PRESENTATION SKILLS PERFECTED!

A group of London Women Mean Business guests came along to the free Presentation Skills Workshop hosted by Amanda Wright at the Central School of Speech & Drama on 23rd August 2010 and had a fabulous time while learning some valuable skills.

The session was very interactive, with all of us taking part in various breathing exercises in addition to a little bit of acting and culminating in presenting a poem to the group. It could have been daunting, but with everyone in the room getting into the spirit, there was no need for anyone to feel embarrassed.

With only an hour to get through quite a lot of content, Amanda did a great job in giving us an overview of certain skills we can use when presenting to an audience. Even if presenting isn't a key part of your job, the skills learned can even be put into practice when presenting your 1 minute elevator pitch.

Central School of Speech & Drama offer some excellent courses in communication skills, with a different approach to many business training courses as they are using drama techniques. Funding may be available so take a look at the business courses on their website http://www.cssd.ac.uk/content/central-business

Thank you to the LWMB women who came along and made the evening such a great success with their enthusiasm, and a special thanks to Amanda for hosting the evening (we hope your audition went well!).

NEED TO BRUSH UP ON YOUR PRESENTATION SKILLS?

If so, join us at our workshop on Monday 23rd August.

We are delighted that Amanda from the Central School of Speech & Drama will be running a complimentary workshop for us on 23rd August, 6-7pm, on Presentation Skills.

This will take place at the Central School of Speech & Drama in Swiss Cottage. You can find directions and further details about various business courses & workshops the School runs, here

http://www.cssd.ac.uk/content/contact-us

Places are limited to 25 people, so if you are interested please send an email asap to londonwmb@googlemail.com to register your interest. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Could you benefit from some business advice?

Debbie Bakare of Makeway4 is offering a special discount to LWMB during the months of August and September.

Makeway4 (MK4) is an independent business advisory and accountancy firm. Catering for SMEs and Charities in various ways, MK4 is a one-stop solution centre for all start-ups and growing businesses. Their method of working with clients is through implementing strategies for practical and effective solutions that bring results.

Because Makeway4 is small like most SMEs, they are able to build close relationships with their clients and understand their needs for implementation of solutions which bring positive results.

Makeway4 is a supplier for Business Link in London and also on the "expert team" of Barclays Bank plc. They run business seminars in London, Essex and Kent.

Services include:

• Book-keeping, accountancy, tax and internal audit etc.
• Business advice in the areas of start-up, finance, marketing and management
• Life plan, business plan, marketing plan and action plan for growth
• Business compliance, risk/change management and controls
• Training - staff and management team
• Recruitment solutions
• Project management

During August and September 2010, benefit from :

• 30% discount on all services
• Up to £100 paid for referrals
• Free solutions focused chat on business challenges (30 minutes)

If you're interested, send an email to : info@mw4enterprise.com quoting ref: GP001

www.mw4enterprise.com
www.makeway4.com

5 STEPS TO PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE- CANCELLED - TO BE RESCHEDULED

Melanie Berenblut of Berenblut IT Training & Consultancy is a Computer Trainer and consultant, who is an inspirational trainer, approachable with excellent communication skills. She is supportive and adaptable to individual training needs within groups . This includes Microsoft Office, Clinical Systems, Social Media and bespoke systems.

Usha Penumuchi of Dare to Dream is an international speaker and training and development consultant, who is addictively inspirational and speaks with humour, passion and grace to people in all stages and walks of life.

Melanie & Usha have joined together to bring you the best of Soft Skills and IT.

Please join Melanie and Usha for their launch event

Date: Thursday 29 July

Time: 6.30pm - 9pm

Title: 5 Steps to Promoting Your Business Online

Target Audience: Everybody

Venue: The Embassy Club, 29 Old Burlington Street, London W1S 3AN

Nearest Tube: Green Park or Piccadilly Circus

Car Parking: Car Park on Old Burlington Street, or free street parking
after 6.30pm

Price: £20.00 price includes a soft drink.
£17.50 for London Women Mean Business Members

Contact: Melanie 07787 858714

To book please go to:
https://www.eventelephant.com/5stepstopromotingyourbusinessonline

To access discount for LWMB Members, please type Member discount in code box

Summer Networking at The Embassy Club

Another wonderful evening of networking took place at The Embassy Club on Thursday 8th July, with a great turnout as ever.

We were pleased to invite several people to speak on this occasion, and in spite of our main speaker pulling out at the last minute, the evening was still a great success.

Ann Byrne, Chief Executive of the Women's Therapy Centre, talked about the good work the Centre does in supporting women by offering low cost therapy. If you would like to help support the Centre, either by taking part in the Adidas 5k race in Hyde Park on 5th September on behalf of the charity, or making a donation, details can be found here http://bit.ly/c2uI0h. If anyone would like to participate in the run but is new to running & doesn't know where to start, contact Dawn Gomes on the londonwmb@googlemail.com address. As a keen runner, Dawn competed in 3 marathons last year and may be able to offer some tips!

