Upcoming NetWorks!:

NetWorks!
Courtyard by Marriott
3205 Boardwalk, Ann Arbor
Thursday, January 8
11:30am - 1pm

Sponsor: Blue Cross Blue Shield


Purchase a 2009 NetWorks! annual pass

Past NetWorks!:

Thursday, December 11
Sponsor: Blue Dental
Kendra Karr, Consultant, The Entrepreneur’s Source 
Tony Menyhar, President FranChoice 
“The Power of Franchising”

Are you considering starting a business? If so, what is the right type of business for you? This presentation will help you consider the options available in this challenging economy.

Kendra Karr joined the Entrepreneur’s Source because of her desire to help people achieve their career dreams and because of the training and support she knew she would receive from this organization. She is a graduate of the E-Source Academy, an intense and rigorous training on coaching, franchising and self-employment options. She attends more than five hours of weekly training to hone her coaching skills so that she can better serve her clients.

Tony has the soul of an entrepreneur. Since starting his first company, Spectrum Printers, in 1986, he has reliably started a new venture every two years. Working as a supplier to franchises, Tony began to admire the efficiencies and power of franchise networks. His last two start-ups were franchise companies. Through FranChoice Consulting, Tony has assisted many new entrepreneurs to realize their ambition to own their own business.

Thursday, November 13th
Chris Bidlack, Head Honcho, Bidlack Creative Group
"The Seven Frequently Unrecognized Marketing Mistakes"

While all organizations need to communicate effectively with their audiences and customers, many of the people working hard on the inside to market their institutions and businesses to the outside world are susceptible to being too close to their situations to notice the occasional basic marketing oversight or missed opportunity. Chris Bidlack will be presenting “The Seven Frequently Unrecognized Marketing Mistakes,” a set of simple, yet frequently overlooked rules and lessons on effective marketing communication for business owners, managers, and marketers. His presentation will consist of the seven all-too-frequent mistakes observed (and occasionally personally made) in marketing and communications design over the past 25 years.

Chris Bidlack owns and operates Bidlack Creative Group in Ann Arbor. As a communications designer with over 25 years of experience in communications, visual design, and marketing, Chris stresses openness and frankness in communications whenever possible, and is a strong advocate for checks and balances in the strategic design process meant to ensure that strong and notable design is balanced with a strong and logical communications framework, whether the project is web-based, collateral materials, or advertising. With every client, Chris Bidlack’s first rule of communications philosophy is the same: “Always remember that the vast majority of people making up your target audience will never initially be interested in your message.”


Wednesday, October 8th
Sponsor: SCORE
Katherine Hilboldt Farrell, President, Katherine’s Catering
"Home Grown Stories" 

Katherine Hilboldt Farrell started Katherine’s Catering in 1985 and has been reinventing herself and her company ever since. Setting trends both locally and nationally in the catering industry, Katherine’s Catering has continuously evolved, trying new ventures from exclusive catering to Personal Chef grocery store meals and beyond. Now, in her 30th year catering in Ann Arbor, she has stories to share, memories to recall and advice to lend to other adventurous companies looking for inspiration.

“It has been rewarding to see how many new businesses have been successful.” Says Katherine, “I have always focused my energy on what we do best. Everyone else can follow along or find their own path. It’s all about taking chances.”

Thursday, September 11
Sponsor: Care Response
Derek Mehraban & Ross Johnson, Co-founders of Ingenex Digital Marketing
"GenX and GenY go Head to Head on Generational Marketing for Your Business"

Derek Mehraban, GenX CEO of Ingenex Digital Marketing and Ross Johnson GenY CCO of Ingenex Digital Marketing go head to head to explore marketing across generations. Different generations = different media + different messages. What does Gen Y pay attention to? How digitally savvy are todays Boomers? What role does Gen X play in the middle? How can you capitalize on these trends for your business?

Gen X: Derek Mehraban has enjoyed a successful 15-year career as a creative marketing professional and leader in the digital marketing industry. Mehraban has amassed considerable experience leading online and offline marketing efforts for consumer products, automotive, healthcare, manufacturing, education and business-to-business clients. Mehraban is a graduate of Michigan State University, and worked for DMB&B, Campbell-Ewald, and Q LTD before founding Ingenex in 2006.

Gen Y: Ross Johnson has been building client websites since 1997. As founder of 3.7 Designs and co-founder of Ingenex Digital Marketing, Johnson is known for his leading edge web design and strategic leadership on search engine optimization, pay per click management, e-commerce, social media, blogging and podcasting strategy for clients. Johnson is a part time instructor at Washtenaw Community College, founder of Refresh Detroit, and the website chair for the Ann Arbor Ad Club. 

