BEMIDJI, Minn. — Rick Demers will cover the basics of business grammar during a noon Brown Bag Lunch program Wednesday, Oct. 8, at the Bemidji State University Center for Research and Innovation (CRI), located at 3801 Bemidji Avenue North.

Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch for the one-hour session, which is open to the public at no charge.

During his talk, Demers will discuss sentence construction, punctuation, subject and verb agreement, common errors and use of possessives. He will then address other writing topics during the latter part of the program, which will also be opened to questions.

“Faulty punctuation associated with sentence construction is a very common problem in business,” said Demers, who is a training specialist at Leech Lake Gaming in Cass Lake, Minn. “Subjects and verbs can be tricky, especially when a phrase separates the verb from the subject. And using proper possessives can be easy once the basic rules are understood.

“Correct grammar equates to professionalism, so it is hard to look good while sending out poorly written materials.”

Demers received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in counseling psychology from the University of North Dakota. In addition to writing personnel documents, his training encompasses management and leadership topics and as well stress management and conflict resolution issues.

Leech Lake Gaming is the business entity of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe casino properties and employees approximately 1,200 people at Northern Lights Casino Hotel and Events Center in Walker, the Palace Casino and Hotel in Cass Lake and the White Oak Casino in Deer River.

The session is part of free training and informational presentations offered by the CRI on the second Wednesday of each month. A full schedule can be found at http://www.cri-bsu,org/BrownbagSeries.html.

For more information, contact the Bemidji State University Center for Research and Innovation at (218) 755-4900; toll free, (888) 738-3224; email, cri@bemidjistate.edu; or at http://www.cri-bsu.org.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Oct. 8 – noon – 1 p.m. – Bemidji State University Center for Research and Innovation Brown Bag Lunch training session, “Business Grammar.” Presenter: Rick Demers, training specialist, Leech Lake Gaming, Cass Lake, Minn. Location: CRI; 3801 Bemidji Ave. N.; Bemidji, Minn. Cost: free; participants encouraged to bring a lunch. For information: (218) 755-4900; (888) 738-3224; http://www.cri-bsu.org.