meetings the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the Kuhn’s building in Downtown Dayton; where the group has an official meeting place that they refer to as the Pi House. The meetings consist of crew member discussions around a variety of topics including upcoming events, social events and fundraisers; relative “hot” topics for gay men and anything else the group feels is important.
The group holds annual outings and events such as a weekend-long retreat held every year in May at the Glen Helen nature preserve in Yellow Springs Ohio. They also host an all-day LGBTQ conference at the Pi House each year called the Blue Conference. The Blue Conference brings in a variety of speakers to share information and hold discussions on a variety of relative subjects for the group. From performing in Drag shows, organizing an internet based reality show, organizing parties and various other outings, the Mu Crew knows how to have a great time!
The Mu Crew also participates in fundraisers and activities hosted by the LGBT Center of Dayton, as well as
local bars such as Masque, Aquarius and MJ’s. The Mu Crew has marched in the Pride parades of Dayton, Cincinnati, and even Columbus.
The Mu Crew’s meetings are held at the Pi House, 15 West 4th Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402. They start at 7:30, but don’t feel pressured to be on time. Many participants come and join in throughout the entire meeting. After the meetings end, the Mu Crew will go out for a bite to eat or head out for some Karaoke!
Coming events include a weekend camping trip at Cedar Point August 13th-15th. The cost is $60.00 and includes admission to Cedar Point on Saturday.
The Mu Crew’s next scheduled meeting is on Tuesday, August 17 at 7:30pm. Make sure to mark your calendars now!
For more information on the Mu Crew or to contact the coordinator please refer to the links listed below:
Coordinator: Ben Adams
Telephone: (937) 461-2437 ext. 2015
E-Mail: [email protected]
Home Office: AIDS Resource Center Ohio
Web Site: http://www.arcohio.org
Myspace: www.myspace.com/TheMuCrew
Also Online At: Facebook
Saving the World, One Armpit at a Time
Hello, I’m Holly Michael – farm wife, mother, blogger , DMM crazy headline writer and communications professional who has worked at some of Dayton’s largest companies. I straddle the sometimes equally stinky worlds of agriculture and corporate life, so you don’t have to.
Much to the chagrin of some of you, especially the guy who occasionally buys pizza for the DMM contributors, I haven’t posted much this summer. But I have an excuse. I’ve been saving the planet.
Oh, and I’ve been hot. Real hot. Eighty-four degrees in my kitchen H-O-T. Why? Well, we don’t have air conditioning. I’ll let that sink in. We. Don’t. Have. ANY. Air Conditioning. In 2010.
Our decision is one part economics (the cost to retrofit our old farmhouse would be high), one part physical (Husband works outside, so coming in and out of the AC would make him feel sick on hot days), and two parts stubborn (we didn’t have AC growing up and we do fine without it now).
I thought we were just sweaty country bumpkins who prefer to keep the windows open, but it turns out we have been saving the planet—who knew?
Salon published a great article in early July about Stan Cox’s new book titled “Losing our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths about our Air-Conditioned World.” According to Salon, Cox’s book points out the “dizzying rise of air conditioning comes at a steep personal and societal price. We stay inside longer, exercise less, and get sick more often — and the electricity used to power all that A.C. is helping push the fast-forward button on global warming…”
See, every morning when I get up and attempt to apply makeup to an already sweaty face, I am saving the planet.
I do find it interesting that people consider air conditioning to be an essential home amenity. I consider not being able to look in your neighbor’s windows from the kitchen table an essential home amenity—but I don’t usually say, as people do when they hear I don’t have AC, How do you stand it?
I do agree that people with asthma, people in the hospital, people in movie theatres , people in airplanes and elderly people of poor health really do need air conditioning (there are lots of other situations, of course) but I do agree with Stan Cox that all this AC is making us soft.
When the National Academy of Engineering picked its 20 greatest engineering achievements of the twentieth century, they ranked air conditioning above the Internet, space travel and the mass production of antibiotics. I’m just not sure how the technology that made it possible for people to live comfortably in Phoenix is more important than, say, penicillin—but obviously, I don’t get it.
So come visit me in Farmersville, we’ll sit under the ceiling fan and drink a long, tall lemonade while the kids play outside (yes, my tough little farm kids play outside in this weather). You might be surprised how comfortable it can be.
