Sixty seconds over Cabela's

Dave Schwicht, right, and me, face to face with the future. The FAA has said commercial use of drones is illegal, but the ruling was knocked down by an administrative law judge and is being appealed.

Cyndi and Dave Schwicht of Keller Williams Realty East Idaho admit there's a "wow" factor to offering drone reconnaissance of real estate properties. "Guys see it and really get into it," says Dave.

Their DJI Phantom, bought on Amazon.com, cost them about $500. The GoPro camera that mounts on the underside cost about another $500. The expense has been worth it, they say, as it has brought them lots of attention.

"It's not that great for showing the front of a house, but if there's a big piece of land you can show people a lot of things," Cyndi said. What's more, if you download the GoPro app onto your phone you can see the view from the sky in not-so-real time (download can be kind of slow and jerky.)

Crows do not like this radio-controlled four-rotor gizmo at all, and have attacked it. Neither does the Federal Aviation Administration. Although regulations are being worked on, the FAA currently considers it illegal to fly drones for commercial purposes, including real estate photography and journalism.

In March, however, an administrative law judge for the National Traffic Safety Bureau ruled that the FAA's ban on commercial drone flights was not legally enforceable. The case involved Raphael Pirker, who was fined $10,000 for flying a drone over the University of Virginia to obtain promotional footage.

Since the ruling, it appears the FAA hasn't been cracking down on real estate agents using drones, said Paul McLaughlin, attorney for the Iowa Association of Realtors, in an article published July 7 in USA Today.

Because Tuesday was a beautiful day with very little in the way of wind, we took the DJI Phantom out for quick cruise over Cabela's, a project of widespread interest. Here, for your viewing pleasure, here is the MP4 file. Dave was careful not to get too close, so as to not distract anyone on the job site or run afoul of the authorities.

Advertising Federation to host 'Ultimate Bengal' campaign masterminds

Creating a social media campaign involves more than hanging a “Like us on Facebook” sign on the front door. If you want to find out how it is done right, the Idaho Falls Advertising Federation is hosting a “Lunch and Learn” Thursday that is bound to be of interest to you.

Guest speakers will be Adrienne King, director of marketing and communications for Idaho State University, Stuart Summers, ISU’s director of marketing and recruitment, and Teresa Borrenpoh, the college’s director of development. The team will be on hand to talk about “Ultimate Bengal,” a campaign earlier this year that involved more than $13,000 in awards and prizes.

ISU Vice President for Advancement Kent Tingey called it “a unique endeavor to better engage our communities with Idaho State University’s social media and reach out to our constituents.”

Between January and April, more than 130,000 people took part in a contest that ultimately awarded Chastity Lee with one year of in-state tuition, one year of campus housing, a one-year meal plan, $1,000 credit at the ISU bookstore, a reserved parking pass, and a lot of ISU swag.

“We don’t know of another university that has offered an award package like this for interacting with social media,” said Stuart Summers, chair of the ISU Social Media Committee and director of marketing and recruitment for the ISU College of Technology. “One great thing about the Ultimate Bengal Challenge is that a parent, grandparent, relative or friend who wins an entry can give it to an eligible recipient.”

The AdFed Lunch and Learn starts at 11:30 at Dixie’s Diner on Channing Way. For more information, visit the Facebook page here.

Villa Coffeehouse planning second location, on Hitt Road

Villa Coffehouse owners Alexis and Chip Langerak

The Villa Coffeehouse has begun remodeling work on a second location, in Sagewood Plaza on Hitt Road next to Runway Fashion Exchange. The shop is expected to open mid-November.

Chip Langerak, who with his wife, Alexis, took over The Villa on Park Avenue in 2012, said they began planning for a second location about six months later. "It's been a real blessing for us," he said. "It's been a lot of fun and we've met a lot of good people."

Things started falling into place after Jones Sew and Vac moved to its new location on First Street. "We talked to the Skidmores (owners of the Sagewood Plaza development) and everything went smoothly from there," Langerak said.

Like the downtown Villa, the second location will feature locally-roasted coffee from Steve and Harry’s Coffee, and soups, sandwiches, and desserts all made from scratch. Artists from the local High Desert Photographic Society will be providing the artwork for the new location to create a vibe similar to the downtown location..

"We want to give a huge thanks to our customers for their support and loyalty," Langerak said. "Without them, this new location wouldn’t be possible."

The Villa Coffeehouse's Facebook page can be found here.

Idaho Mountain Trading opens in new location

The floor at Idaho Mountain Trading, in its new Shoup Avenue location.

If you're planning to go downtown this weekend, be sure to visit Idaho Mountain Trading in its new Shoup Avenue location, next door to where it was for 29 years.

The store opened Monday, after a move that took all Sunday and involved 30 people. In the new store, formerly the Idaho Youth Ranch Thrift Store, the company has 12,000 square feet, more than twice what they had at the corner of Shoup and B.

Owner Richard Napier started the business in 1977 on A Street, where Vino Rosso now is. The advantage of the new location is that they can keep all their inventory on display. Another is the IMAX-sized facade facing Yellowstone Avenue, which now bears the store's green-and-white logo. "It's a very nice billboard for us," Napier said.

No grand opening has been set, but there will be a promotion in November when Grand Targhee comes to visit to offer specials on passes.

Pay Raises: The New Holy Grail

Does the name Satya Nadella sound familiar? If it doesn’t, it very well could be a name you won’t forget by the end of the day.

