The Vermont Business Center is affiliated with the University of Vermont's School of Business Administration. The VBC offers a series of management development seminars, training needs assessment services and custom training programs. In addition, we are a point of access for area businesses to a variety of UVM resources. The Vermont Family Business Initiative is affiliated with the VBC.
Upcoming VBC Seminars:
March 18 - Financial Analysis for Strategic Decision Making, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Use financial analysis methods to recognize opportunities for your business' improvement and understand the relative significance of opportunities that come your way.
Register Now...
March 25 - Customer Service, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Customer service is much more important than most CEOs realize. Most companies fail to link customer service to customer retention, loyalty and higher profit margins. What changes can you make to improve your company's customer service with saying "yes" to everything?
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April 1 - The Strategic Leader: Organizational Performance from the Center Out, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. This highly interactive seminar focuses on essentials for leadership in all sectors: ongoing self-assessment; ability to teach and motivate by speaking and acting congruently; strategic decision-making; and balancing assertion with collaboration.
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April 1 - Project Management, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Learn how to break down the chaos of an overwhelming workload into manageable elements, including project scope, time, cost, quality, human resource requirements, communication skills, risk assessment and mitigation, procurement of goods and services, and project integration.
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April 8 - Marketing the Vermont Brand, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The Vermont brand has developed a strong reputation in the marketplace. Learn how your company can effectively, and legally, strengthen your own brand and marketing by leveraging the power of the Vermont brand.
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April 15 - Internal Negotiation, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Build on the concepts you learned in our two-day seminar, Principled Negotiation and Influence Strategies. Learn how to achieve your objectives by managing key relationships inside your organization.
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April 22 - Leading and Motivating People: Increasing Organizational Performance Through Employee Engagement, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Learn how to lead and motivate employees and teams to maximize their engagement and performance.
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April 29 - Gaining the Competitive Advantage, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. After an introduction and facilitated discussion around competitive strategies, work in groups to discuss and analyze specific competitive issues your organization is facing and create an action plan for implementation.
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April 29 - Workload Management, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Learn the processes, tools and skills that will help you gain greater control over the multiple priorities you juggle on a daily basis. This seminar will help you achieve greater productivity, less stress and improved work/life balance.
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Do You Qualify for a Discount on VBC Courses? If you work in manufacturing, health care, informational technology, telecommunications or environmental engineering, you may be eligible for as much as a 50 percent discount on VBC courses and professional certificate programs. The grant program is offered through a partnership with the state Department of Economic Development's Vermont Training Program.
For more information, see http://www.uvm.edu/vbc/certificate_programs/.
To see if you qualify, contact Tracey Maurer at 802-656-4681.
VBC's Success Stories: See how Vermont's business leaders have applied the VBC's professional development courses to their workplaces. Bart Mair of Healthcare and Rehabilitation Services in Springfield says VBC courses have been invaluable to team-building: "We have a leadership team at work, and as a group we work very closely together. We'd been seeking a leadership program to really bring us together as a team. With the VBC program, we've learned to work together in a completely different way."
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Free Business Webinars Available: The VBC is pleased to provide free access to content through online seminars webinars. UVM, in partnership with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, presents a series of 30-minute online seminars featuring the expertise of UVM faculty and staff with the purpose of educating professionals statewide. All webinars start at 11 a.m. and include both an online seminar and conference call component.
To learn more or view past videos, visit the Webinar Website. Upcoming webinars include:
March 23: Joshua Farley, ecological economist.
April 13: Vernon Grubinger, "Renewable Energy on the Farm."
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Burlington and UVM, Leaders in Sustainability
Professionals from across the country and throughout Vermont visit UVM each summer to learn how to put sustainable principles into practice. UVM is a leader in sustainability, and trains and educates hundreds of students and professionals each summer on ethics, economics and the environment.
Burlington has distinguished itself as a Sustainable City. Learn more about Burlington's sustainability efforts in this online video. UVM is leading the way in sustainability. Learn more from experts and visiting lecturers who explore solutions to our planet's most critical problems.
View educational videos online...
Register Now for These Summer Courses and Programs in Sustainability:
May 23-27 - Sustainable Ecotourism. Explore a holistic approach to planning and tourism development that reviews governments' and international donors' role in rural land development. Guest lecturers will provide in-depth cases studies on programs in Brazil and Rwanda This intensive summer program is offered for professional development or college credit.
Learn more and register now...
June 27-July 1 - Community Economic Development: Building Sustainable Economies. As people, places and technology change, communities face inevitable changes as well, including the need to revitalize their economic and social functions. Small communities and inner-city neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to changes - consider how many defunct communities dot the landscape. In this five-day, intensive course, learn the basic concepts of sustainable community economic development, illustrated with successful examples from the city of Burlington.
Learn more and register...
July 11-22 - Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS): Focused on solutions, the IGS has become a leading summer institute training and educating sustainability leaders for work in their businesses, organizations and communities. Participate in one or more of the annual summer institute's programs and:
Take courses for professional certification or for college credit.
Attend day sessions or stay overnight at UVM.
Live and learn with like-minded professionals to develop effective solutions to the most important challenges we face.
Expand your professional network.
Learn from innovative leaders and noted scholars in business, health, education, and community and economic development.
Distinguish yourself as a sustainability leader.
Learn more about the IGS online or explore these individual programs:
July 11-15 - Sustainable Business. Become better prepared to lead and manage sustainable businesses and benefit corporations.
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July 11-15 - Campus Sustainability Leadership. Discover how to bring about change through transformative, financially sustainable innovations at your school or college and help your campus become a model of sustainability.
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July 11-15 - Healthy Community Design Health Impact Assessment. The course will use a combination of brief presentations, small group discussions, scenario exercises and case studies to explore the connections between public health, community planning and a myriad of policies in creating healthy communities.
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July 18-22 - Greening Healthcare Systems. Develop an in depth understanding of the environmental footprint of healthcare and how to successfully manage healthcare organizations within the regulatory framework, and identify initiatives to support sustainability in healthcare systems.
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July 18-22 - Collaborative Management. Explore the trends toward networks and partnership within and across the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
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July 18-22 - Food Systems Leadership. Gain an in-depth understanding of the ecology of the food system and its influences on organizational leadership.
Learn more...
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