We-cap from 12/10 Expo Planning Committee

We had a great meeting Monday night and have some ideas and information to share with everyone:

1. We have a spreadsheet and are tracking all the services that we would like to offer makeover participants. Of course, we want to highlight we2e members as much as possible before pulling in businesses outside the group. We'll be passing a sign up sheet at the December holiday party so that you can let us know how you might be able to promote your businesses and support the event.

2. We really need to drive sponsorships! The Expo is a fantastic event that is an easy sell for area companies. We know how busy everyone is, so we wanted to put an incentive in place for helping us raise sponsor dollars. So, here is the plan - anyone who brings in a Tier 1, 2 or 3 sponsor will receive a 5% commission on the amount they give. $500 = $25, $1,000 = $50 and $5,000 = $250. This should make it a lot easier for all of us to take time out of our schedules to pitch the Expo to friends and associates. We really appreciate all of your help and commitment to the event!

3. We have a fabulous idea for January's meeting. (Jan. 14th at 6:00 pm) It will be a NEW YEAR - NEW YOU KICKOFF PARTY. We are looking into locations, but hope to meet at the St. Julien so that everyone can experience the space firsthand. We will have makeover participants join us at the event to welcome them and help them get enthusiastic about their life transformation. If any of you have potential sponsors - this will be the event to invite them to! We will have a table set up to talk to anyone interested in the Expo and we will be signing people up and collecting sponsorships. It will still be our usual fun, networking time for we2e, and we are going to have a board for everyone to post their New Years Resolutions.

4. At our NEW YEAR - NEW YOU KICKOFF PARTY we will hold a drawing for a mini-makeover that will include personal training, a resume re-write, acupuncture, a photo shoot, coaching, spa treatments, etc... It will be an amazing package worth many hundreds of dollars. Anyone ready to commit $10 or more to the Expo will be entered in the drawing!

5. We will be getting the makeover participants prepped to start after the holidays. Our January shindig will also be their welcome and launch. Nicole Irlbeck and Lisa Hunter will be acting as liaisons to keep everyone on track. Thanks to all of you who have already volunteered to help these wonderful women shine! We'll be in touch after New Years to start coordinating.

Please always feel free to get in touch if you have questions or want to give input on the Expo.

Trish Thomas

By the way, the planning committee won't be meeting again until January 7th, so there will be a few weeks of silence while we relax for Christmas. :)

on my own and thankful

In the wake of Thanksgiving, I would like to thank you all for the support over the past year and a half (or something like that). It is with great pleasure that I announce my official resignation with my corporate job this week - my last day will be December 28th - hooray!
I am excited (and a little nervous) to join the ranks of you and be a true woman business owner - on my own. I look forward to many more years of sharing ideas and successes. 2008 is MY year!

Alli Bozeman
Bozeman Collaborative, LLC
...
Bozeman Blog
BirdDog Blog
Handmaiden Blog

we2e weCap: 11.05.07

Greetings, we2e! Welcome to your regular Expo Planning weCap, where you'll get a quick run-down and expanded planning information concerning the 2008 New You Expo. The weCap is a clearinghouse for creative ideas and planning, so leave your love letters, suggestions or constructive criticism in the comments section below.

The Nitty-Gritty:

• The Expo is a go for May 4, 2008 at the lovely St. Julien.
  
• Sponsorship has compiled a tentative list of sponsors below and needs YOUR ideas, contacts, and support.
  
• Expo planning is in full swing, so get ready for updates and information on how you can help...read on for details...

It's a Go!
The contract is signed and the Expo is a go for May 4, 2008 at the lovely St. Julien Hotel! The tentative schedule is: Expo 2-5 p.m.; cocktail hour 5-6 p.m.; gala/finale/keynote speech 6-8 p.m.

Winner Update
Soon, winners of the New You Makeover Contest will be contacted by Lisa Hunter or Nicole Irlbeck, who will be working as liaisons throughout their transformations. A welcome luncheon is being planned to orient participants and get the makeover process rolling...Christine is checking with Julia at The Kitchen to see if they'd be willing to host the luncheon in exchange for sponsorship.

