You are here: Home / Blog

Review of August Meeting

August 5, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

When our guest speaker Christine Le Penuizic gave us a little challenge last night at our monthly Women in Business meeting, I’m not sure she quite expected the sudden explosion of confabulation.  In fact it was rather difficult to shut us up.

Christine came along to our meeting to enlighten us in the art of public speaking and to guide us into giving the ‘perfect pitch’.

We discussed what aspects we find agreeable and also what aspects we find off putting when listening to others introductions.  It’s all very easy pointing out what works for us but translating that to ensure our own pitch is perfect, is not so straight forward.  Christine gave us some examples; one relating to a financial advisor.  Instead of saying “I’m a financial advisor” an improvement would be “I help people to manage their wealth and prepare for a secure future”.

We moved on to drafting our own introductions with tips from Christine to describe what we do and how it benefits the person using our service. Once we had our masterpieces in hand we practised on each other, amending our efforts along the way. My personal attempt certainly started off alright but then I came up with more features than benefits and kind of lost my way. The rest of the group soon put me right.

The resulting feedback was fabulous, as well as being priceless; that is the wonderful thing about Women in Business, the support is amazing.

As usual the clock had the audacity to keep ticking and we ran out of time, most of us reluctant to cease the discussion.

Fortunately nothing was written in stone last night and we are able to continue working on our spiel; but one thing is for sure, Christine has certainly sown a seed, I think I can still hear the cogs turning.

Review by Lisa Settle

Filed Under: Blog, Meeting News, Women in Business Medway

August Meeting

August 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Designing your elevator speechI’m delighted to announce that a good friend and colleague of mine, Christine Le Penuizic, will be coming along to help us generate new ideas for an innovative, confident and impactful elevator speech. I know that I am often reduced to a babbling mess when someone asks me what I do, so this will be perfect for me to be able to communicate what I do in a more succinct and articulate manner!

Christine is an experienced trainer and coach specialising in communication and presentation skills. I have attended one of her courses and she is brilliant at what she does. She also owns her own company, Athenoya.

Christine is originally from a corporate background with 20 years working for blue chip organisations and brings a French flair to the art of presenting and public speaking. Her training focuses on providing participants with practical tools, advice and individual feedback to help them take their presentation and public speaking skills to the next level, whatever their experience.  I’m sure you’ll agree, this is a meeting you can’t afford to miss. It’s these kind of things that make all the difference – how we come across and whether we can “sell ourselves”.

Here are all the other details you need to come along:

DATE:               Wednesday 3rd August 2011

TIME:                6.45 – 9.00pm (food & refreshments provided)

VENUE:            Canterbury Christ Church University

Centre for Enterprise and Business Development

Rowan Williams Court

30 Pembroke Court

Chatham Maritime

Kent ME4 4UF

Hope to see you there!

Best wishes

Sarah

Filed Under: Blog, Events, Meeting News, Next Meeting

July Meeting – Market your business online

July 5, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Market your business onlineI’m delighted to tell you that one of our newest members, Zoe Cairns, is going to be our guest speaker for the evening. She comes highly recommended, so I am really looking forward to hearing her.

For those of you who don’t know Zoe, she is known as “Social Media Trainer, Consultant & Speaker” and will show you how to market your business online and generate free traffic.  Many business owners are already using social media sites to promote their business but very few know how to maximise the effectiveness of them. Zoe will demonstrate how to fully exploit the capabilities of these forums. In other words, you will learn invaluable methods of promoting your business and generating sales at no cost.

She will show you automation tools, twitter tools and lots of different strategies, tips and techniques on how you can create your presence online and build your brand awareness on the internet.  Zoe has many ways in which she will show you how to drive more traffic to your websites and blogs! I know we focus on this quite a lot, but it really is the way of the future and the more familiar we can become with these tools, the more advantages we give ourselves.

Based in Kent, Zoe is in constant demand for her knowledge, at a range of top business events so we are very lucky to have her speak at our meeting. Don’t miss out! Come and hear Zoe’s fantastic advice and tips for business success.

DATE:               Wednesday 6th July 2011

TIME:                6.45 – 9.00pm

VENUE:            Canterbury Christ Church University

Centre for Enterprise and Business Development

Rowan Williams Court

30 Pembroke Court

Chatham Maritime

Kent ME4 4UF

Filed Under: Blog, Meeting News Tagged With: business networking medway, business support medway, medway business women, medway networking, Women In Business, Women in Business Medway

April Meeting – Attraction Marketing meets The Law of Attraction

April 6, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Attraction marketing successAre you unconsciously giving your marketing bad vibes?

I’m delighted to announce that our guest speaker this month will be our very own Andrea Beadle.

Back by popular demand, Andrea will be talking about attraction marketing but she will be adding a new twist, combining attraction marketing with the laws of attraction.  The result of this delicious topic will be to attract your ideal clients to your business.  Yummy!!  Who could ask for anything more?