Entrepreneurs Start with a Customer
I am often asked about resources to start a business. Too often the startup entrepreneur is asking the wrong questions and looking at the wrong issues. Before starting a business, a prospective entrepreneur must answer the marketing questions.
The most important issue around starting a business is the customer. Let me say this again: THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE AROUND STARTING A BUSINESS IS THE CUSTOMER! Who is the customer? What need (product or service) are you satisfying that they are willing to pay you? Why is no one willing filling that need now? Or are they? How much are they willing to pay? What makes your product or service superior to the alternatives?
Many entrepreneurs focus on financing, building, location, etc when starting a business. Instead, they should answer the questions honestly before looking at anything else. The #1 need of entrepreneurs at all levels is customers. Without customers, you have no business.
When I started Gasper Corporation, I benefited from the business classes I took at Wright State. The most important were marketing and accounting. I used the concepts of target marketing to make the business viable and effective. So here is how I answered the marketing questions.
David Gasper - Back in the day...
Who was the customer? The 500-1,000 Automatic Teller Machine (ATMs) departments in banks worldwide.
What need did they have? The ATM industry was in its infancy and availability (uptime) was not considered thoroughly when ATM networks were designed. The cost of downtime hurt their profits and bank image.
Why was no one filling that need? The startup industry offered the opening. Competitors offered offline manual products while we had a chance to offer online monitoring and management.
How much were they willing to pay? We developed a pricing model based upon the size of the network. Larger networks paid more as their problems were larger. Our pricing model also reflected a payback based upon two values that our product offered. 1. Our product reduced labor costs, so that savings was part of the price. 2. Our product increased revenues from higher availability. We factored that into our price.
What made your product superior? I started my career as an ATM programmer. I understand the sensors and status signals better than others who designed management systems with no ATM experience. I also understood the specialized switches (such as Base24) that processed ATM transactions. Finally, conventional wisdom at that time did not believe that personal computers could process online transaction. From my programming efforts in 8080 assembler and low level code of personal computers, I saw that was not true. PCs were the wave of the future with more power in smaller boxes for less cost. This specialized knowledge allowed Gasper Corporation to create unique position.
So we picked a small limited market with little competition that we could dominate. We stayed very focused on that small target market of 500-1,000 customers. We could have created monitoring products for many other markets. In doing so, we would have been wiped out by large competitors such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and Computer Associates. Instead, we chose to target one specific market and be the BEST in that market.
The rest is history. So, before you go looking for start up funding, answer the questions above honestly. If the answers are not satisfactory, then FIX them with the right honest answers.
updayton releases Year Two Report
updayton asked young creatives why they are sticking around (Photo by Joel Spitsnaugle and Val Smith)
Cities across the nation (or at least the people who acknowledge the theory of the Creative Class) are battling to attract creative, professional talent. Local volunteer organization and DaytonMostMetro.com partner updayton has zeroed in on the next generation of these creative professionals and focuses on retaining and attracting those they term the “young creatives.”
On Tuesday, updayton released their Year Two Report to highlight the latest data on the region’s “brain drain,” actions taken by updayton volunteers and others in the community to plug it, and the latest things they’ve heard from young people at the 2010 Young Creatives Summit.
The statistics they present tell two stories. One is of a brain drain gap that is growing. The Dayton region has a larger number of students attending college here – we’ve added 22,000 college students from 2005-2008. However, the number of adults with a college degree in the region has only grown by less than 8,000. This discrepancy demonstrates that students are still leaving the region after graduation. However, the data isn’t all gloom and doom. American Community Survey published that in 2008 the region gained 4,000 individuals aged 18-34. For the first time in years, the Dayton region has a positive net increase in attracting these young creatives. The gap is closing.
The American Community Survey published that the Dayton region is finally showing a net increase in young people aged 18-34,
Also included in the report, updayton takes a look back at progress made over the past few years. They update the community on the success of action plans from 2009 (including the Wayne Avenue Corridor and DaytonMostMetro.com), but they also recognize the important work done by numerous organizations throughout the region. In the 2009 report, updayton listed recommendations to address issues of utmost importance to young creative. Although they recognize that much of this work was in motion before updayton even existed, they take time in the 2010 report to acknowledge the important projects that are making Dayton more welcoming and accessible to young creatives. But although the region has advanced significantly in urban vibrancy and connectivity, there are still important steps that must be taken in cultivating greater diversity and better connecting college students to the job market.
