Longboat Chamber postpones Small Business awards luncheon

The annual Small Business Week had wrapped up its seminars and had only the luncheon left.

By Nat Kaemmerer
| 5:10 p.m. November 11, 2020

Emily Walsh spoke to an in-person audience of one in Chamber President Gail Loefgren, but more attended via Zoom. Courtesy photo.

Longboat Key
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The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce postponed last week's Small Business Awards luncheon because of Tropical Storm Eta.

"We made the call around 3 p.m. (Nov. 11)," Chamber President Gail Loefgren said of the Nov. 12 event. "Pretty much everybody was glad we postponed it."

Originally planned for October, the annual event’s seminars and luncheon were moved to Nov. 10-12 to better fit speakers’ schedules. All events were scheduled to take place with an in-person element and a Zoom element to accommodate those who did not want to attend in person due to COVID-19.

Zoom works for tropical storm connections, too, as nearly all participants of the Wednesday morning seminar attended virtually. Only one seminar has yet to finish, Florida's Economic Outlook by Jerry Parrish, chief economist and research director of the Florida Chamber Foundation, which was scheduled to take place at 2 p.m.

The luncheon, which awards Small Business Person of the Year (for both under 10 employees and more than 10 employees), Rookie Business Person of the Year and Good as Green Business of the Year to members of the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce, and the seminar will be rescheduled, but no date has been set, Loefgren said.