I always look forward to Andrea’s talks so I urge you to come along.  Marketing is such an important skill to get right and Andrea really is an expert in this field.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

I can also confirm we will be meeting again at the Canterbury Christ Church University:

Canterbury Christ Church University

Centre for Enterprise and Business Development

Rowan Williams Court

30 Pembroke Court

Chatham Maritime

Kent ME4 4UF

6.45:-  start with informal networking with fellow members

7:00: – Introductions

7:15: – WIB News

7:30 (ish): – formal talk with a guest speaker (often one of our very talented members)

8:30: – Q&A session, advice-seeking or general topics of interest.

8.45:- Problem corner – Members get to share a problem or need with the group for input and help.

9:00: close.

Filed Under: Blog, Events, Meeting News, Next Meeting Tagged With: business networking medway, business support medway, Medway Business, medway business women, medway networking, Medway Women, Women In Business, Women in Business Medway

March Meeting – Money, money, money!

March 2, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Women in Business - Accountancy talk

Photo Credit - Lusi

The next Women in Business Medway & North Kent meeting is on:

Wednesday 3rd March from 6.45pm to 9pm.

AGENDA

I’m delighted to announce that our guest speaker this month will be Miguel Calabrese, from Clinker Little, (Julie Angell’s firm).

The topics Miguel will be covering are:

  • Realising the untapped potential in your business and …
  • How much are your debtors actually costing you?

I think this is going to be a brilliant talk this month because I’m sure there’s so much untapped potential in all of our businesses and wouldn’t it be good to find out what it is?!!

Sarah

I can also confirm we will be meeting again at the Canterbury Christ Church University:

Canterbury Christ Church University

Centre for Enterprise and Business Development

Rowan Williams Court

30 Pembroke Court

Chatham Maritime

Kent ME4 4UF

6.45:-  start with informal networking with fellow members

7:00: – Introductions

7:15: – WIB News

7:30 (ish): – formal talk with a guest speaker (often one of our very talented members)

8:30: – Q&A session, advice-seeking or general topics of interest.

8.45:- Problem corner – Members get to share a problem or need with the group for input and help.

9:00: close.

Filed Under: Blog, Meeting News, Next Meeting

February Meeting

January 25, 2011 By admin 1 Comment
Social Types and colour

Photo Credit - asifthebes

The next Women in Business Medway & North Kent meeting is on:

Wednesday 2nd February from 6.45pm to 9pm.  I can confirm we will be meeting again at the Canterbury Christ Church University:

Canterbury Christ Church University

Centre for Enterprise and Business Development

Rowan Williams Court

30 Pembroke Court

Chatham Maritime

Kent ME4 4UF

6.45:-  start with informal networking with fellow members

7:00: – Introductions

7:15: – WIB News

7:30 (ish): – formal talk with a guest speaker (often one of our very talented members)

8:30: – Q&A session, advice-seeking or general topics of interest.

8.45:- Problem corner – Members get to share a problem or need with the group for input and help.

9:00: close.

AGENDA

Sarah Christie our chair will be talking about how we can improve our relationships and perhaps increase our persuasion and influence on others.

This is a very fun and light-hearted session where you will learn more about yourself and the loved ones or customers in your life and hopefully take away some tips on how to improve difficult relationships or how to be more persuasive.

I can’t wait to share this with you so I really hope you can make it!

Sarah

Filed Under: Blog, Meeting News, Next Meeting

Feeling Stressed? Crack a Walnut!

October 18, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment
Feeling stressed - Crack a Walnut

Photo Credit - lizerixt

I read this little snippet in The Daily Telegraph.  You never know – these things may work and women in business always need stress relievers!  Here’s the piece:

“Eating walnuts can help the body deal with stress, a study suggests.  A diet rich in the nuts equips the body to deal with stressful situations by helping to lower blood pressure, according to the American research.

Previous studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in walnuts, can help reduce ‘bad cholesterol’ and lower the risk of heart disease.  Scientists from Penn State University studied 22 adults, all of whom had high levels of bad cholesterol, on specific diets for a 3 week period.

The participants were asked to deliver a speech or immerse their foot in cold water – both triggers for stress.  Those with walnut and walnut oil in their diets had lower blood pressure in the stressful situations.

So there you go – no wonder my Mother used to bring out a bowl of nuts at Christmas time – it was to deal with the stress of having the relatives to stay!!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: business networking medway, making a speech, Sarah Christie, stress, walnuts, Women In Business, Women in Business Medway

Women Struggling for Equal Pay

October 15, 2010 By admin 2 Comments

At our October meeting we were discussing the film, Dagenham Girls and how they had gone on strike for equal pay.  It led to us debating whether we still didn’t stand up for ourselves enough in today’s workplace.  Generally, it was felt that this issue had largely gone away.  We felt that we were treated the same and that we did earn similar salaries.

But then the report, How Fair is Britain, was published and it indicates that women continue to struggle for equal pay and that moves to address the gap have ground to a halt.

