TRENTON, MAINE – On Friday May 11, 45 people from downeast Maine's business community gathered at Faith Community Fellowship’s ministry center to participate in the Maximum Impact simulcast for business leaders. Faith Community partnered with the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce to host the event.   Local participants were part of approximately 80,000 people in 600 locations nationwide who were able to benefit from a full day of listening to some of the nation's best voices on leadership.

           This year's simulcast marked the third year that Faith Community Fellowship has worked with the EACC to put on this event.  Asked about benefits this partnership provides to the chamber of commerce, Faith Community Fellowship leadership pastor Todd Crosthwaite said, “The chamber doesn’t have to do anything. The church pays for all the advertising and the satellite link.”  Faith Community also provides the necessary volunteers and refreshments throughout the daylong conference.

The Ellsworth Chamber further benefits from its association with Maximum Impact and Faith Community Fellowship through the opportunity to offer leadership development that requires both minimal commitment of chamber resources and participant time.  In his dealings with the EACC, Crosthwaite noted that people have shown interest in establishing a leadership training program.  There has even been discussion of developing a program similar to the City of Bangor's leadership institute, but Bangor's model of leadership training requires participants to commit for a full year of study at near master’s level intensity.  According to Crosthwaite, no one involved in creating leadership development projects for the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce was interested in a program that required such a significant commitment from both organizers and participants.  He said the annual simulcast provides an alternative. “Maximum Impact provides the chamber with kind of a ready-made leadership event.”

Speakers approached the Maximum Impact 2007 theme of "increasing a leader's true value" from several different angles throughout the day. With styles ranging from intensely practical to simply intense, sessions addressed topics such as leadership beyond talent, work/life balance, service, and decision-making.  Simulcast speakers included Maximum Impact founder John C. Maxwell, former Yahoo! leadership coach Tim Sanders, four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw, and legendary football coach Herman Boone.  Best-selling authors Mark Sanborn, Jackie Freiburg, and Malcolm Gladwell also added their insights. Also, Bill Strickland’s presentation of his successful programs for inner-city Pittsburgh's at risk youth was a high point of the day.

As for the overall quality of the conference, J.C. Milliken insurance agency office manager, Kelli Braley noted at that the simulcast's 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule of sessions made a long day.  "I was done by about 3 p.m. I didn't get much out of the last two speakers.”  In spite of this admitted information overload, Braley also commented on the immediate usefulness of the material presented saying, "I did enjoy it.  The information they gave was very applicable to work."

Having attended Maximum Impact for the past four years, Gayle Haslam of Yesterday’s Children, Inc. reflected on its impact on her daily work. “I usually get one or two things from each speaker myself, but also I manage a group of team leaders and they all go, too. It gives us points of discussion.” Haslam’s experience captures the essence of the simulcast.  This year, which Haslam termed the best yet, Maxwell focused on personal attributes including character and initiative, while others emphasized caring for team members and improving the work environment. In case this people-centered focus seemed irrelevant to financial success, Sanders cited research showing that employees who have positive feelings about the place and people they work for are more productive and innovative. In other words, discussions such as those Haslam says result from attending Maximum Impact have the potential to improve both workplace culture and end product. 

Next year's Maximum Impact simulcast is scheduled for April 18, and Crosthwaite has already started working with members of the Ellsworth chamber to draw more local business people into the event.  He believes that one sure way to do this is through corporate sponsorship. The regular cost of Maximum Impact registration is between $50 and $70 per person.  Crosthwaite says of this figure, “I think the cost is prohibitive. We’re looking at corporate sponsorship to dramatically reduce our costs.”  While tickets will not likely be free of charge, both organizations and individual participants should be able to take advantage of the simulcast at a much lower cost.

Beyond simply increasing attendance which he believes corporate sponsorship and renewed promotional efforts can realistically double, Crosthwaite is joining with others at the Ellsworth chamber in pursuit of offering next year's attendees ideas and opportunities for meeting with the learning from each other as leaders long after the one day simulcast is over. Having already established his own leadership group in the community and gained members for his group at this year’s simulcast, Crosthwaite says he hopes other people will join or create similar groups following next year’s event. "I hope we can at least encourage people to start meeting together for lunch huddles." Whatever happens with Maximum Impact's simulcast in the next few years, a vision for leadership is taking root in the minds of a few residents of the Ellsworth area.