Conducting a Focus Group

Excerpt taken from Canada Business Centre blog...

Have you considered conducting a focus group to seek feedback from a targeted audience, like your customers? 

This effective way to gauge how your business is doing may keep you from functioning in a vacuum.

A focus group allows you to interview several people at once and gather qualitative data (personal reactions, opinions and experiences) to gain insight or address concerns you may have about a specific product or service. 

For example, you may want to use a focus group to learn:

• What users want from your website
• How to improve your products or services
• What your customers think about your new marketing campaign

Getting the perspective of a hand-picked group of your customers can be illuminating. It allows you to discuss customers' experience in a group setting as a cost-effective way of exploring ideas that cannot be expressed by numbers or other quantitative data.

Once you decide to conduct a focus group, you may want to start preparations by fine-tuning your objective. What do you want to learn? What specific issues do you want to address?

You may want to try to hold more than one focus group session of about 6 – 12 people; time and money permitting. An incentive such as a gift or honorarium may increase customer participation, as well as a maximum time frame of two hours. Feel free to send 5 or 6 open-ended questions to the selected participants before the meeting, so they are ready, as well as get their consent to participate.

It is useful to have both a facilitator and a note-taker at the session. As facilitator, you may want to:

• Establish ground rules, so all participants have a chance to speak
• Make sure the purpose of the session is clear
• Remain neutral and be neither too formal nor too friendly
• Listen carefully and be observant
• Use probes to get more in-depth answers, but don't lead
• Keep the pace moving, yet allow for some silence so that participants may collect their thoughts

Although participants may influence each other, there are no right or wrong answers. Given the time constraints and multiple points of view, there may be limits as to how much and what kind of information you gather. Nevertheless, your focus group session will be a jumping-off point to further discussion and research.

BIZ KID$ is coming to Fort Frances

Calling all kids with an interest in business- Biz Kid$ is coming to Fort Frances!

BizKid$ is a five day camp hosted by the Northwest Business Centre through support from Rainy River Future Development Corporation and local partnerships.

The camp gives children between the ages of 9-12 hands-on experience with planning, organizing and operating a real storefront business. Campers will gain a basic overview of entrepreneurship through exciting interactive games and activities, presentations from local entrepreneurs in our community and field trips to local businesses.  Campers will choose a business at the beginning of the week and work towards Market Day, which is held at the end of the week!  If the camper has a profitable business, he/she keeps all the money!

BizKid$ runs from 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday (August 8-12). 

Enrollment Fee is $150.00 per child, with an Early Bird rate of $130.00.

Space is limited – SIGN UP TODAY!!!  Download your registration form online at www.nwbiz.ca  

Contact: Northwest Business Centre

Dryden/Fort Frances - 807-223-1166  Email: stefanie@nwbiz.ca

Kenora - 807-468-4643  Email: mike@nwbiz.ca

Matthew Hornell to play at Little Beaver Cultural Centre July 5th...

Matthew Hornell is returning from the East to play the Little Beaver on Tuesday, July 5th! Last time he came through this area with his band "The Diamond Minds" and rocked the house with some great folksy Celtic rock and a high-energy stage show. This time he is coming by himself for a solo performance. He told us personally that he is bringing the same energy and flare for the stage as last time.

Matthew Hornell is a singer and a songwriter from Newfoundland and Labrador. After bursting onto the St. John's music scene with live shows that showcased his unflagging energy, Hornell's award-winning debut album, released in 2010, firmly established him as a vital new voice in the songwriting community of Atlantic Canada.

On the heels of his debut release, Hornell received four Music NL awards - including Entertainer of the Year and the Rising Star Award. He has shared stages with such talented musicians as Elliott Brood, Sloan, David Francey and Brian Borcherdt and brought his songs to shows and venues all across Canada. 

Tickets are $15 and the show will start at 8:00. See you there!

In addition, he has recently updated his website, so check it out! www.matthewhornell.com

Fort Frances Little Theatre

“How the West Was Won in a Dress”

June 25-26 and June 28-29

7 p.m. at the Cornell Barn, La Vallee Road North.