Whilst the gender pay gap has diminished over the past 30 years, full-time women workers earn 16.4% less than men and whilst the salary gap between genders is quite low for the under 30s, by the time workers reach their 40s, the gap widens dramatically.

All women aged 40 earn 27 per cent less than men of the same age, says the report and women without qualifications face a 58 per cent loss in earnings over their lifetime if they don’t have children.

Shockingly, the report goes on to say that younger women, on average, have higher skill levels than their male counterparts, yet women are still less likely than men to rise to senior positions and more likely to end up in roles that do not fully utilise their skills.  Why is this, I wonder?

Is this why so many of us run our own businesses?  Is this where we can truly flourish?  Certainly, in our group, there wasn’t a feeling of failure or of being second best to anyone.  Our group is full of vibrant, successful entrepreneurs and thankfully, on the surface at least, not really impacted by these issues.  But I guess it’s important to be aware that inequality continues to exist and to ensure that we charge the true value of our goods and services and not be afraid of doing so.

Filed Under: Blog, Thoughts from the Chair Tagged With: Dagenham Girls, equal pay, How Fair is Britain, Sarah Christie

Thoughts from the Chair

October 8, 2010 By admin 3 Comments

This was sent to me on email and it struck me as to how applicable it is to women in business everywhere!  I hope you enjoy it:

The Mayonnaise Jar

When things in your life seem , almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things – family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions -
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else –The small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’  he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical check-ups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

‘Take care of the golf balls first –
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

Filed Under: Blog, Thoughts from the Chair Tagged With: business networking medway, business support medway, medway business women, Sarah Christie, Women in Business Medway

Thoughts from the Chair – October’s Meeting

October 7, 2010 By wib13 Leave a Comment

Well, what a great evening it turned out to be!  Although our planned talks didn’t go ahead, it gave us a great opportunity to discuss the challenges that we face as women in business.  Thanks to all of you for your advice and for attending!  It’s always such a pleasure to see so many supporters and, as usual, we had a giggle!  A warm welcome to Lisa Settle who was visiting us for the first time.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend, here’s what you missed:

WiB News

From January 2011 we will require a new venue for our meetings.  We have 3 options at present – our old venue at The Ship & Trades, Dickens World and in another room on the University campus.  We will keep you posted of progress.

The date for next year’s Kent 2020 Show has been announced and it will take place on Thursday April 7th.  WiB West Kent are interested in sharing the costs with us again and if we decide to show we have the time to produce some flyers and a pull up banner.  Let’s use the branding work we’ve been doing this summer to really convey our message and sign up some new members!  As you will expect,  I shall be looking for stand volunteers …

Penny Wallis used to organise the Kent 2020 show on behalf of Business Link.  Penny and 3 of her colleagues, have teamed up to form a new company, Best Business Events Ltd and they are keen to collaborate with Women in Business on future events.  All 4 in the team are senior event & marketing professionals and they intend to organise luncheons for women that feature keynote speakers, describing how they achieved success, the support they needed and the obstacles they faced.  It sounds like these could be very inspirational, especially when we are feeling the strain, which happens from time to time!

The first luncheon will be held at CHILSTON PARK, Maidstone on Tuesday 14th December 2010 from 12:00pm-2:30pm.  Guest speakers are Preethi Nair (author of Gypsy Masala) and Sally Goodsell (winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Enterprise Development in 2008).  The price is £27.50 + VAT and includes a 2 course lunch and lots of networking opportunities.  Interested?  I will send all members details of this fantastic event.

The Meeting Itself

Jane Dickson generated a very interesting discussion about women in business, having seen the film Dagenham Girls, about the Essex ladies who striked for equal pay in the 1960s, at a time when this was unheard of.  Although they just wanted fairness, their actions were pretty heroic and earned them a place in history.  We went on to consider whether women are still being held back in the workplace and whilst there is no doubt that inequality still exists, the situation has improved considerably over the years. 

Challenges for Women in Business

There are too many to cover in detail here, but we discussed:

- how to market yourself when you have more than one business;

- how to achieve a work-life balance, as self-employed people do not have the luxury of the 9:00-5:00 framework and can easily find themselves working 24/7.

- how to prioritise and escape the feeling of not achieving much, while being incredibly busy!

- as Social Media is so time-consuming, is it actually worth it? Does it generate business?

- how can you drive people to your website, once it’s launched and ready to meet the world!

As you can see, it was a fascinating evening and we really got to consider some very real issues that affect us all.  I found it very valuable and I hope everyone else did too!

Next Year

Some talks were requested for next year:  Closing the Deal, The Art of Persuasion and Time Management.  I love these topics and can’t wait to analyse the survey results to see what else you want.  I think it’s going to be a very informative year for Women in Business!

If you know other ladies who would enjoy our supportive and friendly environment, please invite them along.

Best wishes
Sarah

Filed Under: Blog, Meeting News Tagged With: Best Business Events Ltd, Chilston Park, Dickens World, Kent 2020 Show, Ship & Trades, Women In Business, work-life balance
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »

WordPress Web Hosting