2013 Holocaust Symposium – 25th Anniversary – Sponsorships sought

On Tuesday, May 21st, and Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013, the Jewish Federation of NEPA will be hosting a series of major Holocaust educational programs recognizing the 25th anniversary of our annual Holocaust Symposium. The events will be held at Marywood University and the Scranton Jewish Community Center.

The programs are in recognition of 25 years of the Holocaust Education Resource Center’s (H.E.R.C.) annual Holocaust Symposium that has involved thousands of high school students and teachers from throughout Northeast Pennsylvania focusing attention on this important historical event.

Our 25th Anniversary will feature Holocaust survivors and death camp liberators from throughout the country, guest speakers of international renown, a film titled: “Children Remember the Holocaust” narrated by actor Keanu Reeves, private group sessions where Holocaust survivors and liberators will interact with teachers and students, the Abe Plotkin Memorial Lecture, and a Gala Dinner closing event.

At a time when “Holocaust denial” in some parts of the world have become a subject for “debate” and a “hoax” perpetrated by the Jewish people, our 25th year represents a tremendous opportunity to memorialize this human tragedy and to educate youngsters on its significance and the lessons to be learned from it.

Sponsorships

We are currently seeking sponsors for this year’s 25th anniversary and asking each sponsor for a minimum contribution of $75. Your sponsorship will be recognized prior to and during the Symposium itself. You will also receive a guest pass to attend each of the scheduled events.

Please make your checks payable to:

Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania
601 Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, PA 18510

MEMO:   25th Holocaust Symposium Program

Please help us undertake this important event. Each year, this program has hosted between 1,100 and 1,400 students, teachers and dignitaries and we expect this, our 25th year, to be no exception.

Your financial support would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Mark Silverberg, Executive Director
Jewish Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania

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Employment Opportunities Should Never Go To Waste

A committee has been formed whose primary goal is to attract new Jewish families to our wonderful community here in Scranton.  In order to achieve any measure of success in this worthy endeavor, however, it is imperative that a variety of areas of employment be made available to any prospective newcomers.  A job is one of, if not the, main factor that is considered when one is contemplating relocation..

From time to time, opportunities become available within our community.  If we begin our search for qualified employees by notifying the committee of the particular availability and its prerequisites, we may find ourselves landing the employee that we are seeking while simultaneously bolstering the community in which we live.

Truly making the most of our opportunities.

Please contact Becky at becky@blswebstrategies.com

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Pocono Chapter Inaugural Breakfast

On Thursday, May 31st, almost 40 business owners and professionals came together at Temple Israel of the Poconos in Stroudsburg to inaugurate the Pocono Chapter of the NEPA Jewish Federation Business & Trade Alliance (BTA). The feedback has been amazing.

Throughout the past few months, we have had the wonderful opportunity of inaugurating three Alliance Chapters; Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and the Poconos. We are watching a dream, a goal, turn into reality as business owners and professionals meet and reach out to do business with one another. These meetings have taught us how best to meet and greet members, get and give them information, and the importance of developing bonds between our businesses within these communities.

In this, the third of our Inaugural Breakfasts, we saw business owners and professionals step into roles that are comfortable to them. Bruce Stein has become the Chairman for the Pocono Chapter, Kevin Greenberg has used his skills to capture the moments and essence of the day through his photography and leadership skills, and Gourmet Catering provided us with amazing food. Bruce and I cut our presentations short allowing everyone an opportunity to introduce themselves, their businesses, and what they were looking for from our other members. We had the opportunity to see connections and ideas exchanged right in front of our eyes and decided this, in combination of an Alliance Resource Table need to be present at each and every event we hold!

When Mark and I combined resources to create the BTA, we wondered which would be more powerful – the internet or the face- to-face networking? Funny, it ends up both!

Here are some pictures of the day provided by Kevin Greenberg, owner of Cornerstone Creative:

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What is the power of the “like” button on Facebook?

Becky Schastey
BLS Web Strategies

First, you post a comment into the status bar. This status gets placed into the news feed of every one of your friends and family members on your personal page and all the fans of your business page.  The comment generally shows up right away, but not everyone will be on Facebook at that moment so by the time they come on the status may be pushed to the bottom of the page.  So, every time someone hits the “like” button or makes a comment, that status update becomes more “popular,” and climbs higher rankings in the news feed. Why is this important? The people who were unable to see the status in the news feed are now able to because of any additional likes and comments.

Second, when I place a status update on my page, every one of my friends, family, and fans have the opportunity to personally see it. When they comment or “like” the status, it now gets introduced into the news feeds of all of their friends and family. If they have interest, they can come “like” the page or add the moderator to their friend list. This makes new and more networking connections.

With this philosophy, why would a business page be so interested in YOU liking them? If you follow the basics here you understand that every time they post a status update, they will be placed in your news feed. The more people who likes those updates and acknowledge those updates, the longer their posting stays in the news feed and the more of your friends and family and their friends and family get to see it and be introduced to their product or service.

So let’s do the math. I have 600 friends and I post a status update, maybe 10% of them will see the update – 60 people. If 10% of those people make a comment or “like” the status that will be 6 people who confirmed this message. It will give an opportunity for another 10% to 20% of those original 600 friends to see that status. That’s another 60-180 people.  So in total for one status update, that took 2 minutes to write, there are 120-240 people who saw it. HERE is where it splits a bit. For those 6 people who made comments, the original status went into their news feed for all of their friends and family to see. Assuming they have approximately 600 friends each that is another 60 people per comment or like. So altogether we have 6 people who commented or liked the status and showed approximately 60 of their friends and family for a total of approximately 300 people plus our original 120-240 people. With 2 minutes of work and no cost, I reached out to about 500 people.

So if we do this 3 times a day, we reach out to approximately 1,500 people. So the catch is finding something of interest that will engage your audience. Engage the audience and gain more viewers, but this isn’t it. I’m not done!!!  Every time I make a comment on someone else’s status their friends and family see me too (another 60 people per comment). Granted, this step takes time and thought. You want to make sure that your comments are genuine and real so people in turn come and check you out. If you are smart, you will be using “Facebook as Page” and that will attract more people to your page. When they get to your page, if you have something that they enjoy and can benefit from – WIIFM – they will not only stay, but they will come back.

With over 500,000,000 – yes you read that number right! Facebook allows for the largest, most cost effective way for people and businesses to introduce themselves to one another.  Granted, as small and medium size business owners we may not have the dollar figure to make a national chain and attract millions of users without any effort, but Facebook does allow us to even the playing field with a little creativeness and ingenuity.

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