| Our Upcoming Meeting |
Program:
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Don't Try to Teach a Pig to Sing
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| Date: |
Wednesday, May 19th, 5pm
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| Location: |
St. Charles Medical Center - Bend
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| Agenda: |
Networking: 5pm - 6pm
Dinner & Program: 6pm - 8pm
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| Menu: |
Roasted Pork Loin, Yukon Gold Potato Perogi, Caramelized Onions, Field Greens with Roasted Beets and Blue Cheese. Dessert and Vegetarian menu TBD
~ Vegetarian Meals Are Available ONLY If Ordered In Advance
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| Register: |
Please make your dinner reservation no later than Thursday, Mar. 11th, online at www.networkwomen.org.
Member price is $22 and non-members price is $27. A an additional $5 charge is automatically added to late registrations. Indicate regular or vegetarian meal.
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| Secrets of Networking Champions |
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By Jane Meyers
NEW is all about supporting one another in business and in life. The way we do that is through networking. But for many people, the idea of networking is daunting. In this article, I am profiling three of the many women in our group, that I consider networking champions, to share their strategies for making themselves memorable. My hope is that it will give you ideas you can use yourselves.
“If I’m going to do something, I jump in with both feet.” That’s Maci Herbert’s formula for success. Whether she’s passionately encouraging women to get comfortable with their sexuality in her Pure Romance parties or getting involved in an organization like NEW, she’s a “hokey-pokey gal”. She puts her whole self in. I am astonished when I realize that Maci only joined NEW in November of 2009. In just 5 months of doing that she made donations to Pot of Gold, had a showcase, volunteered to be on the Membership team and make calls to the members, and agreed to run for next year’s Board of Directors as Membership Co-Chair. She shows up at the membership meetings and the NEW After Hours. Her enthusiasm is contagious. I’m not surprised to find out that NEW members are a big source of her business.
Kristie Lemon is not a newcomer to this organization. The owner of High Desert Oasis Swim and Fitness, Kristie has been an active member for 3 years. She served on the Board of Directors overseeing Showcase and Pot of Gold for 2 years and then “retired” to serve on the Advisory Board. Kristie’s love of life and people is apparent, whether she’s backpacking through the Grand Canyon, playing with little kids in her saltwater pool, making exercise fun for grown women or helping guests feel at ease at a NEW meeting. Kristie has a specific strategy she uses for networking.
She says, “I choose a couple of the business cards I collect at the meeting and make a note on them to call and set a time for tea. My criterion for which people to call is easy: I wanted to talk with that person longer than I had a chance to at that time. Rather than try and develop a deep connection at the meeting, I create that opportunity outside the meeting.
I also try and introduce as many people to each other as I can. Whenever I sense someone waiting to talk to me, I introduce the person I am speaking with to the person wanting to get involved. It’s a great way to introduce 3rd party validation right into the conversation: "Do you know Carol? She is a wonderful massage therapist."
Finally I move in and out of conversations with polite brevity, attempting to keep the conversation rather light, knowing I can follow-up with more detailed questions later as I am meeting individually. A professional network meeting is not the right time for me to be talking in detail about personal matters, although as a caring woman sometimes I get drawn into others’ adventures, hence the word attempt.”
Besides volunteering in the organization and meeting individuals outside the meeting, Kristie used a strategy that may be helpful for other members: a party! Kristie’s home, which she and her husband Scott built by hand (putting their impressive muscles to work!), is truly an oasis in the desert, so it’s definitely off the beaten track. Rather than bemoan the challenge of getting foot traffic, a few years back when NEW decided to have a cocktail party at the beginning of September, Kristie offered to host the party at her place. Many members and guests got to see her beautiful High Desert Oasis in the process. If you have a retail space or a spacious office, think about ways to get exposure to the membership via a party or even a contest that you hold on your premises.
If you know Maci and Kristie, you know they have very outgoing personalities and you might be tempted to think that networking is easy for them. But as you can see, they are making an effort, taking concrete steps to make connections with others. People who are quieter can also be successful at networking, and this next person is a perfect example of how that can work.
