The proverbial "15 minutes in the sun" can last a lot longer — particuarly if one takes proper advantage.

Case in point: Kokomo and its 2011 Indiana Chamber Community of the Year award. It was announced on October 3 and will be officially presented at the 22nd Annual Awards Dinner on November 17.

The good people in Kokomo are doing things right, showing in part why they earned the award in the first place. The downtown announcement a few weeks ago attracted a good crowd and featured the unveiling of a large banner on the side of City Hall.

Community members were genuinely emotional about receiving the honor. They plan to be out in full force on November 17, celebrating along the way at the city’s own annual Alliance event on November 3.

Throw in a new logo commemorating the award and other steps to leverage the recognition and "15 minutes" has already been blown out of the water. The multi-year effort by so many to earn the title is rightfully being matched by strategic follow-up and execution.

Congrats again, Kokomo, and we look forward to hosting you next month. 

Chuck Gillespie, Wellness Council of Indiana program director, was "on fire" during a recent Policy Call discussion with Chamber members. I say on fire because Chuck offered excellent, easy-to-remember wellness advice for all.

It started with the fact that wellness, according to Chuck, has "gone from a nice thing to do to a stratgic business strategy." Well said, and important to remember. A few additional highlights:

• Three key questions everyone asks: Where do I begin ?; what are others doing ?; how do I measure what we’re doing? The Wellness Council and other resources have the answers to help
• "Keep it simple." Good advice to remember no matter the situation
• Replace the word "health" with "healthier" (as in trying to become healthier than you were yesterday); in addition, sub "active" or "movement" for the word "exercise" and its negative connotation
• Not enough emphasis is placed on the fact that wellness and safety should be tied together
• Four key words for success: consistency, leadership, planning and promotion

Learn more about the Wellness Council. And if you’re looking to enhance your wellness efforts, purchase the Indiana Employer’s Guide to Workplace Wellness.

The next Policy Call for Chamber members on Nov. 11 will feature Indiana congressman Marlin Stutzman. Details coming soon online or call (317) 264-3793 to register.

Having diverse sources of energy is a good thing. But the implications go far beyond the very important Indiana advantage of being a low-cost power producer.

The "other" implications will be the focus on an October 25 half-day summit titled Secure Energy: Our jobs, Our Economy, Our Future. In the words of the organizers, this event "will highlight the critical role North American petroleum and natural gas, particularly secure sources such as Canadian oil, play in America’s and Indiana’s economy."

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is the keynote speaker. Gary Doer, Canadian ambassador to the United States, will also be a presenter. Panel discussion will feature state and national experts.

The Indiana Chamber is a sponsor of the event at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Pre-registration is required. Full details available online.

The Chamber’s press release calls Kokomo — being recognized as the 2011 Community of the Year at the upcoming 22nd Annual Awards Dinner – a "comeback kid." Maybe it should have termed the city the longest of longshots since Rocky Balboa entered the boxing ring against Apollo Creed for the first time in 1976.

While Rocky didn’t win that battle in the ring (off subject: too bad they didn’t stop that Rocky series after the first two entries), Kokomo emerged from its four leading businesses being in bankruptcy at the same time and unemployment that soared above 19%.

During several recent visits to Kokomo to document its story for our BizVoice magazine and the video at the November 17 awards event (no Rocky, but Terry Bradshaw will be the featured speaker), it’s clear that sheer determination of community leaders was one of the primary reasons for the turnaround. People like their hometown, and they didn’t want it to become a victim of an economic downfall that was largely out of their control.

Congratulations, Kokomo. We look forward to sharing the story of how it all happened in the weeks ahead.

A simple yes/no question generated a large response in the latest informal Indiana Chamber poll.

We asked: Should online retailers (on a national basis) be required to collect sales taxes? Your responses: 61% yes, 39% no.

It’s a complicated topic. As we’ve shared earlier, the Chamber’s Bill Waltz has written an excellent analysis that identifies some of the key issues as a national solution (not a state-by-state approach) is required.

Coming off the Chamber’s annual D.C. Fly-in, our new question asks: What is your top priority for Washington policy leaders to accomplish? The choices include reform tax code, debt reduction, less intrusive federal regulations, long-term transportation bill and other (you tell us).

Check out the top right column of this page to register your vote.

The Indiana Chamber gives away a couple of airline tickets each year at its annual awards dinner. It’s a longstanding partnership (thank you to American Airlines) and a great way to help ensure that many of our guests and sponsors are able to connect during the reception.

The winning ticket is drawn and announced just prior to the Business Leader, Government Leader and Community of the Year awards being announced. In the course of a hectic (but always most enjoyable) evening, I typically don’t think much more about the prize winner.

What a pleasure to receive this recent blog posting from Jade Scott, a student at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute. She does an excellent job of telling the story from that evening and her subsequent trip to Paris.

A belated congratulations to Jade and a big thanks once again to American Airlines. On November 17 this year, at the 22nd Annual Awards Dinner, we’ve got the three big honors, Super Bowl champion quarterback Terry Bradshaw as the featured speaker – and someone else’s dream coming true as a result of visiting sponsors and hearing their name called.

The new fiscal year for the federal government begins October 1 and Congress has approved exactly none of the 12 annual spending bills. And next week is back to recess time.

So the "solution" is a stopgap bill this week to keep the government running. But in today’s world of not being able to agree on anything, there is dispute over this all-too-common emergency procedure. Some say there is not enough disaster aid in the proposal.

On a slightly more positive side, work is expected to begin on free trade bills with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. The game plan is for the House to pass the bills, with the Senate taking them up after the recess. The question mark is how much trade adjustment assistance compensation will be tacked on — and whether that amount will threaten eventual passage.

There appears to be little momentum to address President Obama’s jobs bill and it is anticipated that the deficit reduction super committee will continue in the informal discussion phase.

Indiana Chamber members will be in D.C. Wednesday and Thursday for the organization’s annual Fly-in. Hopefully some good news will emerge from that visit.