I have to admit I didn’t have clue about who he was until I read about his comments at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women Computing.

Keep in mind that Nadella should have a little bit more experience and knowledge in employee management – he is, after all, the CEO of Microsoft. But his overnight claim to fame is now based on statements he made at that conference suggesting that women should not ask for raises but have faith in systems that reward them and provide pay raises as a woman. He also suggested that women who don’t ask for raises are creating good karma and have superpowers.

Yes, he really made those statements at a national conference in a room packed with women. Before he could even finish the attendees were feverishly sharing and Tweeting their anger and disagreement. By the close of the business day, his odd, disjointed and controversial statements had made their way back to Microsoft, prompting him to email Microsoft employees as damage control.
Monday may pose more challenges for Nadella in the office, and it might be wise for him to get his own coffee.

In all fairness, however, let's consider one of his statements.

Nadella said he felt that as long as women progressed organically in their careers they would make more money with the company without asking for raises. I would say a majority of managers would hold the same view in assuming that employees that stay get paid progressively higher wages over their years of service. If they don’t receive adequate or increases in pay, would it be likely for them to stay with the company?

Employees in today’s market may not necessarily be staying because of great pay with the promise of increased wages. More than ever, they are motivated by different factors, including flexible work environments, telecommuting, job responsibilities, company cultures, personal reasons, etc. Nevertheless, equitable and fair pay is always at the top of everyone’s list for why they stay at a job or seek out other opportunities.

Many companies put processes in place to try to ensure employees are paid fairly – like annual performance evaluations with the potential to attach merit based pay increases. Or merit-based pay for completing introductory periods of employment.

Even with the best of intentions these processes either are not completed or become complicated for a number of reasons including streamlining the processes, raise/bonus structure, disciplinary processes and setting aside a time annually (or semi-annually) to conduct the evaluations with all employees.

This means that even though the processes are in place, employee pay becomes flatlined and employees begin to feel undervalued and unappreciated, affecting long-term productivity, morale and turnover.

In these situations, employees have a choice of either asking for a raise or hoping the management will recognize their true value and pay up. More often than not, this does not happen, leaving employees in the position of having to ask for a raise.

From a business standpoint, employees taking responsibility for asking for raises could be a win-win situation. Employees are not only responsible for making the overture but also for making the case why they should be paid more. This could lead to a more open and candid process of evaluation.

But for an employee, taking that responsibility can be awkward and nerve-wrecking -- certainly not something anyone jumps up and down about doing. In turn, this can have an even more negative effect, especially if the request is declined, The employee feels not only rejection increased feelings of being undervalued and unappreciated.

Let’s be honest about this entire situation: an employee isn’t going to work at a job for an extended period making wages that are stagnant, especially with the cost of living going up. As the job market continues to lose people to retirement and companies cope with the ever-changing job market, the almighty dollar once again becomes king again in the workplace.
Monica Bitrick is the CEO of Bitrick Consulting Group, an Idaho Falls human resources company.

Progrexion opening operation in Idaho Falls

Keyboards stacked up on partitions as work goes on inside Progrexion's new operation in Idaho Falls.

A routine check at the city of Idaho Falls Building Department office reveals that Progrexion, a Utah-based company with a call center in Rexburg, has filed plans to renovate the building on International Way nearest to Aeromark. The Utah-based company, which has had an operation in Rexburg for several years, is advertising for workers to staff its Idaho Falls center.

The building was first used by Security Connections Inc., then by Century Link, which still has one call center open on International Way, down from three.

Two other buildings on International Way, one that was occupied by Center Partners and the other by Century Link, have been empty parking lots and "For Lease." All these buildings were built in the mid- to late-1990s with aid from local economic development entities Grow Idaho Falls and the Regional Development Alliance.

Progrexion employs more than 2,100 people at locations in Utah, Idaho and Arizona and anticipates hiring 2,000 additional people between now and the end of 2015. Some of the additional new hires will be for the new call center in Idaho Falls. Progrexion has been recognized by Inc. 5000 Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America, and by the Post Register as a Top Place to Work in Eastern Idaho. For more information about the company, here is the link to its Web site: http://www.progrexion.com/

Walk-a-thon against childhood cancer set for Saturday

Idaho Falls area residents will team up Saturday with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for a walk-a-thon against childhood cancer.

The walk, which starts at 8 a.m. at Ravsten Stadium, is an opportunity to help support the life-saving mission of one of the world’s premier pediatric cancer research centers. Participants are seeking sponsorships for walking (pledges can be per lap or in a lump sum) and will earn prizes for their donations. The participant who walks the most laps and the participant who raises the most funds will win custom knives made by Robert Martin, owner of www.tearsofthesword.com.

The Rev. Tim Meeks of First Church of the Nazarene said the local goal is to raise $15,000 for St. Judes. It is not too late to register, which can be done by visiting http://fundraising.stjude.org/idahofallswalk.

Since opening in 1962, St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and around the world. No child is denied treatment because of a family’s inability to pay. The hospital’s research has helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 20 percent when the institution opened to almost 80 percent today. It is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. But with a daily operating cost of $1.7 million, St. Jude depends mostly on public contributions and fund-raising events, like Saturday's walk.

For information about this event, visit the event's page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/1501564770085469. For information on how to host to host a fund-raising event for St. Jude, call 1-800-457-2444 or visit www.stjude.org/stjudewalk.