Kenna Cronen, previous owner of A+ Cleaning and Organizing has served on the Board of Directors first as Programs Co-Chair and then as Board Development Director. In both positions she used her systems organizing skills to create a smooth running, easy to follow template for future Board Directors to use. Beyond that, her best strategy was gratitude. She used this primarily in growing her business, which had a huge growth curve as a result. She created a popular program at the meetings where members were able to award a gold star to other members, publicly thanking them for their outstanding service. And Kenna exudes gratitude in her personal interactions. Additionally, she looks for opportunities to connect and support others. For a long time her business involved mentoring other women but as she felt guided to transition to something that called her more passionately, she shut down that business, maintaining only her personal service to others. Meanwhile she’s focusing on growing a writing and speaking career to empower people to heal. (Stay tuned for more about that!) Kenna used an innovative approach to connecting with women outside the meeting. She created monthly lunch dates and invited members to sign up in groups of 6-8 to get to know each other outside the meeting. The lunches were fun and inevitably an opportunity to make new connections. She was also the party spark on our Board, with a standing invitation to the rest of us to join her for a bite to eat at McMenamin’s after the Board meeting.
In reviewing these profiles, let’s examine the commonalities. None of these women are focused on how they can get more business, although they certainly appreciate all the business they inevitably get. What they are focused on is how they can serve. All three have been active in donating to Pot of Gold and Showcase. Kristie advertises regularly on the website. They look for ways to connect with members outside the meeting. Did you know that NEW rewards you for connecting outside meetings with someone new or with doing business with a member you haven’t done business with before? There’s a basket on the membership table for those who have made such connections. You might win the prize next month!
Also notice that each of these women has been on the Board of Directors or at least on a NEW team The opportunity for you to do that too is coming up this spring as we elect a new Board and they all look for team members. Participating in the leadership of our group is a premier way to get involved and for others to see your true colors as they interact with you in service. If you really want to be successful in this organization—or any organization you belong to—begin to ask yourself how you can contribute to the group and how you could connect personally with other members and offer support, one member at a time. The ways to do that are only limited by your own imagination.
Jane is a counselor, hypnotherapist and author. She has been a member of NEW for 17 years and served on the Board and the Advisory Board for a total of 6 years.
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The Gift of Connection
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by Linden Gross
Technology has changed the face of gift-giving over the past few years, and not always for the better. Amidst gadgets like iPods, MP3 players and video games that function like glorified rounds of Solitaire and encourage us to tune others out, a brand new digital innovation is actually bringing people together. Meet the video phone.
“I never thought I’d feel this way about technology, but the video phone has given me a richer interaction with my parents, who live eight hours away, than I ever thought I could have,” says local Shoshana Buckendorf. “When my mom needed emergency heart surgery, we didn’t even know if she would make it. I cried later when I saw her over the video phone—seeing her smile and talk and all her mannerisms. Now my parents and family see each other all the time, whether I able to travel or not. So our close family is more connected than ever.”
Video phones aren’t new. Let’s face it, the Jetsons had them. But that was make-believe. These video phones are real … and they’re finally they’re affordable, with at least one priced under $100 (plus shipping, activation and the monthly service fee).
That’s literally changing people’s lives.
• Grandparents can watch their grandkids grow up.
• Families can check in on their aging relatives to make sure they’re really okay (funny how often they fib about that).
• Hearing and vision challenged folks can finally hear and see what they’ve been missing by hooking the video phone up to their big screen TVs and cranking up the volume, reading lips (yes, the reception on a good video phone is that clear!) or watching their loved ones sign.
• And when you’re not on the phone, the best video phones double as digital photo frames. That’s an $80-$100 value right there.
In simpler times, families often settled in the communities they grew up in. So they stayed close together. These days, we’re spread far and wide. “Never send your child to school in Europe during her last year of college,” says Bend resident Jan Davey only half jokingly. Jan’s daughter fell in love in Italy and stayed there. Thanks to the video phone, however, mother and daughter still get to visit in real time and to see each other with crystal clarity.
