Posts by bb4b_Pam

Women make up about 50% of the workforce in the United States but hold only 25% of STEM jobs. Carnegie Science Center is working to reverse this disturbing trend through a wide range of programs, including Girls Rock Science Weekend. Carnegie Science Center is partnering with KDKA TV for a weekend designed to get girls excited about science and technology and to acquaint them with a wide range of STEM careers. Throughout the building, STEM professionals from a wide range of organizations will staff tables of interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities. Girls who have participated in our STEM competitions, like our Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair and the Future City Competition, will bring their projects to display and discuss with visitors. A STEM Chat feature is being planned to foster conversations between girls and STEM professionals. STEM Chats will take place in the Works Theater, Body Stage, Planetarium, and Omnimax theaters before and after featured shows. These conversations will allow girls to talk about careers and interests with women in STEM professions. Two Omnimax films will spotlight some amazing women in science. Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees will illuminate her life and work, and Born to be Wild tells the heartwarming story of Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, who rescues orphaned orangutans in the rainforests of Borneo, and Dame Daphne M. Sheldrick, who cares for orphaned elephants in Kenya. Both women nurture, rehabilitate, and return these incredible animals back to the wild. Participating organizations include: Aesynt ANSYS Building Bridges for Businesses, U can B The Campus School of Carlow University Carnegie Mellon University City of Pittsburgh Chartiers Valley School District Dental Works Edgar Snyder Federal Bureau of Investigation Giant Eagle La Roche College Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine LECOM MBM Contracting MBM Partner JP Phillips MBM Partner McKamish Mine Safety Appliances Montour School District Oakland Catholic High School SAE Society of Automotive Engineers SDLC Society of Women Engineers Thermo Fisher Scientific Thiel College Trinity School District Peters Township School District Verizon Foundation Washington & Jefferson College Westinghouse Williams Young Women in Bio...

How to Leverage Pinterest for B2B – Happy Pinning Pinterest is a visual social media platform. You can find the latest and greatest wedding ideas and recipes. You can search decorating tips, up-to-date fashion and vacation spots. Not to mention hair-dos. But if you are a B2B company, how do you leverage Pinterest to your advantage? • Start by creating a business account. This will give you tips on how to succeed with Pinterest. It will also give you a board widget, follow button and Pin It button for you to use on your blog or website. • Design an infographic. They are very popular on Pinterest. Design one with any relevant company information you might have. The more information you can add, the better chance someone will repin it. Make sure you have a link back to your company website on your infographic. • Have a “People” board showing those who work at your company. Start with a headshot and description of the person. You can add photos of those people at company functions or community events. Any type of community involvement will show how your company impacts the community. • If you have a blog, make sure you post to Pinterest as well as Facebook. Add graphics that connect to your blog information so those viewing Pinterest will be interested in clicking on the picture to see what else in included. • Are you a service provider? Why not have a “Testimonials” board. If you have satisfied clients, they will gladly provide you with a picture of themselves to include with a testimonial about your services. Keep in mind that Pinterest is social media. The main goal of social media is to build relationships. As a B2B you don’t want to sell on Pinterest, you want to get your company in front of as many people, or other businesses, as possible. You need to find a way to put your company out there so others will have interest in finding out more about it. Hopefully these suggestions will get you started. Happy...

