June Business Events

There are several events for women in business being held over this next week. I thought I’d share them with you.

Wednesday, June 23rd 7:30am – 9:30am
Connected Women of Influence Presents the CEO/Executive Panel Forum

Please join us on June 23rd for a special gathering of influential business-to-business women at Riverwalk Golf Club for the June CEO/Executive Panel Forum!

Meet Women CEO’s & Top Executives

Join Connected Women of Influence (CWI) members as we present our panel program series designed to bring the best and the brightest connected women of influence together for a morning panel forum!  More details…..

Thursday, June 24th 11:30am to 1:00pm
For You Network

Time and Life Management and Time Blocking

Come and Learn the essentials to put time back into your day and checkmarks on your to do list.

ERIK E. SWANSON has spent the past 12 years traveling the world, interviewing top achievers, and studying success.

He’s studied, and worked directly with top experts/ gurus such as Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins, Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, Bob Burg, Jack Canfield, and has been a Success Coach with over 45 other speakers! Many of them have been featured in the best-selling book/ movie “The Secret!”

Bring a Friend (acquaintance, family member, business associate) RSVP to Barbara Eldridge at barbara(at)mindmasters(dot)com or 858-467-9091.

Vigilucci’s Seafood & Steakhouse
3878 Carlsbad Blvd
760 434 2580

Thursday, June 24th 6:00pm to 8:30pm
Extreme Bio Makeover

Are you proud of your biography and headshot?

If not, this is your chance to get professional help!

Your bio and headshot are instrumental in defining your image in traditional marketing and social media. Professional headshots and bio writing will typically run you from $200-$900. Get both for a fraction of the price at this exciting event! Investing in a professionally written bio and headshot by a professional photographer will be money well spent for years to come.

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION ENDS TODAY
Price – $59 before 6/17, $69 after 6/17, and $79 at the door. Includes bio writing, professional photography, food, drinks & networking! More details…..

North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: April 18, 2010
Special Episode

I interviewed Sheryl Roush, Sparkle Presentations,  about her role as Emcee for the upcoming Women In Business Symposium being held May 20, 2010 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Sheryl has been one of the keynote speakers in the past and was asked to come back this year to bring a bit of “sparkle” to the day.

In addition to Sheryl as Emcee, Dee Sanford and Judy Carter will be the two keynote speakers. There will also be two sets of 30 minute roundtables presented by experts from the business community on a variety of topics important to running our businesses and our lives.

North San Diego Business At Large

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: April 12, 2010

The Women In Business Symposium is being held Thursday, May 20, 2010 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. This is the 11th year Sheila McDonnell has been producing this event.

Sheryl Roush

Sheryl Roush, Sparkle Presentations, will be the Mistress of Ceremonies. Anyone who knows Sheryl can tell you it’s an excellent event to attend, just because she’s there. she brings a passion to any event she’s involved with, and she really does “come from the heart.”

Sheryl has authored a “Heart Book Series” with several titles, Heart of a Woman, Heart of a Mother, and her current releases, Heart of a Military Woman and Heart of a Business Woman. But that’s not all.

Dee Sanford

Dee Sanford, Dee Sanford International, is one of the two keynote speakers. Dee is a Motivational Speaker, Trainer, TV & Internet Radio Host, and Founder of Two Networking Organizations.

Dee will be speaking about “The Power of Big Dreams and the Boldness to Make Them Happen”

Judy Carter

Judy Cater, Comedy Workshops,  will be the Symposium’s other keynote speakers.

Judy is a professional comedian and will be speaking about Stress Reduction: Laughing Your Way Out of Stress—Turning Problems into Punch Lines.

The Early Bird deadline is May 10, 2010.  There are still opportunities to market your business through sponsorship, or becoming one of the exhibitors. Make sure to register now for this wonderful networking event.

On Thursday, March 25, 2010 nearly 400 women attended the Business Women’s Mega Mixer at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. The event benefited the Women’s History Museum.

Businesses Shown In Slideshow

Patti O’Neill Designs

Robbie Motter

Robbie Motter & Mindy Selinger

Firehouse Brewing Company

Senior Movers Master

Meeka’s Designs

Adcentive Group

Herr Photography

Sheryl Roush

American Business Women’s Association

Super Food Drive

Cork and Platter

For You Network

Head To Toe Expo

Girls, Inc

Kensington Cafe

Wanda Allen

Felena Hanson

Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

Michelle Bergquist

Lizza Rizzo

Colleen Connery & Judie Keys

Women’s Global Network

Queen Eileen

Networking Is About Relationships

I’ve told this story many times. I published Networks, later renamed to The Business Resource, in the early ’90s….yes, I’ve been around that long. It was a time of large networking events. The Business Resource had it’s own membership, and it’s own networking events.

