Manningham Business Network

Hi All,

In case you haven’t heard, the Manningham Business Network, in conjunction with the Manningham City Council, are running the first annual (hopefully!) Gala Dinner.

It is a business and networking evening with a great range of guest speakers, with a keynote address from Councillor, shareholder advocate, commentator and many other titles; Stephen Mayne.

It looks to be a great night with dinner and networking opportunities galor! For more informatione go to www.manninghambusiness.com.au or our main MBN site, www.mbiznetwork.org.au/html/mbn_gala.html

We look forward to seeing you there on the night!

April has been a big month for the MBN and the Members meeting was no exception. A busy morning following on straight from the long weekend, I think everyone was feeling a bit slow off the mark, but in the pleasant Council settings and with a nice breakfast before us we persevered.

Our Member in Focus session had Lorel De Angelis of Chagall Pty Ltd tell us about the origins of her business support company and the wide breadth of services she can offer to help small and medium businesses. With first hand experience on flexible work environment modern families look for, Lorel offers a powerful resource to those trying to strick a practical balance in their work place. Whether for lifestyle or simple economics, I think attendees would all agree Lorel had something to offer.

We once again managed to get rather bogged down in a thought-provoking discussion about what kinds of networking people have chosen as they look to build their business. It became clearly evident that everyone had unique circumstances that required their own unique approach to establishing networks. The ideas that were shared should prove fertile ground into the future.

We sped past our Wins of the Month and Help Desk to focus on the details of the upcoming Manningham Business Network Gala Dinner. A fantastic evening planned for May, if you haven’t seen the details in the leader and plastered about the MBN and Manningham City Council websites, have a look now. It should prove to be a great evening and worthwhile for anyone in small business looking to learn and network in a great environment.

Thank you again to everyone who attended the Members’ meeting, and we look forward to seeing everyone again in May (after the Gala Dinner of course!).

Hello everyone and thanks again to those who were able to make it to the April Open Meeting of the Manningham Business Network this morning. It was great to see so many consistent attendees; members, regulars and new faces alike.

Bob Adams from Great Investment Properties kicked us off today with a short piece on his ideas for investing in property, which coincidently tied in well with our Guest speaking spot winner, Jamie Wu who is a mortgage broker. Next month’s Mini speaker will be Alisha Dunsford from AJD Design.

Our Key Speaker for the day was of course Winston Marsh who gave a great, no-frills, cut through presentation on building your business through effect marketing. His entertaining presentation touch on some of the classic, time tested marketing concepts, re-inforced with some of the modern takes of marketing in the new millenia.

As a small business operator myself who takes a particular interest in the new ways technology is influencing how we promote ourselves and our businesses, it was very interesting to see how old, established tchniques can still be applied effectively through new technology such as websites and online social networking. I ended up dissappointed that we couldnt have more time.

Once again we had representatives from the Council and our Sponsors, the Bendigo Bank, attend and we continue to be appreciative of their ongoing support.

We announced briefly that the upcoming Gala Dinner evening has been confirmed for the 20th of May and you should be hearing more details later today as the first of our promotional communications start to go out.

Thank you again if you came along and sorry to have missed you if you were unable to make it. We hope to see you all again next month.

Well, another month down and March’s Members Meeting is now in the rearview mirror. A great session with solid attendance, it is really good to see our numbers so strong. Now that the Members Meetings are now also held in the council offices the sessions have become much more interactive given that we can all hear each other speak!

A fantastic Member in Focus from Alisha of AJD Design, it was great to hear about the what, where and how of her business and pepper her with questions about her business. The examples of her work and the process that she goes through with her clients show clearly the fantastic experience those who take up her design and branding services receive.

Our focus on the different processes and styles that our Member businesses have in bringing new clients on board was a diverse discussion, ranging from the nod and a handshake to fully documented service contracts and negotiations. It seemed there was no one method that was dominant and that various businesses all find value in different methods.

Our Wins of the Month and Help Desk provided some great examples and interesting questions, thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and to those providing assistance.

Thank you again to everyone who attended, and we look forward to seeing everyone again in April.

Hi All and thanks to everyone who made the effort to come along last Tuesday morning for the March meeting. On the back of a long weekend it is often difficult to get up and out of bed on a cold Autumn morning, especially given the wet and chaotic weekend we suffered weather wise.

Despite the challenges, numbers were excellent with over 40 attendees for the morning, which is a testament to the speakers and the growing popularity of the group.

Bob Adams was unable to do his scheduled presentation due to technical difficulties, but our guest speaker from last month’s business card draw, Silvia Wright, gave us a great summary of her business. Bob will be back again next month for another shot at the mini speaker spot.

Our Key Speaker, Ricky Nowak, gave a solid presentation on some of the mental adjustments we all need to consider to try and leverage our businesses beyond what we are currently achieving. If you missed her session I suggest you go to her website at http://www.rickynowak.com/ to see where she is presenting at next.

The Committee would like to thank our sponsors Bendigo Community Bank for coming along for the morning session, it is great to share what it is we are trying to achieve with those who support our efforts.

