People and Places – April 9-10

This is going to be a diary/shout out to the people and places I saw last Wednesday and Thursday.

WEDNESDAY

Congratulations to Ian Miller

I met Ian Miller at my first CPRS networking event in Halifax, and then I saw him again at the last CPRS session with Bessy Nikolaou. (You may have seen the post) I am congratulating him on his new job for the summer! He is a Communications Assistant with Canoe ’09. Around ninety countries are going to be competing in Dartmouth’s Lake Banook and it is going to be a massive event!

Networking with Cindy Wheeler

I also invited Ian to my second Wednesday networking lunch at the Halifax Club. This one was hosted by Cindy Wheeler who is a personal shopper and wardrobe consultant. It was a great time and I met some great contacts with cool jobs.

Press Conference for Fusion’s “Wear the Button” campaign

This was an event near and dear to my heart. I am part of Fusion Halifax’s Urban Development Action Team, aka UDAT (group of members who are interested in Urban Development) We have been working on a campaign to support HRMbyDesign, an urban design plan being proposed to the city council for the downtown core, for the last few months. HRMbyDesign is a plan to make the downtown core and surrounding areas a more sustainable and beautiful place! Find out more about the plan here.

THURSDAY

Networking at Smitty’s Lacewood

Another great networking event that I could walk to.  Met some more great people and hope to find ways to help them all soon.

Fusion’s Second Thursday event at the Garrison Brewery

Second Thursday is networking event for Fusion members. This was a special one because it was all about HRMbyDesign. I also helped organize this event with the UDAT.

The key parts of our “Wear the button” campaign are the distribution of our cool green buttons (they go with everything!) posters and decals we are giving to local businesses and organizations, and  post cards that we created for Haligonians to sign. We will be collecting all the signed post cards and will be delivering them to city council before the vote. Message me if you want to be a part of the campaign!

Helen Fong and the Yoga Atlantic Conference

I did manage to do some networking. (surprise, surprise)  I went to a leadership course/event a few weeks back and Helen remembered me from a question I asked. Helen Fong is the distribution coordinator for the Yoga Conference and a certified yogi! The conference will be a great time, and I hope some of you guys can make it out to the Chocolate Lake Best Western this weekend. Yummy!

There will be stretching

Earth Day in Halifax

I also met some members of the Sustainability Action Team. The action team will be a part of Halifax’s Earth day celebrations on Wednesday April 22 at Victoria Park. Hopefully the weather will be great and you can check it out!

Fashion Show at the Page Gallery

I would like to thank Gillian Wesley, the lady in charge of Carpe Omnis Media, for inviting me to the fashion show she put on. Katrina Tuttle was showing a sneak peek of her fall line up. It was my first fashion show and it was everything and more than I expected! The models were from a Halifax modeling agency called City Models. Great job ladies!

Wow, that was long. I hope I did everyone justice, and it was great to meet and participate with all these people and events!

My Lunch with the Networking King of Halifax

Did you know that in a survey conducted about working professionals by Pepperdine University, the people who made the most money considered themselves great networkers?

Matt Whitman is the king, and he gave a group of us at the Halifax Club an eye-opening presentation on advanced networking.

He says we need to take networking to the next level, to really grow our business and help each other out.

We started by introducing ourselves and giving a short “elevator” speech that you should always have ready when you are meeting someone for the first time.

We also did skills assessments that listed the basic skills he thought were important for networking, and also allowed us to see where we needed to improve.

One of Matt’s philosophies is to help as many people as you can, without thinking about what you can get back from them. People who are only in it for themselves are easy to see, and will not get the responses that they want. The more people you help the better off everyone will be, and you will probably get something back in return.

I met a diverse group of great people, who were ready and willing to give me advice and guidance. I also got a chance to talk about becoming a newly christened PR consultant in a friendly and encouraging environment. And I know they are looking for clients for me, just as hard as I am looking for clients for them!

One person I met told me to go to the Halifax Home Show to try to stir up some business. That was some of the best advice I have ever gotten! I went to the event, and I ended up with a couple contracts, many interested companies, two job offers, an offer to be interviewed about PR on a radio station, and I got enough business cards to kill a tree!

Matt also gave me a book called Twelve Pillars. It was written by Jim Rohn, the mentor to Anthony Robbins, and Chris Widener. It chronicles the conversations of a downtrodden man who meets a very wise gardener when his car breaks down on an dirt road.

It characterizes 12 fundamental truths that all truly successful people emulate. It was a great read, and I recommend it to anyone. It will motivate you to do things you never thought possible!

Two years ago, I never thought I would be starting my own business as a PR consultant. My path shows that if you work hard, be nice to everyone you meet, and find the right mentors a lot of good things will happen to you.