International Networking Week™ is an initiative of BNI. It will feature a number of networking events across the world!

The goal of International Networking Week™ is to celebrate the key role that networking plays in the development and success of businesses across the world.

Simultaneous events will be held globally to celebrate International Networking Week.

The focus of these events will be to bring together representatives of government, businesses and the community to network with each other, to understand the concept of good networking and to listen to talks by key networking specialists from across the world. These speakers will offer advice and information on how businesses can grow and succeed through good networking practices.

Invitations to attend are open to the wider business community, members of other networking organisations, students, press representatives and interested parties from all levels of government and business. The purpose of International Networking Week™ is to raise the profile of networking in the wider community, recognising it as an essential tool for success in today’s business climate.

In recognition of the event, BNI Evesham are getting together with out counterparts in Stratford to run a joint meeting on Friday 8th February. We are meeting at the Four Alls in Welford on Avon all the usual rules of engagement Arrive: 6.30 to 6.45 and probably carry on networking through to about 9.30.

Venue details below:

The Four Alls
Binton Bridges
Welford on Avon
Stratford upon Avon
CV37 8PW

Tel: 01789 750228
Fax: 01789 750228

fouralls@greatpubs.net

Directions available by clicking here

WEDNESDAY 6th FEBRUARY 2008 at 5.30 pm for 6.00 pm to 9.15 pm

at Bromsgrove Rugby Football Club, Finstall Park, Bromsgrove B60 3DH

Facilitator: BNI Director – David Bullock
(Tea, coffee and light buffet will be available)

Exisiting and new members from BNI Evesham are encouraged to attend.

WHY DO YOU NEED THIS SESSION?
The BNI International Board of Advisors agreed four years ago on a policy that requires all Members to attend such training before they are allowed the privilege of being a “Featured Speaker”.   So attending one of these meetings is essential for you to get the maximum benefit from your chapter membership.   The session is devoted to improving your networking skills and to maximising the value of your BNI membership, both to yourself and to your colleagues.  Topics to be covered will include:

• ‘Givers Gain’ – how to secure quality referrals
• Maximising your ’60 seconds’ or ‘Sales Manager Minute’ opportunity
• Making a memorable ‘6 minute presentation’
• The importance of the ‘1 to 1’ or ‘Dance Card’ – meeting outside BNI
• Inviting and looking after visitors
• Helping to make the chapter successful

New Members will receive their BNI manual at this session.

Now is the time to make sure you are the strongest link!

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE, COST and VENUE
Telephone, or preferably e-mail Richard Emmitt, Events Coodinator of the Black Pear Chapter on 07813 648894 by Friday 1st February 2008 LATEST.

There will be a nominal door charge of £8 for the session, which will include refreshments.

A map and directions available at this link

Richard Emmitt, Events Coordinator, BNI Black Pear

On Friday 11th January each BNI member will be bringing at least one guest along to the meeting. This is not a full-blown visitors day, but an event where we will be able to open up the membership in a more contolled way. The event is designed to provide a broad enough audience to promote each business while retaining enough intimacy to make sure everyone gets a chance to network properly with everyone else.

Please let Sally Ragbourne know if you wish to attend.

Click for directions

The BNI Evesham Christmas Party will be held on 18 December at:

The Jockey Inn, Baughton.

The Jockey Inn, Baughton, Earls Croome, Worcestershire, WR8 9DQ
Tel : 01684 592153

thejockyinn.com

Direction can be found by clicking here

It is highly rated and it should be a good night.

Please choose your meals fromm the menus below and email Sally Ragbourne with your choices

Menus:

Please choose a compete meal from either of the menus below

Menu 1 : £24.95 each

Galantine of of Trout Fillets & wild Salmon with Dill Sauce
Duck Terrine with cumberland Sauce
Chilled Ogen Melon filled with Spiced Prawns
Thick & Filling Winter Vegetable Soup

Traditional Roast Turkey with all the trimmings
Salmon Fillet en Croute with Bearnaise Sauce
Highland Game Pie with a light Puff Pastry Lid
Noisettes of Lamb with Tangy Apricot Sauce
All Main courses are served with seasonal vegetables and potatoes

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce
Yule Tide Chocolate Log
Bailey’s Creme Brule
Meringue Nest Filled with Thisck Double Cream & fresh Pineapple and Mango

Coffee & Warm Mince pie

_________________________

Menu 2: £19.95 each

Chilled Ogen Melon filled with Spiced Prawns
Thick & Filling Winter Vegetable Soup

Traditional Roast Turkey with all the trimmings
Salmon Fillet en Croute with Bearnaise Sauce
Highland Game Pie with a light Puff Pastry Lid
All Main courses are served with seasonal vegetables and potatoes

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce
Yule Tide Chocolate Log

Coffee & Warm Mince pie

Tuesday 27th November 2007, 5.30 pm for 6.00 to 9.15 pm
The Thistle Hotel- Waterside Stratford upon Avon
CV37 6BA 01789272751

Facilitator: David Bullock

(Tea, coffee etc on arrival with finger buffet and refreshments later in the evening)

Do you want more referrals? Are you an expert?

A referral skills workshop is being hosted by ShakespeareBNI and all chapters in the region are invited to attend.
DO YOU NEED THIS WORKSHOP?
BNI is not just about gaining business. It is also about personal development
Attending this workshop is a simple way for you to develop your networking, especially skills for getting more referrals. This will not only help you get the maximum benefit from your chapter membership, but will also give you advice and skills that you can apply to generate more referrals for yourself and your colleagues.

Topics to be covered will include:

• How to get quality referrals
• How to give quality referrals
• The effective use of the Dance Card
Now is the time to increase your effectiveness!

