Area businesses set trade show

By Jim Kinney

05/06/2008- The Republican

SPRINGFIELD - Expect the unexpected.

Yes, Western Massachusetts businesses will be showing their goods and services at the Business Market Show 2008 tomorrow at the MassMutual Center.

But, you'll also get to see a baby kangaroo from the Zoo at Forest Park.

"It is a business trade show," said Tina M. Stevens, of Stevens Design Studio in Westfield. "But the industry is chamber businesses."

And the zoo is one of those chamber members which will be part of the trade show. Stevens' company is one of the platinum sponsors for the event, now in its 20th year.

The show kicks off at 7:15 a.m. with an Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield Breakfast Club event featuring a keynote by state Banking Commissioner Steven L. Antonakes. Antonakes will address the impact of the mortgage crisis on the region's economy and the proliferation of banks and whether this is a good thing for business. Cost for the breakfast is $20 for chamber members and $25 for non-members.

The show itself is free and open to the public; organizers expect upwards of 2,000 visitors to attend.

Stevens said exhibitors will include everything from marketing firms like hers to companies that provide coffee to offices.

"There is really a huge range of companies," she said.

The idea is to promote awareness among the region's business community of what local companies offer and to encourage chamber members to do business with each other. "I don't think, being a marketing company, that we will write a lot of business orders right there," Stevens said. "But you meet someone and they know who you are."

There will also be some fun activities, like a microbrew beer tasting with Williams Distributing and free haircuts from DiGrigoli Salons. There will be a "Taste of the Market," featuring food samples from area restaurants, from 3 to 5 p.m. The affiliated chambers have switched up the seminar topics to add variety this year. Talks will range from how Internet blogging can impact business to understanding accounts payable for small business owners.

"(It's) so people can also learn something while they are there," Stevens said. "They are 45 minutes long, so they're quick."

Along with Stevens Design, the platinum sponsors for the event include: Health New England, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, BusinessWest and Hadley Printing. Silver sponsors are Cambridge College, Chicopee Savings Bank, Fallon Community Health Plan, H.L. Dempsey Co. and the Graduate School at Bay Path College.

Business writer Jim Kinney can be reached at jkinney@ repub.com