One event I would often attend had an interesting way of passing business cards…red solo cups, the 16oz size. The cups would be placed around a table and you simply walked around the table and dropped a business card in each cup. At the end of the evening, you picked up your cup and left. Now we have Speed Networking.

So why do I tell this story again…Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit a structured referral organization. That’s a networking group that allows only one person from each “type” or “discipline” in business, ie: one banker, one real estate agent and so on. The visit took me back to the slammin’ days of networking and the red solo cups.

As I approached I saw some business buddies I knew, so it was noted when I signed in that I already had “friends” here. I mentioned that we belonged to another structured referral organization and was immediately greeted with the “rules” about what I could belong to and what I couldn’t belong to. That would be welcome enough, but there’s more…

Bless Mindy Selinger’s heart when she hears this…as I filled out my name tag (reminder to self, Mindy was right…get my own name tag) the woman behind the table asked me to stop and write my name so people could read it.  In other words, my writing sucks. Now, admittedly, I do have my Dad’s way of writing, but is that really something you want to say to someone who is checking out membership in your group…and you’re meeting for the first time? After all, you’re going to ask me to fork out $330 annual fees, plus $100 registration fee and $40 a month in food/room fees, as well as requiring me to attend a “good member training”.

Now the fun part. This organization asks that the guests place their cards on a tray and the tray is passed around for all the others to take the guests cards. The members card box is also passed around, but somehow it didn’t get to my table. So, they had my card, but I didn’t have theirs…well accept for the people I really did meet, converse with, and exchange cards.

When I checked my email this am, one of the members emailed me about how nice it was that I attended their meeting and how happy I would be as a member. Then, she put me on her email list…..here’s where I bristle. I never met her. She never came to me and introduced herself and I never found my way to her to introduce myself. If she had, and if she’d used the approach with me in person that she used over the call we just had, she’d realize I have a professional relationship with an anti-aging skin care consultant. If I had any referrals, he would be the first person I’d refer. Why? Because he and I have been networking for well over a year. I know him, and if anyone I knew needed anti-aging products I’d refer them to him. He and I have a business relationship.

So, along comes the phone call today. I don’t care for people not telling the truth. She called, reminded me that we had met, which we hadn’t, and told me she called to ask me about my business. However, the next sentence was…. “if you remember I have the anti-aging skin care line.” I told her I was well acquainted with the line, and it’s major competitor, and knew many consultants with each company. With that she ended the call…before she could find out what I did, which is the reason she called me.

Two points to be made with this story.

1. Taking a business card off a table, tray or other item does not constitute meeting someone. In the internet marketing world, we live by the CanSpam Act. There should be a reasonable expectation that we’ve met before you add me to your email list. At least there was an unsubscribe I could use, and did use.
2. Don’t lie to me. Don’t call me and tell me you met me. If you had met me, you would have known I was not an ideal client for you. However, if you had a conversation with me in which I told you I had an existing business relationship, and you still tried to “sell” to me, what does that say about your integrity?

Networking is about relationships. If your networking group is holding an open house, maybe you don’t need to worry about whether you can read a name on a tag or not. Maybe you can forgo the “rules” talk at the door. Maybe you should actually try to meet the guests and not just collect cards. You’re the host!

For as much as we hear that relationship marketing is the way to go, or that you want to aim for “referrals of a lifetime” there are still plenty of business owners out there who are all about the red solo cups.

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: March 12, 2010

Information on the Business Women’s Mega Mixer, March 25th

In this episode I interviewed Jennifer Finch, Firehouse Brewing Co. about how the Firehouse Brewing Co. came to be, and it’s a fascinating story. They also have a beer garden you can relax and sample their beers, as well as seeing the beers created. Learn how they give back to their community with their beers.

Firehouse Brewing Co. is one of the sponsors of the Business Women’s Mega Mixer being held on March 25th. Michelle Bergquist, Connected Women of Influence is one of the founding sponsors of the event.

The second half of the show Michelle shares some of the highlights of the Business Women’s Mega Mixer. If you’re a woman in business, or women are your “tribe members”, you’ll want to visit the site and check it out.  Early bird registration ends today, March 15th.

The Business Women’s Mega Mixer has invited 23 women’s organizations and offered them exhibit tables so they can share their resources with you. They expect 300 business women to attend the event and table tops are available.

My Life Tees

The San Diego Business Showcase is being held Thursday, March 11, 2010 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The event is sponsored by several of the local Chamber of Commerces and Business Associations in San Diego County.

I spoke with Scott Ashton, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and Colm Kelly, Smarter Small Business about the expo on North San Diego Business At Large. They shared some of the details of the afternoon, including the drive through free electronic recycling at the event.

I’ll be there for the Tweet Up.  Will you??