Sponsorship Update
Speaking of sponsorship, Trish, Heather, and Christine have met separately to discuss sponsorship (more on the outcome of their meeting soon!). Sponsorship needs YOUR help and ideas! We'll be relying on the ladies of we2e to tell us of juicy leads, must-have sponsors, and share contacts who can help make the Expo a success.

The tentative sponsor list includes:

• Wine: The St. Julien will allow donated wine at the event (Bookcliff Vineyards; Augustina?)
  
• Food: We'll need a cash sponsorship to pay for cocktail and gala eats served through the St. Julien
  
• Flowers/Decor: We're considering a partnership with Fiora Flowers
  
• Photography, Printing and Signage: We're hoping to approach Mike's Camera for equipment, cameras, backdrops, and support for our documentary/editing team; we'll also need a vendor who can print signs to be displayed during the expo and provide programs, promo materials, etc.
  
• Print Ads: We'll be approaching the Boulder Daily Camera, Boulder County Business Report, and Boulder Women's Magazine about advertising space for the Expo
  
• Clothing: We hope to find a fabulous sponsor to outfit our makeover participants in clothing for the gala/finale piece of the Expo

Marketing Madness
We're ready to move forward with our marketing plan for the Expo. Erin and Juli will be coordinating on Web work and rolling out the marketing plan and will have updates on what we need from the group soon.

Great Meeting Tonight - Website Tips

Hey all,

Excellent to see all of you there tonight. In the spirit of talking about how important it is to blog here are my notes from tonights meeting. Please also feel free to contact me or leave posts on my other blog http://julzink.blogspot.com/ or email me at juli@the-io-group.com with questions on web design or whatever.

Here are my unedited notes.

Ten Website Tips

1. Do a website worksheet. This will help you define your site, how you would like it to look, feel, function.
2. Start a blog. Search engines love them. Update it regularly Blogger, Typepad ($5-$30 a month), Xanga
3. Get as many people as possible to link to you. Make sure they are legit links
4. Write articles pertaining to your field and then get others to link to them or post them on your site.
5. One word google. On the google home page is a link called business solutions.
   Add a google map to your site
   Put your site on Google Maps business listings, Appear on Google Maps for free,
   Visit our Local Business Center to create your business listing. Add hours, photos, coupons and more.
6. Decide if it is more important to have search engines find you, or have a flashy site, both, or somewhere in between.
7. My personal taste is to keep it simple. It can have an intricate design, but the navigation needs to be very easy.
8. When looking for a hosting company, see what they offer and what you can expand into (i.e. a shopping cart, on-line store, e-marketing resources)
9. Use stock photography when you can. Unless you have a full time photographer at your beck and call, it would be great use of your resources.
   

Questions from the group
1. I would like to know the least expensive way to make changes to my website without having to bother my designer everytime I want a little change. (And pay her every time for something simple.)

Learn HTML and you can edit in notepad or word pad, or ask for a content management system. It will be more expensive but might be worth it.

2. Could you talk a little about “shopping carts” and how they work? Do you have to stock your own products or do most manufacturers allow you to order directly from them?

This is relative. You do the shipping so you can ship it to them from wherever. Usually I would recommend shipping something off with your own packaging and branding and if it is something you are going to sell quite a bit of I would imagine that you could get a discount on it and stock it yourself.

Depending on what you are looking for in a shopping cart though, are you hoping to run a store complete with inventory and wanting to store your client information for future visits, which also allows for direct specific marketing, or are you looking to sell one product and not very much of it.

Depending on that answer you will also need to interact with a merchant account or use a solution like paypal, but you will pay a certain percentage of each sale regardless.
The different shopping cart solutions out there are paypal which is pretty widely recognized and quite easy to work with. Miva Merchant, osCommerce.

In the end it sounds like Amazon is a great solution. Design the front end so it looks like your store and let Amazon handle the back end.

3. Hi. Our website is a template based site that allows for html "skin" to be altered. we are having a heck of a time getting anyone to do this for less than $6000 to start...a cost we just don't want to incur. any suggestions?

It shouldn't cost $6000 and it can be done through css (cascading style sheets). Come on in and we will talk to you about it.

Once again thanks to all who came tonight.

Juli