Summit attendees discuss important issues (Photo by William Murdock)
The Year Two Report also focuses on the 2010 Young Creatives Summit. They provide the community with the complaints and concerns of the young professionals who attended the Summit, and they highlight the possible solutions brainstormed by those same YPs. For each topic: Entrepreneurship, The Dayton Scene, Neighborhoods / Community, and Diversity – updayton presents the common themes that recurred in each breakout session and recommendations for future progress. Although some of these recommendations require implementation at a higher organizational or government level, there are many steps that businesses, nonprofits, and individuals can take to make a difference.
Finally, updayton utilizes the Report to spotlight the Action Plan projects that volunteers are undertaking to make a difference in the community. Updayton prides itself on connecting young creatives back into the system to be a part of the solution.
Read the full report here or at http://updayton.com.
Where Am I – August 4, 2010
The answer to last week’s Where Am I? July 28, 2010 is Cairn’s Toys in Tipp City. An ever-changing cast of jaunty Playmobil figures are always outside greeting customers to the cobalt blue tiled building. Cairn’s has been there since 1983. I love that building- it’s such a cool and colorful addition to the historic downtown area.
Cairn’s is owned and operated by Melissa Cairns. Our unique store specializes in high quality toys and classic bears not found in common department stores. It is our vast selection, product knowledge, and personal service that attracts repeat customers who frequently travel more than 100 miles to come and visit our store.
This week’s hint: Industrial strength heat. Check out the pic below, and if you know where I am then add another hint for others down in the comments.
Meet Generation Dayton’s Spotlight Member of the Month
A program of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Generation Dayton encourages talented young professionals who live and work in the Dayton region to meet, network, learn, grow and establish themselves as integral components in the future success of the region. Each month we’ll introduce you to one of their members with a spotlight interview. So meet our next young professional:
- Name: Aaron Flatter
Title: Technical Sales Specialist
- Organization: Agil IT
- Community Involvement: Generation Dayton employee relations committee & HYPE of Miami County.
- Hobbies and Interests: Golf, woodworking, flying and nuclear power.
- Favorite Area Eatery: The Wine Gallery and Café.
- Favorite Weekend Activity: Spending time with my wife, golfing and enjoying almost anything that includes the outdoors.
- What do you love about Dayton?
Dayton is home for me. Well, technically I live in the middle of corn and bean fields, but its close enough. I’ve been around Dayton my entire life and just when I think there’s something missing, well, that’s when my wife usually clues me in. Dayton may be a rather small city but it’s not lacking charm, culture or diversity. There are so many wonderful organizations and local business that help make Dayton the city that it is. Of course I can’t keep my mind from wandering to all the other good things Dayton offers such as Boston Stokers coffee, the seemingly never ending beer menu at Chappys, and too many local places to even mention when it comes to delicious food. I love Dayton not just because it’s home to me and most of my family but because its home to so many other wonderful people as well. I can’t quite imagine my life without Dayton, or without Pub Fries from the Dublin Pub. - How has Generation Dayton aided your professional, personal and/or social development?
- Generation Dayton has given me the opportunities to interact with fellow young professionals that share similar morals, goals and interest.
- Tell us a little more about your profession and company…
- Agil IT designs, builds, maintains and secures information and infrastructures for ambulatory care healthcare practices. Our mission is to help these organizations leverage their investments in technology to establish themselves as leaders in their industry. Agil IT sees and understands the evolution of healthcare, especially as the federal government is pushing hard for Electronic Health Records (EHR) adoption and with potential cuts to reimbursements coming down the pike for medical practices, operational efficiency is paramount. We help those practices with those efficiencies, which in turn help them to provide the best patient care…all through technology and consulting.
- What do you enjoy about your career/profession? Employer?
- The challenges that arrive with every new technology breakthrough and having the opportunity to do this in a passionate and energetic work environment.
- Favorite quote or inspiratonal saying:
- “You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” John Wooden
“The price for success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and determination that whether we win or lose, we applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” Vince Lombardi
- Click here to view past featured professionals.