North San Diego Business At Large
Show Notes: Special Episode, January 27, 2010

Felena Hanson, Perspective Marketing, was my guest. Felena brings over twelve years of marketing and management experience to the table. She’s not only an industry expert but also a marketing professor, author, and international speaker. So, naturally we started our conversation with marketing with an emphasis on small business.

We also discussed the upcoming Business Women’s Mega Mixer, which will be held March 25, 2010. This fundraising event will benefit the Women’s Museum of History and will be held at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Morgan Run Country Club

The Score Women’s Networking breakfast was held Friday, January 22, 2010 at Morgan Run Country Club.  If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw the tweets from the breakfast.

I’ve been attending the Score Women’s Networking Breakfasts, each month, since 2004. When I started networking at the breakfast, there were two breakfasts each month, one in North County, one in Mission Valley. Each drew approximately 30-35 attendees.

It was November 2006 when we had the first joint breakfast.  Shortly after that, Score made a change, one networking breakfast, every other month, centrally located at Morgan Run. It was a stroke of genius. The breakfast became a “never miss networking event” for me and the attendance grew to 160 business women. (ok, and some men)

Anyone in the business community knows I’ve been an advocate of this breakfast. I think it’s one of the jewels of our small business community. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I take pictures and tweet them up with a link to the business as a way of helping introduce the North San Diego Business community at each breakfast. Hence, my decision to step up and ask Score a few questions about the future of the breakfast after attending it Friday, given the attendance was 101 and not quite as many exhibitors as any recent breakfast.

It’s customary when asking a professional speaker to provide a 45 minute, pro bono, presentation, especially where there are exhibit tables being sold, to offer the speaker an exhibit (or speaker’s) table at the event. Score has decided to adopt their workshop policy of forbidding the presenter from marketing their business, thus Carolyn Gross was not offered an opportunity to share her products with the attendees…..of course, she could have purchased an exhibit table. This just doesn’t make sense.

These are my concerns.

• Those of us who attend regularly realize that the exhibit tables for these breakfasts sell out immediately.
• If you want a table, you need to purchase it ahead of time.
• Having a robust exhibit area offers the attendees the opportunity to meet other business owners and network with them.
• Having a large number of attendees offers the exhibitors tremendous value for their marketing dollars spent, and in turn, becomes a great event to exhibit your business.

As I see it, the exhibitors feed the attendees, and the attendees feed the exhibitors.

So, do the same people attend the breakfast each month? No. Many come for the program. Thus my concern.

• The speaking community in San Diego is small.  They all know each other.  Once the speaking community discovers that they are not permitted to market their business, and won’t be provided a speaker’s table for their books and products, does Score think it will be able to provide the same quality of speakers they’ve had in the past?
• If Score doesn’t provide the same quality of speaker, will it draw attendees?
• If Score doesn’t draw attendees, will it draw exhibitors?

If Score is going to change the Women’s Networking Breakfast (from the Agenda and the website) into a workshop, by adopting the workshop policies, then why sell exhibit tables? I don’t believe Score sells exhibit tables at it’s workshops, where it doesn’t allow it’s workshop instructors to market their businesses.  Now, in all fairness, I don’t know if Score pays them or if they offer the workshops pro bono. None the less, it’s seems somewhat hypocritical to enact part of the workshop rules, and not all of the workshop rules.

Score San Diego, I implore you to review this policy. In March you have Pamela S. Perkins, founder of the Human Communication Institute and author of The Art and Science of Communication: Tools for Effective Communication in the Workplace speaking. Having the opportunity to purchase her book could make the difference for an attendee. Please don’t deny the small business community tools to help them with their success by denying the speaker a table for her books and products. It’s a small price, a speaker’s table, that yields you great profits. It’s a system that’s been working for years, and can continue to work, if you can see past your workshop rules. This is still advertised as a networking breakfast.

So, small business community, what do you have to say? Is a speaker’s table too much to offer so Score San Diego can attract the best speakers possible to their breakfasts? Let’s have your comments….

The Score Women’s Networking breakfast was held Friday, January 22, 2010 at Morgan Run Country Club. These are photos of some of the exhibitors at the breakfast. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw the tweets from the breakfast.

Shown in the slideshow:

Carolyn Gross, Carolyn Gross
Sadie King, The Conscious Cook
Leslie Osterman & Pam Bothelo, Send Out Cards
Linnea Zeiner and Felena Hanson, Savvy Cuisine
Pamela Croft, Dinner At Home
David McCain, Communicating With Heart
Mary Rogers, Mission Accounting
Melanie Young, Back Alley Tours
California Bankruptcy Group
Carlos Chavez, San Diego Printing
Sherry McKenzie, Veronica Glass Jewelry
Sue Crum, The R.E.D. Team