Calling all Innovators!

The IDEA Competition is back for a fourth year and looking for breakthrough ideas. IDEA has awarded over $200,000 to our region's entrepreneurs over the last three years. Could this be your year to win $10,000? There's only one way to find out: enter the competition. For details on eligibility and how to enter, go to www.ideacompetition.org.

VEX Robotics Competition

The 360° Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence (360°), led by Bemidji State University, is teaming up with VEX Robotics to host its first VEX Robotics Competition in the state of Minnesota.  Teams participating in the competition consist of K-12 students and a faculty member from a 360° partner college that serves as the coach.  Teams build robots that will compete against each other in a final competition in February.  The event is split into two areas in the state: north and south.  The north competition will be held in Thief River Falls and the South competition will be held in St. Cloud.  There will be a winning team in each area that will be sent to the national competition in California.  If you want to volunteer at the events or get more information about the VEX Robotics Competition, contact Beth Campus at (218) 755-2206 or bcampus@bemidjistate.edu.

360° college partners participating in the event include Central Lakes College, Northland Community and Technical College, Northwest Technical College, Pine Technical College, and St. Cloud Technical and Community College.

Performance Appraisals

This course addresses human resource topics including; reward systems, performance management, and retention from a strategic perspective. It will teach business managers how to retain good employees and coach for improved performance through the use of an employee performance management system. This course will discuss the importance of improving and correcting employee performance, as well as what to know when discipline and termination becomes necessary. OBJECTIVES: By the end of this course, students will: -be familiar with different methods of performance appraisals -learn skills for coaching performance - discover ways to speak each employees "reward" language-be aware of needed documentation should termination become necessary -develop a corrective action and reward plan -develop a performance appraisal form. This course has a fee of $200 and is taught by Lyndi Odegard. For more information, click here.

The Art of Leadership II

The Art of Leadership II builds on the Art of Leadership I and focuses on the application of the principles, methods, and techniques for developing others that were covered in the first course. The Art of Leadership I is a required prerequisite for this course. The fee is $450 plus the E-book and is taught by Karen Pikula. For more information, click here.

New Position Basics

Your business depends on your staff for success. Learn skills and strategies to maximize the potential of every hire. Whether you need to create a new position or fill an existing one, this course will help you analyze your business needs and walk you through the entire process. The fee for this course is $200 and the instructor is Lyndi Odrgard. For more information, click here.