Ingenex Digital Marketing Firm

Digital Marketing Blog & Podcast

Thursday, July 10
Mike Beasley, User Experiologist
“Strengthen Your Professional Network with LinkedIn!”

LinkedIn is a social networking service for professionals. So how can it help your business? LinkedIn lets you manage your contact list, connect to new people, follow people as their contact information changes and even draw upon the wisdom of your network. You can expose parts of your profile to Google, which gives you another way of improving the visibility of you and your website. LinkedIn can even be a tool for gathering intelligence on potential clients, customers, partners and even your competition. This talk will give you an overview of how to take advantage of LinkedIn to grow your business!

Mike Beasley, User Experiologist
B.A. English and Music, University of Michigan, and M.S.I. Human-Computer Interaction, University of Michigan
Mike is committed to improving the world, one user interface at a time. He has worked on websites and computer software, has done usability testing, heuristic evaluations, user research and has had a strong interest in figuring out why people do the things that they do. Before joining Pure Visibility, Mike was a usability engineer at Compuware and at Thomson Gale. Mike is currently president of the Michigan chapter of the Usability Professionals' Organization and Associate Content Editor for UX Magazine.

Thursday, June 12
Sponsor: Fidelity
“Power NetWorks! – Making your Connections Count”

The next evolution of the popular “Power Mingle” is the “Power NetWorks!” Speed Dating for your business. Come prepared to answer the following questions during the Power NetWorks!: what is my core business, who is my ideal client, and what makes me different from my competition – in three minutes or less!

Thursday, May 8th
Sponsor: Century Communications
Kristin Jonna, Vinology Wine Bar and Restaurant
"Home Grown Stories."

"I am not a big fan of retail, but I'd rather be selling wine than shoes." That is what Kristin Jonna said to her father as a young girl when he asked her to join him in their wine and food businesses, Merchant of Vino, many years ago. Since then, Kristin has traveled the world, alongside her father, to explore food and wine cultures. After selling two retail store chains and celebrating her father's retirement, Kristin's latest endeavor is a wine bar concept, named Vinotecca in Royal Oak and Vinology in Ann Arbor, which is inspired by her travels in California and abroad. She aims to make wine fun and accessible to all types of people, to help her guests further understand their palates and the world of wine, and to compliment the menus with wine-friendly world cuisine.

Thursday, April 10
Sponsor: Blue Care Network of Michigan
Eleni Kelakos, President and Chief Catalyst, SPEEK
“Tips and Tools to Tame the Power Point Monster.”

Have you ever shuddered at the prospect of sitting through yet another Power Point presentation? Improperly implemented, Power Point can be a bore, a snore and a colossal distraction. Learn what to do – and, especially, what NOT to do—to make your Power Point presentation work for you and not against you! Will Eleni be using a Power Point to make her point? You betcha!

Eleni Kelakos is on a mission to inspire people to be more of who they are, so they can lead the way for others to do the same. With over twenty-five years experience as a professional actress, touring singer-songwriter and recording artist, Eleni brings a performer’s passion and flair to her flagship musical motivational keynote program, TOUCH THE SKY. When not on the speaking platform, Eleni the President and Chief Catalyst of SPEEK (Speaking Powerfully and Effectively, with Eleni Kelakos), uses her expertise to help people make their speeches and presentations more authentic, powerful and memorable.

Pre-register. You can register by phone at 734.214.0104, by email or by fax at 734.665.4191.

NetWorks! creates new business relationships along with opportunities to learn from key business leaders. Held monthly (except in August) over lunch, you can meet key connections and be back to the office quickly.

10 Minute "Power Mingle"
By networking, you expand your base of people who can provide you with services you need, people who might be your next customers or even a new business partner. NetWorks! is a monthly event that combines an informative speaker with structured networking and alternates between breakfast and lunch, with time allotted for full audience introductions and the popular “Power Mingle.” Tom Denk, NetWorks! Committee Chair, invented the 10 Minute Power Mingle. At the start of NetWorks! every attendee gives a 10 word introduction to the entire audience. While introductions are fresh in everyone’s mind, the group has 10 minutes to approach the people that most intrigued them. We call it a “Power Mingle" because these minutes are for one purpose – to move quick, meet people and exchange information and contacts. With a room of 75 to 150 people, networking is easy for even the quietest people to mingle.