HOW TO BOOK YOUR PLACE, COST, and VENUE

You can book your place by email only, BEFORE Friday 23rd Nov by contacting Jonathan Smith on jonathan@thefinancenetwork.co.uk There will be a £12.00 door charge. This will include materials and light refreshments.

Map and directions available by clicking here

This event could be an excellent way of introducing a visitor to the added values of BNI membership.

Two New Member Oreintation sessions are planned as follows:

December 4th:  George Eliot chapter at the Nuneaton Golf Club
5.30 for 6.00 to 9.15 p.m.
28th November:  Black Pear chapter in Bromsgrove
5.30 for 6.00 to 9.00 p.m.

Both session are to be led by BNI Regioonal Director, David Bullock

NMO training sessions are designed for new members of BNI to learn how best to maximise their membership. They usually cover the traditions, and protocols of BNI as well as giving new members some good pointers. A good number of experienced BNI members are usually on hand to share experiences.

On Friday 9th November, we are holding a visitors day at The Vale Golf Club.

Having dried out and regrouped following the flooded demise of the Northwick Hotel (our previous venue) we are back and building. We have relocated to be able to work between Evesham and Pershore more effectively and we are now ready to get back to business.

The Visitor Day is an opportunity to meet other businesses in the area and see how BNI in Evesham has conducted over £1.3Million worth of business between members and guests in the past few years.

For full details, contact Sally Ragbourne 01905 840355

Evesham BNI have been flooded out of house and home.

As usual for a Friday, on 20th July 2007 BNI Evesham met at the Northwick Hotel on the banks of the River Avon in Evesham. In accordance with BNI traditions the world-over, the meeting concluded at 8.30am and a number of members hung back conducting one-to-one meetings with visitors and other members. The meeting had been a good one. The group had generated several thousand pounds worth of business for each other in the form of referrals passed directly from member to member. A new member had applied to join and everyone was looking forward to getting back to work to follow up the business leads.

However, by 6.00pm that evening, The Northwick Hotel was front page news all over the world. The entire region had been flooded. 30 people were trapped by rising flood water in the Northwick Hotel and the pictures flashed across TV screens from London to Sydney.

In the following weeks, the effect on the BNI Chapter has been remarkable. Some members businesses were flooded others homes had been flooded and some left untouched by the devastation.

David Yates BNI Evesham Chapter Membership Secretary was one of those directly affected. “I run an award winning design business in Upton Upon Severn and we were engrossed in a particularly hectic day. Apart from the various projects on the go, we had received two new commissions for book cover designs from a contact at BNI. But by mid-afternoon my house had been flooded. I made my way back there from the studio and having done so the studio building became submerged in six feet of water.”

This story was a familar one all over the district. What was less familiar was the way the BNI network started to kick in.

David explained. “Within a day just about every member of BNI Evesham had contacted me. They had seen the studio on television being consumed by the floods. I was offered office space, living accomodation and unlimited support from just about everyone. This Flood will probably finish off many businesses, but thanks to the generosity and spirit of my colleagues at BNI Evesham, mine is not likely to be one of them.”

The Northwick Hotel, the BNI Evesham venue, however has faired less well. It will be out of action for a year at current estimates. However, BNI have been able to switch venues to the Vale Golf and Country Club between Evesham and Pershore. This means that the Chapter is looking to relaunch as a combined Pershore and Evesham chapter and grow its numbers to incorporate more businesses from both areas!

See the Sky News report on the Northwick Hotel

To read the July edition of SuccessNet Online, sponsored by the new NetworkingNow.com, click here.

In this edition, you’ll find:
“Laser-Sharp Networking” by Dr. Ivan Misner.
3 tips for getting precision results from your networking efforts.

“Make the Most of Your BNI Membership” by Christopher Signore.

“You’re a Member–Now What?” by Tom Schmoll, Area Director, BNI Minnesota.
10 tips for your first BNI meetings.

Plus, chapter updates and testimonials from around the world.

To sign up for a trial subscription to NetworkingNow.com, go to www.networkingnow.com.

Sincerely,

Ivan R. Misner
BNI Founder & Chairman

When  the Leadership Team took office they undertook to attend a Mid-Term Leadership Seminar.

This time it will be at the Thistle Hotel just off J11 of the M5, as this is one of the most accessible venues for the region.

Having consulted the ADs and Ambassadors we have opted for a breakfast meeting on Monday, 30th July. It will be slightly later than a normal chapter meeting to allow for members who have to travel longer distances.

It is as condition of taking office that the three Leadership Team (LT) members attend a mid-term leadership seminar.

It is helpful if other key members of the chapter to come along too. Anyone who aspires to be on a future LT should certainly be making the effort to attend. BNI runs a Leadership Transition Programme (details later this month). Certainly the LT will be seeking to identify names of likely contenders over the next couple of weeks.

In general, all members are welcome. Come and learn from other chapters how they handle the challenges of securing more business for members, of growing their chapters and handling difficult challenges.

These events are extremely useful. The Leadership Team has undertaken to attend as part of their leadership responsibilities. However, there is also a significant advantage to a chapter in the Visitor Hosts, Membership Committee and other members attending.

So, if you are seriously interested in helping the chapter to become the best it can me, make a special effort to come along to one of these events.

Places are limited and the venue need advance booking so please make your application early, copying your Chapter Director:

Monday, 30thJuly, 2007 7.00 for 7.30 a.m.-10.00 am.

Thistle Hotel, Gloucester Rd, Cheltenham, GL51 0TS (Off M5 J11)

Please reserve places a.s.a.p. by e-mail to david@bni-swmids.org.uk There will be a £10 charge to cover room hire and breakfast.