“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose,” that classic television show The Wonder Years used to remind us weekly. But how do you continue to develop memories with people who live far away? Phone conversations can be wonderfully intimate, but it’s just not the same when you can’t see each other. The video phone solves that problem, and lets you create face-to-face memories with your loved ones as often as you like.
You can even connect via video phone while you’re on the road … and save money in the process. As long as you have access to high speed Internet in your travels, you just plug in your video at little to no extra charge and you’re up and running. And if you’ve left your video phone at home, your callers can see you—or your kids or dog(s) if you prefer—on the screen when they call. They can also leave you a video message. That proved particularly important to one Central Oregonian, whose father died unexpectedly only days after leaving her a message on her video phone. Luckily, she now has a piece of him that she can see and hear and hold onto forever.
Linden Gross is a bestselling writer and editor, an acclaimed writing coach and an on demand publisher, who also knows a thing or two about video phones. For more information on any or all of the above, please email her at
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Board Spotlight - Michelle Barry-Franco
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 Michelle Barry-Franco
Advertising Chair
Soulful living – work, home, and at play – leads to a happy life. When we feel authentically expressed, life feels more rich and meaningful. Michelle Barry Franco is committed to helping small business owners find their authentic voice in all of their business communication. In this way, marketing becomes a natural expression of our gifts and doing business is way more fun and satisfying.
While Michelle is passionate about helping business owners grow their businesses authentically, she is even more thrilled to be the mom of three little girls five years old and younger. She practices Equally Shared Parenting with her husband Jim (who is also involved in Michelle’s business, The Brazen Soul), and can’t imagine doing family life any other way. She also cannot imagine not having a date night at least once a week with Jim.
Michelle just finished writing and producing a self-study program that guides soul-inspired business owners from Vision to Marketing Messages to Promotion/Championing called Vision Into Action: The Brazen Soul Program. She also partners one-on-one with passion-driven business owners to craft their marketing message and put together a plan to get the word out - including public speaking coaching. You can get lots of free advice, tips, a monthly newsletter and free guides and audios at her website www.thebrazensoul.com.
Beyond work and family, Michelle loves to spend hours having coffee with good friends, reads voraciously, and dances as often as she can.
You can reach Michelle at
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or 541.728.3880 and @michellebfranco on Twitter.
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| May Meeting Speaker : Andrea Sigetich |
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 Topic: Don’t Try to Teach a Pig to Sing
There is a fast-brewing revolution occurring in the workforce: a Strengths Revolution. Strengths is a new paradigm for developing, engaging, and inspiring workers and entrepreneurs alike. Stop trying to overcome your weaknesses and start focusing on your strengths. You don’t need to “fix” yourself to grow --- actually, just the opposite is true! When we identify our natural talents and gifts, immense opportunities open up. In this presentation, we will explore how to discover, apply, and build our strengths, so we can be of greater service to our clients, and increase our satisfaction and fulfillment.
Outcomes:
• Discover one strength
• Design one action to enhance your strengths
• Expand your legacy
Andrea Sigetich – MS, MCC
President, SageCoach Inc.
BBA, University of Michigan
MS in Human Resource Management, University of Utah
Andrea is a recognized expert in leadership and organization development. She brings 33 years of experience to her work as a consultant, coach, author, and facilitator. She is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with over 5200 paid hours of client coaching.
Andrea has a passion for people who want to be all they can be and believes we are all leaders in life. She knows that discovering and applying strengths is the key to job satisfaction and life fulfillment. Play to Your Strengths is Andrea’s first book.
Andrea held global senior leadership positions at General Electric, Digital Equipment, and Novell before opening SageCoach in 1997. SageCoach’s client list is extensive, and includes technology, financial services, hospitality, transportation, health care, nonprofit, and entrepreneurial organizations such as Choice Hotels, Clorox, eBay, FedEx, Fidelity Investments, Hewlett Packard, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, AMD, Rapp Collins, St. Charles Medical Center, and Utah Transit Authority.
In her real life, Andrea enthusiastically pursues hiking, kayaking, skiing, geocaching, and camping from her home in Bend, Oregon, which she shares with her husband, non-profit executive coach Beryl Rullman, 3 cats, and 2 Springer Spaniel puppies.
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