Lenox named Best Northeastern Small Town
Lenox — After four weeks of voting, USA Today announced Friday, April 28, that Lenox had been named Best Northeastern Small Town.
Winning the contest will see Lenox promoted across USA Today Travel Media Group’s digital and mobile products and social media as well as across the USA Today travel sections and other Gannett media outlets.
A panel of experts partnered with USA Today’s 10Best editors to pick the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Deborah Fallows of American Futures, Anna Hider of Roadtrippers, Jenna Intersimone of MyCentralJersey.com and a team of 10Best local experts were chosen based on their knowledge and experience of Northeast travel.
In the final round of voting, Lenox beat out New Hope, Pennsylvania, hich finished second, and other popular travel towns including Cape May, New Jersey; Rockport; Bar Harbor, Maine; and Block Island, Rhode Island.
–E.E.
* * *
Data visualization workshop for nonprofits
Great Barrington — On Tuesday, May 9, from 9:30 to 11 a.m., the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires will present a workshop titled “Data Visualization for Nonprofits: Presenting Information Effectively” at Berkshire Community College’s South County Center.
Participants in the workshop will learn how to improve communication skills by producing better graphs, slides and reports. Discussion will include ways to tell an organization’s story effectively, before and after visualizations, and practice in creating visualizations.
The workshop is presented by Mary Nash, an independent consultant who works with nonprofits to develop and evaluate programs. Nash is a graduate of Boston University’s Public and Nonprofit Management MBA program and has two certificates in evaluation from the Evaluators’ Institute at Claremont Graduate University.
The cost of the workshop is $40 for NPC members and $50 for nonmembers. For more information or to register, contact Liana Toscanini at (413) 441-9542 or liana@npcberkshires.org.
–E.E.
* * *
Fairview receives award from boards of health
Great Barrington — Fairview Hospital has been awarded the Medical Reserve Corps 2017 Leadership Award for Outstanding Housing Organization by the Berkshire County Boards of Health Association for its sponsorship and support of the Berkshire Medical Reserve Corps. Fairview was one of only two MRC housing organizations in the nation recognized this year by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.
Fairview has provided administrative support, access to training resources and in-kind donations to BMRC since 2010. It provides MRC staff with liability insurance, access to all Fairview employee leadership and management programs, and annual program evaluation and goal-setting.
–E.E.
* * *
Berkshire Money Management creates Berkshire Business Confidence Index
Pittsfield — Berkshire Money Management recently mailed 5,000 surveys to Berkshire businesses and is anticipating valuable feedback for its newly created Berkshire Business Confidence Index, an economic indicator that measures trends of certainty held by area decision makers. By developing and distributing the Berkshire BCI, BMM is answering a need in the local business community, according to president and CEO Allen Harris, who has been wanting to implement an index for several years.
BMM’s goal is to collect the responses provided in the anonymous survey, and then present a monthly analysis to business owners and the public. Many business communities across the country already have active BCIs that are provided through local chambers of commerce, private companies and organizations looking to see how their business communities fit with bigger national trends and challenges. The Berkshire BCI survey addresses issues such as hiring, obtaining financing and the impact of the closures of other area businesses, and also offers opportunities for industries to offer input and for the community to see what is on the horizon for local businesses.
–E.E.
* * *
Winstanley Partners to present at the National Postal Forum
Lenox — Years of quirky holiday mailers sent annually from Winstanley Partners have piqued the interest of the United States Postal Service.
Nate Winstanley, president and founder of the 30-year-old creative agency, will speak at the National Postal Forum in Baltimore on the topic of dynamic, multi-channel mail campaigns. The invitation came shortly after dissemination of Winstanley Partners’ 2016 mailer “The Grater Good,” which included a tree-shaped cheese grater in a blister pack that charged recipients to “Make America Grate Again.”
Ray Van Iterson, manager of marketing strategy and innovation with the USPS, said the mail piece caught the attention of the National Postal Forum’s organizers not just because it gave them a laugh, but also because it represented the kind of item and packaging that people often keep around much longer than the average mail piece.
The National Postal Forum was founded in 1968 and attracts more than 4,000 industry professionals each year, providing education and communication between the USPS and its business-mail customers, with the goal of creating a more responsive and efficient mail communications system. This year’s session will be held Sunday, May 21, though Wednesday, May 24, and will include a keynote from Postmaster General Megan Brennan, an exhibit hall with over 100 exhibitors and a variety of breakout sessions.
–E.E.