We were due to have Amanda Wright from the Central School of Speech & Drama to speak for us, offering tips on presentation skills so we can wow our audience whether we just need to improve our short elevator pitch, or speak in front of larger audiences for longer. Sadly Amanda was unable to make it but has very kindly offered a free 1 hour workshop to our guests. If you're interested, please email londonwmb@googlemail.com.

By a stroke of luck, Mark Fuller, the owner of The Embassy Club, happened to walk in at just the right time! We were thrilled when he agreed to give a short talk about his life in business. Mark is a very successful businessman, having been in the nightclub and restaurant industry for some time, and has now opened several hotels including the Sanctum Soho.

Mark gave an entertaining account of his life in business - and shared some secrets from the nightclub world! Mark set up Sugar Reef & Red Cube, before forming Concept Venues which now has various Embassy Clubs around the world, Geales fish restaurant and Sanctum Hotels in London & Berkshire Having survived several recessions his message to us was, in spite of the tough times we've been going through, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, and if you are passionate about your business keep going, keep working at it, and you will be a success. A huge thank you to Mark for giving up his time before rushing off to speak at another event and also for buying us all a drink for, as he put it, having to listen to him speak! http://www.conceptvenues.com

Next up were the 5 minute slots offered to our guests and we heard from:

• Nicola Smith from The Revival Co – www.revivalarepa.co.uk
• Dee Amin from Moot Media – www.mootdesign.com
• Usha Penumuchi from Dare to Dream – www.dtod.co.uk

Usha & Melanie will be running a course later this month, 5 Steps to Promoting Your Business Online, and full details will be posted on the blog shortly.

We'll be taking a break over the summer, with the next evening networking event on Tuesday 7th September. Please do feel free to contact us between now and then if you're interested in posting any offers on the blog or offering any feedback.

Have a fantastic summer!

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DOS & DON'TS WHEN USING TWITTER FOR BUSINESS

Following our event in June, Claire Boyles, our speaker on the evening, has put together some points for you to bear in mind when "tweeting". Which presumably you are now all doing following her talk!

Some Dos & Don’ts when using Twitter for Business.

By @ClaireBoyles http://www.twitter.com/ClaireBoyles

Number 1 Golden Rule:
Before tweeting ask yourself 2 questions:
1) Would I be happy if this tweet appeared on the front page of a national newspaper?
2) Do my customers & potential customers really want to read this?

Do:

• Do be yourself - be honest, open & transparent. [This doesn’t mean you have to share intimate details about yourself!].
• Do be friendly, join in conversations, this is what Twitter is for, you don’t need to wait for an invitation to @reply anyone!
• Do help others - answer questions, RT questions for others if you don’t know the answer, generally be a good neighbour in Twitterville.
• Do share information, if you’ve learned something new on Twitter, share it so others learn too.
• Do use twitter to expand your network, connect with people who you wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet otherwise (I’ve had conversations with Duncan Bannatyne recently that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to, without Twitter).
• Do share interesting, valuable information & keep it relevant to your customers/potential customers.
• Do share things about your own life, people can relate better when they understand the person behind the tweets.
• Do check your spellings before you tweet - this is your public image, you want to be showing your best!
• Do upload an avatar of yourself, people connect better when they can get a sense of the person behind the tweets.
• Do complete your bio & use it wisely to share with people what you want them to know about you/your business.
• Do engage, don’t just tweet special offers.

Don't

• Don’t spam tweople, spamming is constant tweets about what you’re selling/links to your website.
• Don’t set up automated tweets that go out constantly without you being there to converse.
• Don’t go following 100’s of people, then unfollow if they don’t follow you back. Twitter is NOT about numbers of followers, it’s about quality!
• Don’t criticise competitors in public (Yes twitter is public!) it just makes you look bad.
• Don’t share highly personal information - remember the Number 1 Golden Rule - Would you be happy if this appeared on the front page of a national newspaper?
• Don’t attempt to be something you’re not, you’ll get found out in the end.
• Don’t, Don’t, DON’T tweet when you’ve had a few drinks/are drunk. This is self explanatory & is a really BAD idea!
• Don’t Broadcast, broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast broadcast, Twitter is a 2 way communication tool!

In summary, remember the Golden Rule: Ask yourself: "Would I be happy with this tweet appearing on the front page of a national newspaper?"

And secondly, remember this is a SOCIAL media site - people use Twitter to socialise, they're not on Twitter to buy your stuff, they're on Twitter to connect with other friendly, like minded people.

And thirdly- have FUN :)