It was Tuesday March 5th and I had got an invitation from Vito Marchese Founder of Whiteboard Studios, also has great website www.thenetworker.ca. He does event where he attracts 300 attendees for full day tradeshow and networking event.
This particular evening he held a eventing event where he was expecting about 30 entrepreneurs. I had a event to attend the next morning in Newmarket to speak at Meet up group that I am part of and I was thinking of not attending, until I got an email from Vito Marchese stating he was looking forward to me attending the and event. In the end I had to go!
It was held in the Yonge and Sheppard area at the Milestone restaurant, I had never been and was looking forward to the experience. It's a very busy area with lots of condominiums being build which is changing the landscape of the area very quickly. Have numerous friends who live in the area, I organize ans speak at an event that is held six time a year in the area.
As I got to the Milestones entrance I was greeted by Vito Marchese and was given my name tag entered the networking area. There was a grand prize of raptors tickets for the evening so everyone had submitted their business cards.
As I began to mix and mingle with the crowd I met fellow entrepreneur Maureen Shortt,(bookeeper) we had connected at a leadership seminar and other events in the past year. I was surprised to see her due to the busy tax season that was upon us. Maureen has built her successful business mainly through referrals.
I continued to network when I met David Gargaro an Consulting Editor, we had great conversation on the importance of having a great editor. I had my challenges with that issue with some poorly editing newsletter few months ago!
Next I met Laurie Taylor from Ferret Card, a mobile loyalty program that sounded very intriguing.
The last person I met was Karen Grant she a speaker and author of an upcoming book The Million Dollar Image-How to step into a more powerful persona, being in the same field we had a great conversation regarding the book industry and as it turned out I know her publisher Gerry Robert from Black Card Marketing. I had been in mastermind group with his partner Jean Guy Francoeur in 2011.
The evening came to an end and prizes were drawn, unfortunately I didn't win the raptor tickets!
Few days later I got a call from Sudip Mukarajee the organizer for the Canada Job Expo Learn more.I have be recommending speakers for the seminar portion for the show in the past 3 years. We had an open spot available for the event, we need someone to speak! I was pressed into action and advised Sudip that will get back to him in 48hrs!
I picked up the phone and called Karen Grant and spoke to her briefly regarding the opportunity to speak, after the call I email quick synopsis about the event and speaking opportunity and the event. Advised to connect with the organizer to confirm if was interested in speaking.
On Monday March 11th I checked the website and saw that she in the speakers lineup! I was excited to make it happen.
Wednesday March 13th
The day had arrived and was look for speaking and serving as the events emcee for the day. I also two new speakers to share Fatima Omar Khamissa Learn more on the Power of LinkedIn and Aline Ayoub Learn more share on HR Consultant. Bonnie Chan Learn more share her G.R.O.W system.
It was busy day we had lots of attendees and the seminar room was busy!
The day was going well and I had time to sit down and listen to some of the speakers share. Karen Grant did here presentation how important your image in your daily life is. Near the end she shared picture of her upcoming cover of her book when she said " I am currently looking to interview professional with expertise on mentorship, coaching and other topics for the back end of my book"
That got my attention and made a note of that!
Karen had another commitment after her talk and could not stay, I thank her for coming and expressed interest in learning more about the opportunity to participate in her book.
On March 26th we met at Starbucks at Front and Jarvis for a coffee to learned more about her book and journey of success. She asked for permission to record our conversation and I obliged. I shared with her my journey of how I met my mentors and the impact they had made on my life. I had email her a copy of my book How to Attract a Mentor on Business, Life and Success and video clip of talk that did few years ago. She was intrigued and impressed with the success I had achieved.
We had a great conversation and look forward to reading her book which is coming out in July 2013, so stay tuned.
Moral of the story: You just don't who your going to be an event and what will happen next!
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