Three Ways to Maximize Your Facebook Reach You’ve had your Facebook brand page for months, invited your friends and received some initial Likes, filled in your About section and started posting here and there – but after that first couple months when your total Likes and overall reach started to taper, you began to wonder – What is this doing for my business? The truth is – if you aren’t doing anything with Facebook, it probably won’t do anything for you. A hammer purchased and then left in the tool box won’t drive any nails, after all. But rest easy – these three simple tips can help you boost your online image, spur your Facebook growth, manage your relationships, heighten your visibility and – ultimately – drive your sales. 1. Reward Your Audience – Whether you offer a coupon or simply just mention your audience members, a little reward can go a long way. Try creating a ‘Fan of the Week’ or ‘Fan of the Day’ to create interpersonal engagement that drives Likes to your page. If people see their friends are getting rewarded, odds are they’ll want a free slice of pie too! You’ll also want to make sure you’re providing your audience with a mix of information they can use in their daily lives, in addition to promotions for your business. If you make it about THEM, they’ll make it about YOU. 2. Keep Your Content Fresh – If you don’t update your content regularly, your page will fall by the wayside and people will have no reason to check on it, aside from never being reminded about your presence on their newsfeed. How often you post a photo, status, link or event may depend on how busy things are for you, but don’t forget that the social space is all about sharing. Ask your audience how they are, share industry news, and talk about current events with a spin that ties your business into the equation. The Web is near infinite, so you should never really have an excuse not to have something to say. At the very least, post 2-3 times a week – but not more than 2-3 times a day (people don’t like to be bombarded either). 3. Be Proactive – Many argue that the social media space is a new public relations function – and PR is all about establishing and maintaining relationships. Keep in mind that it’s highly likely that no one is looking for your page, which means you have to invite them in. Ask your friends to give you a Like and connect with other local non-competing businesses and non-profit organizations by Liking their page and sharing their content. Facebook is all about taking the initiative to start a conversation and then making the effort to keep it going! These three tips should help you get your Likes up, improve your reach and boost traffic to your page – but it’s important to have realistic expectations and to be patient. If you keep yourself focused and have a daily or weekly social media plan that utilizes all of these ideas, keeps you focused, and efficiently maximizes your gains by minimizing your time spent, you can expect realistic growth in your numbers and carry that over to your...

Americans have always taken pride in having the best-educated workforce in the world, but now that is no longer true. In Tough Choices, Tough Times, the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce reports that over the past 30 years one country after another has surpassed the United States in the percentage of its population entering the workforce with the equivalent of a high school diploma, and many more countries are on the verge of doing so. Thirty years ago, the U.S. could lay claim to having 30 percent of the world’s population of college students. Today that proportion has fallen substantially, to 14 percent, and continues to decline. American students place anywhere from the middle of the pack to the bottom in all three continuing comparative studies of achievement in mathematics, science, and general literacy among advanced industrial nations. Students from low-income families are six times more likely not to finish high school than those from high-income families. Dropouts face severe obstacles to employment, livable wages, and civic participation; instead, many drift into crime. This situation means a loss of opportunities for the individuals, substantial cost to the govern¬ment and taxpayers, and a decline in productivity for businesses. Even those students who do graduate may not be well prepared. According to the National Reading Panel, American companies lose nearly $40 billion annually due to il¬literacy. A survey by the National Occupational Information Coordinating Com¬mittee and the National Career Development Association found that a majority of students report feeling unprepared in skills, knowledge, and attitudes upon entering the...

The Coffee With Show on CBS Host Christopher Evans Featured Guests – Ed Gainey, Mary Beth Wilson – CEO and Senator Camera Bartolotta The Coffee With Show on CBS, is filmed on location at the Wyndham downtown.  Do you want to join us as a guest or Coffee With Show partner ?  email us at Info@BuildingBridgesforBusiness.org Host – Christopher Evans.State Rep Past guests include State Representative Ed Gainey. Edward “Ed” Gainey is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, serving since 2013. In 2012, Gainey defeated his former boss, Joseph Preston, Jr., in a Democratic primary.     Mary Beth Wilson studied Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, Innovesca’s Founder Mary Beth Wilson came across an alarming fact that launched the idea behind Innovesca. Science has shown that when you eat a carrot up to half of the vitamin A goes waste. This is because the human body has a difficult time breaking down the rigid cell walls of plant-based foods. As a result, much of the nutrition remains physically trapped inside of the plant’s cellular structure, inaccessible for the body to absorb during digestion.   Senator Camera Bartolotta – .   Senator Bartolotta serves as the guest in the latest edition of “Coffee With…”, a program hosted by Christopher Evans and produced by Building Bridges for Business. During the program, Bartolotta shares her story as a small business owner and perspective on how the Commonwealth can stimulate job and economic growth. She also provides a legislative update on efforts underway in Harrisburg to address a number of issues important to her constituency. Additionally, she discusses the benefits of Act 13 of 2012, otherwise known as the “Impact Fee”, and why imposing a severance tax on the natural gas industry would be detrimental to...