VIDALIA — When a large pop-out trailer parks outside the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center in September, it won’t be a mobile FEMA command center, but it will be there bringing help — business help.

The LSU Business and Technology Center’s mobile classroom will be in Vidalia Sept. 1 and 2, offering classes for those who want to break into business and those who want to improve their existing business.

“It is going to be a great thing all the way around,” Vidalia Chamber of Commerce Director Jamie Burley said. “It covers things from tourism, which is big in our area, to supervising others.”

The classes are free, but pre-registration is requested because if no one registers for a class, it will be canceled.

The mobile classroom is a former mobile health unit that was retrofitted as a classroom, and while it will be parked at the convention center, the classes will be in the bus itself, which can house approximately 25 people at a time, LBTC Training Coordinator Allison Davis said.

“It is one of those taxpayer dollars at work that actually works,” Davis said.

“It’s taught by professional people, and it’s free, but we promise to offer a lot more than you might expect from a free program.”

The class Burley said she would recommend to everyone will be the one about improving customer service.

“That is badly needed around here,” she said.

While most of the sessions are for business owners or those who wish to be business owners, one session will target a different audience — teens.

The session for teens will be interviewing skills.

“Businesses need good workers, and teens can be great workers, so we offer that class in hopes that it will make the interview process easier for the teen,” Davis said.

The sessions for Sept. 1 are:

Starting and financing your business.

Working with your bank to get a loan.

Marketing 101

Becoming a money maker in a recession

Interviewing skills for teens.

The sessions for Sept. 2 will be:

Supervising others: on the job or in the community.

Agritourism: selling the rural experience.

Tourism basics: building your business and promoting your town.

Customer service.

To register, contact Burley at the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce at 318-226-8223.

For more information about the mobile classroom, visit. www.bus.lsu.edu/centers/lbtc/mobileclassroom.asp.