Meetings & Events

Visit Spokane will host The Big Meeting: Annual Meeting and Marketing Outlook Forum 2012 on Thursday, Sept. 6, from 7 to 9:30 a.m., at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Berkeley Young, nationally renowned travel marketing expert, will speak. The cost is $40 for members and $50 for others. To register, go to visitspokane.com/bigmeeting.

The West Plains Chamber of Commerce will hold its September breakfast on Thursday, Sept. 6, from 7 to 8:30 a.m., at the Holiday Inn Spokane Airport, 1616 S. Windsor. Pam Veltri, superintendent of Medical Lake School District, and Debra Clemens, superintendent of Cheney School District, will speak. To register or for information, call 747-8480, or email [email protected].

Greater Spokane Incorporated will hold Good Morning Greater Spokane on Friday, Sept. 7, from 7 to 9 a.m., at the Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln. The cost is $25 for members and $55 for others until Sept. 4, and $30 for members and $55 for others thereafter. GSI also will hold its 2012 Annual Meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. James Albaugh, executive vice president of Boeing Co., will be the keynote speaker. The cost is $450 for a corporate table of 10, $45 for a member, $75 for others, and after Sept. 6, the cost will be $50 for members and $75 for others. For information about these events, go to www.greaterspokane.org or call 624-1393.

Sterling Bank will hold a free Customer Appreciation Day, Friday, Sept. 7, from 4 to 6 p.m., at 11205 E. Sprague. For information, call 891-5985.

kNIFVES, Northwest Independent Film Video Entertainment Society, will hold its free general meeting on Thursday, Sept. 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Seasons of Coeur d'Alene, 209 Lakeside. David Lombard, a 20-year film veteran, will speak. For information, go to kNIFVES.org or email [email protected].

Gonzaga University School of Business Administration will hold The Pigott Entrepreneurship Lecture Series: Iconic Reflections, People and Concepts that Represent the Best of the Restaurant Industry on Thursday, Sept. 13, from 5:50 to 8 p.m. in the Jepson Center's Wolff Auditorium, 502 E. Boone. Gerard Centioli, president and CEO of Icon Inc., a company that develops foodservice brands, will speak. The lecture is free. To register, go to gonzaga.edu/sbalecture.

Greater Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce will hold a business connections breakfast on Friday, Sept. 14, beginning at noon., at Mirabeau Park Hotel & Convention Center, 1100 N. Sullivan. The program will be Washington Health Insurance Exchange: How it Will Work and the Effect on Your Business. Mike Kreidler, Washington state insurance commissioner, will speak. The cost is $35 and includes lunch. To register, go to www.spokanevallychamber.org.

Workshops & Seminars

The Washington Small Business Development Center will hold a Sales Rich workshop on Tuesday, Sept. 18, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd., Ste. 201. The cost is $40 for the first person and $20 for each additional person from the same company. WSBDC also will hold an Empower Your Team workshop on Thursday, Sept. 20, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., at 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd., room 201. The cost is $40 until Sept. 6 and $44 thereafter. To register or for information, go to wsbdc.org/training-calendar or call 358-7890.

SCORE will hold a How to Start a New Business workshop, on Wednesday, Sept. 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and How to Write a Business Plan, on Wednesday, Sept. 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshops will be held at 801 W. Riverside. The events are $40 pre-registered, $50 at the door, and $15 for an additional person from the same company. To register and for more information, call SCORE at 353-2821 or go to www.ScoreSpokane.org.

Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in collaboration with WorkSource Spokane, will hold Welcome Home Veterans!, a two-day resource and job fair for veterans of the Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn campaigns. A workshop and resource event designed to educate veterans and their families about the resources available to them will be Tuesday, Sept. 11, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the American Red Cross building, 315 W. Nora. A job fair featuring veteran-friendly employers will be Wednesday, Sept.12, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Spokane Community College's Lair building, at 810 N. Greene. Veterans are encouraged to bring a resume, dress professionally, and be ready to interview. For information, call 434-7286.

The Eastern Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center and Greater Spokane Incorporated will hold a free Introduction to Government Contracting seminar on Thursday, Sept. 13, from 8 to 11 a.m., at 801 W. Riverside. For information, call 321-3651.

The Internal Revenue Service, in collaboration with Washington Nonprofits and the University of Washington, will hold a Stay Exempt: The Basics of Tax-Exempt Status workshop on Friday, Sept. 14, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Gonzaga University's Cataldo Hall, in the Globe Room, at 502 E. Boone. The workshop will cover the requirements of tax compliance for exempt organizations. The cost is $25 for members of Washington Nonprofits and $40 for others. To register by Friday, Sept. 7, go to washingtonnonprofits.org or call (253) 330-8850.

Sustainable Resources will host the third event in the 2012 Green Business Networking Luncheon series on Monday, Sept. 17, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., at the Spokane Convention Center, 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. Denise Attwood of Ganesh Himal Trading, a fair trade wholesaler based in Spokane, Kim Harmson of Kizuri, a local fair-trade retail store, and Carol Schillios of Fabric of Life, an Edmonds, Wash.-based nonprofit international development foundation, will speak about fair trade. The cost is $18. To register by Wednesday, Sept. 12, call 209-2861.