First of all, congratulations to the 5 winners of my book giveaway of White Tombs by Christopher Valen:
1. A. Caleb Hartley from environmentastic!
2. Marcia from Learning Mama
3. abookblogger from A Book Blogger’s Diary
4. Cindi H.
5. Megan from Po(sey) Sessions
If all five of you send your mailing addresses to me at anne florenzano at gmail dot com today, I’ll get the books out to you this weekend. And I’ll be very interested to know whether you liked it, so please drop me a line when you’re finished!
Now I’d like to tell all of you women entrepreneurs and professionals about the eWomen Network “Accelerated Networking” luncheon I went to yesterday.
I was invited by one of the bankers I met with in the last month. I saw her there right away, and it was great to have a friendly face to connect with. There were tables set up in the entry of the room by members of the network, offering everything from jewelry and scarves to banking, web and photographic portrait services. The featured speaker was Ann Bancroft, the first woman in history to cross both the North and South poles, and who was inducted into the National Womens Hall of Fame in 1995. There was a table with her books for sale as well, No Horizon Is So Far and yes, I bought one!
Every women’s name tag had two table numbers on it. We were instructed to go to the table of our first number. After introductory remarks by Mary Jo Sherwood, the Managing Director of the Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter of eWomenNetwork, we did a round of “accelerated networking.” We all got our business cards out and a pen and proceeded around the table to give a one-minute introduction of ourselves, what we do, what we’re offering and one thing that we want. It was quick, informative and effective. If we had something of value to pass along to the speaker or wanted what was being offered we wrote a note on one of our cards and passed it on to her. It was an excellent networking opprotunity, and I saw a lot of connections being made at my table!
After the lunch entree, Ann Bancroft spoke, and she was a thoughtful and inspiring speaker. She also had slides and some video of her polar treks, and it was really quite unbelievable to even imagine the magnitude of what she did. She honed in on the themes of hard work, following your dreams, and the power of the vast network of people who believed in her and helped her reach her goal. On her first trek she had no corporate sponsorship - just lots and lots of small donations and proceeds from bake sales and garage sales to help - plus a mountain of debt to pay off when she returned. Hers is an amazing story, and I felt really lucky to hear her speak. I’m eager to read her book.
After Ann spoke, it was then time to move to the table of the second number on our nametags, and we repeated the accelerated networking process with our new table mates. All in all it was an excellent event.
I urge all of you to visit the eWomenNetwork website. Here are some of their statistics:
- It was founded in 2000
- Their website receives over 200,000 hits per day
- The network reaches over 5 million businesswomen each month
- The median age of members is 30 - 60
- 100% of members own a computer
- 76% of members are female business owners, 24% are corporate professionals
- They maintain the world’s largest photographic and profile database of female business owners and professionals
- Owns and produces the country’s #1 women’s business radio show
- Manages a 501c(3) non-profit foundation that supports health, wellness and safety initiatives for women and girls in need.
The great thing about this journey of starting my own business is that I learn so about so many different things along the way. Learning about this network was one, and I learned so much by watching the women in action! I’m very interested in joining eWomenNetwork once I get a little further in my business startup process.
Please send me a comment about any networking events, opportunities or tips that have particularly helped you - I’d love to learn more!
