The Evangeline Chamber of Commerce conducted a workshop geared to help local and area small businesses start a new business or to help grow their business. Chamber Director Renee Brown conducted the meeting and Chamber President Luke Deville welcomed a number of businesses who attended the Thursday after meeting. Among the guest speakers who spoke to the group included: Seth Norris, C.P.A., who spoke about new tax changes impacting businesses; Destin Ortego with the Opportunity machine who talked about his services to help entrepreneurs and start up businesses get the training they need; Heidi Melancon with the U.L. Small Business Development Center and Larry Dents Jr. with TruFund who discussed finances for new businesses. Those in attendance had a roundtable discussion and survey to decide on topics for future workshops such as marketing and using social media. The group also discussed planning a chamber sponsored "Shop Local Christmas kickoff" promotion. Maggie Eades is the chairperson of the promotion. Chamber members will be polled to decide on a date in November for the kickoff date.