Tickets cost $12 in advance or $15 at the door

(available at Northwoods Gallery & Gifts, the Clover Valley Farmers’ Market, and Greensides in Devlin).

http://www.fftimes.com/node/243513

Market Days

Calling all artisans, musicians, crafters, greenhouses, furniture makers, veggie growers and fund raising groups to come show and sell your wares on the Great Canadian Main Street Market Place.

Every Thursday thru September we will have a tent set up in front of the Fort Frances Museum where you can show people what you have to offer. The BIA will be taking care of the advertising for the month of June so it is absolutely free! Take advantage of this great opportunity!

We are hoping to make this a big weekly event throughout the summer months and eventually have the market extend throughout the downtown area.

By having this event on a Thursday, we hope to catch people before they take off to the lake for the weekend and also encourage the tourists to stop as they are travelling through our beautiful area.

All you have to do is bring your table, chair, and goods to sell. Set up time would be 8:30 a.m. with hours from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.  You are of course welcome to stay a bit longer if you wish. We want to keep this as simple as possible for the organizers and exhibitors. If you have any suggestions we are very happy to hear them!  We want this to have a fun and friendly atmosphere and look forward to getting to know you and see all of the wonderful things you have to show and sell.  For special interest groups, this would be a great opportunity to sell your tickets or raise money for your cause.

For more information and to pre-register please call Richard Boileau at McTaggarts (807) 274-5371

Thursday June 30^th will also be a good opportunity as the street will be blocked off for Mall Days in conjunction with Fun in the Sun.

Music, Fish fry, Stock cars and a Retro car show are a few of the things we are hoping to have along with the Market Thursday exhibitors.  We are hoping restaurants will put out some tables for people to enjoy the great outdoors.  The possibilities are endless!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Upcoming Workshops

Upcoming Workshops
June 21st - Marketing Part 1  10am
June 21st - Marketing Part 2  12 pm


June 21st - Things to Know Before Starting Your Small Business Website  3pm


June 22nd - Marketing Part 3   10 am
June 22nd - Marketing Part 4    12 pm
July 5th - Your Business Plan: The Home Stretch   10 am
July 6th - Business Opportunities and Ideas            10 am
July 7th - The Basics of Exporting                           10:30 am
July 7th - Developing Proposals                               2 pm
July 12th - Are You Ready to be an Entrepreneur?  10 am
July 14th -  Managing Business Records (Part 1)   10 am
July 14th -  Protecting Your Business Records (Part 2)        1pm
July 19th - Employee Relations Problem Solving    1 pm
July 20th - CRA Electronic Services for Business 5:30 pm
July 21st - GST/HST Seminar - New HST Rules and Information 12:30 pm


To register for any of these seminars, you must give at minimum of 24 hours notice.  Unless otherwise specified, seminars are $5.00 each to attend.  Please call 807-274-3276 for further information.

Annual General Meeting in Bergland

Last night, the RRFDC held its Annual General Meeting at the Bergland Community Hall in Lake Of The Woods Township.   With a small crowd on hand, the membership was informed of the previous year’s activities in a PowerPoint presentation given by Regional Economic Developer, Geoff Gillon.

With three positions available on the Board of Directors, Jan Beazley, Gord Armstrong, and Russ Fortier were acclaimed to another 3-year term on the Board.

A review of the Corporation’s Financial Statements was given by Jeff Busniuk of Viherjoki, Busniuk & Kelly the Corporation’s auditor.

Following the meeting, the membership and staff enjoyed light conversation over refreshments and dainties.

Annual General Meeting

Russ Fortier and Freeda Carmody at the
2010 Annual General Meeting in Devlin.

Rainy River Future Development Corporation's Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Bergland Community Hall.  


To get to the Bergland Community Hall, travel to Hwy 621 in Sleeman, turn north up Hwy 621 and go approximately 20 kms to Hwy 600.  Turn left on Hwy 600, and the Bergland Hall is on the right hand side.


View Larger Map
The Annual General Meeting will start at 7:00 p.m., followed by an update on activities.  Refreshments will be served.

To vote at this Annual General Meeting, you must be a paid member, 10 days prior to the meeting date. (June 5th).  Memberships are available at the RRFDC, 608 Scott Street, Fort Frances, for $5.00 each.

Please call 807-274-3276 to RSVP, or to find out more information on the meeting and/or membership.

Join us and learn more about the RRFDC.