Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce

Robert Lawton, Luzerne County Manager, will be the guest speaker at the Greater Hazleton Chamber’s upcoming Red Carpet Breakfast program. In addition, Hazleton area council members Rick Morelli and Elaine Curry will be in attendance as well as Stephen Urban.  The program, sponsored by Spectrum Senior Consultants Inc., will take place on Thursday, May 31st at Sand Springs Country Club, 10 Club House Drive, Drums.  The program will begin promptly at 7:45 AM and will adjourn by 9:00 AM.

A full Breakfast will be served at the upcoming breakfast program, and chamber members and guests who would like to attend should contact the Chamber office at 455-1509 to make a reservation or by registering through the Chamber’s website at www.hazletonchamber.org. Cost of the breakfast is $20 per person for Chambers and $25 for business guests.

The Red Carpet programs are conducted monthly by the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce as a way of providing information to the local business community and offering new and expanded business networking opportunities.

For more information on Chamber events, contact the Chamber at their offices at Citiscape, 20 W. Broad Street, Downtown Hazleton, call 455-1509, or email the office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce will hold an exclusive Networking Mixer sponsored by the Hazleton Integration Project on Wednesday, May 30th from 5 pm to 7:00 pm at Capriotti’s Palazzo located at One Banks Avenue in McAdoo, near the entrance to the McAdoo Industrial Park. The mixer is free for Chamber members, their employees and guests.

The evening will include the opportunity to network with member of the Chamber and will showcase a video on the Hazleton Area, which has been produced by Latino's Media Group, titled "Hazleton a Land of Dreams". Complimentary hors d' oeuvres will be provided and a cash bar will be available. A 50/50 raffle will take place and door prize drawings will be held.
 
Reservations for the mixer are required by contacting the Chamber at 455-1509 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by registering online at hazletonchamber.org.

Officials and members from the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce will venture to Harrisburg on Tuesday, June 26th for an update on legislative issues facing Pennsylvania's business community.

The one-day visit is being hosted by Representative Tarah Toohil and will feature a series of meetings with officials from the Corbett Administration with first-hand knowledge of the Commonwealth's legislative priorities. Those confirmed to participate are Barry Schoch, Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Ronald Tomalis, Secretary of Education, and Gene Barr, President of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry.

The field trip will begin with a lunch hosted by Rep. Toohil.  Following lunch the local delegation will join the officials to discuss issues in their fields of expertise.

Chamber-members wishing to participate should contact the Chamber office (455-1509) by Monday, June 18th. Cost of the trip is $45 per person which covers the cost of the transportation.  The Legislative Field Trips are an annual activity of the Chamber's Government Affairs Task Force.

The Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce is offering an OSHA Safety & the Supervisor Training course on May 30th and a 10 and 30 Hour OSHA Training Course in General Industry and a 10 and 30 Hour OSHA Training Course in Residential and Commercial Construction in the fall. Attendees successfully completing the 10 and 30 hour trainings will receive an OSHA card.

All trainings are being instructed by Joseph A. Thomas, ASC, CPOSH, Authorized OSHA Instructor of J. Thomas Safety First, LLC. Mr. Thomas provides occupational safety and health consulting services in PA, NJ, DE, MD, CT and MA. His consulting services consist of OSHA compliance with 40 years experience in all aspects of safety.

The OSHA Safety & the Supervisor Training course is a safety training program for supervisors and/or managers in the workplace and includes training in the following categories:  Management Commitment, OSHA Recordkeeping, Documented Training, Work Site Analyses, Hazard Identification, Prevention and Control, Workplace Inspections, Management Safety Responsible, Job Hazard Analysis, Understanding The Predictable Hazard, Understanding The Near Miss, Accident Investigations, Relations and Communications and Employee Involvement.

The Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce is offering a seminar on Prospecting for New Business. This seminar will teach you how to prospect using today’s technology, get past the gate keeper, and build a credible reason for the decision maker to want to learn more about your business today.

Back in the day, everyone wanted to “Go west” and get their share of the gold. Unfortunately, not everyone found their fortune. Just a few years ago, sales people could make a “cold call” or walk into a company and get to talk to the decision maker. Oh, how our world has changed!

How does a sales person learn to develop new business? Business leaders still hold on to Old-wives tales like: Lie #1: We really didn’t cover prospecting because prior outside sales experience was a prerequisite for the job and it was assumed that everyone knew how to prospect in their own way. Lie #2: Our corporate marketing program is in place for the purpose of providing qualified leads to the salespeople.  Unfortunately, we never got enough leads to make our numbers, let alone qualified leads, ready to buy.