Thank you again if you came along and sorry to have missed you if you were unable to make it. We hope to see you all again next month.

Well the year is off and running wth the successful completion of our first Open to the Public MBN meeting for the year! Thank you everyone who came along today and especially thank you for perservering with our new electronic ticketing system for registrations. The new system makes life significantly easier for the Committee to organise and communicate with the Manningham City Council, so it is an essential tool that we will hopefully refine with experience, but we acknowledge it wasnt all smooth sailing, so thanks again for your patience.

The morning itself was a great start to the year, with an adequate presentation from myself, then a step up with our Guest speaker, Alan Moxon of New Logic, and finally a truly excellent presentation from our Keynote speaker, Sandi Givens from Shattering Glass Ceilings, on “Critical presentation skills that create success:How to promote yourself and your business with confidence, ease and charisma!”.

Sandi’s presentation contained an absolute wealth of knowledge on how to improve your presentation and public speaking skills with practical, real life tips to use. Presented with genuine knowledge and conviction, her session was an invaluable educational opportunity that I personally found extremely compelling, valuable and one of the best to date.

If you were unucky enough to have missed out on our breakfast I strongly recommend that you take the time to review Sandi’s website at http://www.sandigivens.com.au/ and learn more.

Next month’s Keynote speaker will be Ricky Nowak of Ricky NowakLeadership on “Get more from your small business”, so stay tuned for more as we get closer to March.

The MBN group would also like to congratulate member Paul Loupetis on the birth of his new baby girl Tia! As the first babe of the family, Paul has some adjusting to do, but we wish him and his family all the best.

Thanks again everyone for their contribution today and see you next month!

As another year draws to a close the Manningham Business Network celebrates another highly successful year and we would like to thank everyone who attended our Open Meetings throughout the year. With a growth in attendees of over 50% for the monthly event, as well as a strong take up of new Members, lifting the membership base of the group by approximately 40% on last year’s numbers, we are extremely pleased with the obviously strong interest the local business community has in establishing long lasting relationships with likeminded business people.

This year saw continued growth despite the unfortunate disruptions caused by the recent fire at the Manningham City Council Offices, and the continued assistance from the Council throughout this period and the rest of the year has enabled the MBN to maintain a high quality offering and is a testament to the invaluable support provided the group from Manningham City Council. We would like to thank the Council once again for their solid support and look forward to another great year in 2010.

Special thanks are also due to the MBN’s primary sponsor, the Doncaster East Branch of the Bendigo Bank, who joined the MBN supporter base in mid-2009.

Lastly a strong thank you to all the individuals and Members who attended our functions throughout the year and provided a purpose to our thriving network.

Thanks everyone for another great meeting. Good to see some of our new members, Alisha & Lorel for their first Members’ meeting, always a pleasure to have new faces and to get fresh ideas in the group.

Today saw us cover a lot of topics, including an update from myself and our VP, Gary, on the Council, speakers and upcoming events. Unfortunately it looks as though the Gala evening wll be have to be postponed until next year due to time constaints, though we are looking at early next year for a dedicated Networking function to kick us off asap. We are also keen to organise a ‘Members Day’ Open meeting spot where we try something a bit different and have a small panel of Members speak on various topics of interest at one of the Open Meetings early next year. So Members please get your ideas/nominations in and watch this spot!

The Members Christmas function has been booked for Sunday the 6th of December and confirmation of responsibilities, times and venue will all be emailed to the group soon. If last year was anything to go by it should be a fantastic afternoon.

Review of the Membership rules has been flagged and will be presented at the next Members meeting for official vote. If people have any pre-meeting contributions, please let the Committee know as soon as possible.

A brief round of Christmas marketing ideas was shared between all with some interesting initiatives and thoughts on the whole process, thank you everyone for their input.

Thanks again and I will see you all again next month!

Thanks to all our members who made it along to this meeting, it was once again an extremely valuable session. We discussed in great detail each member’s business and what they perceieved as their unique offering and what types of input they could have as part of our soon to be released Membership benefit program.

The morning gave each of us a very valuable range of feedback on how outsiders saw what we did and how that contrasts with our own ideas for our work. Often it is very easy to get lost in the wilderness as small business operators, sometimes we lack the internal feedback larger businesses have about what we do, and I think everyone found these alternative viewpoints extremely useful.

Similarly we have been able to take the feedback of our mebers in developing the new member’s benefit program in order to be more relvant, allow greater participation regardless of business background, and provide a  more targeted offering that we believe willbe a true attractor for those considering membership within the group.

Thanks again and we hope to see more of you all in the future!

Hi all,

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has INCREASED the official interest rate by 0.25% or 25 basis points, a key sign the Australian economy is starting to gain momentum.

The bad news is that all lenders will be reviewing their current interest rates and passing on the increase shortly. ANZ have moved today the full 0.25%.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information – treasurer@mbiznetwork.org.au or ploupetis@odysseyfinancial.com.au

READ THE EXPLANATION FROM GLENN STEVENS – RBA GOVERNOR…….

 http://www.rba.gov.au/MediaReleases/2009/mr-09-23.html