The Shane Brennan experience was amazing. We finally managed to let Shane go after an hour of finishing the mornings breakfast function and I hope you all had a chance to talk with him. Having been fortunate enough to spend a little bit of time with Shane, I quickly realised, that no matter what type of business you are in, NETWORKING and determination are a critical part of success.
When Shane talked about his arrival in LA, he talked about his agent's insistence to meet , what Shane described as,"young aspiring Network representatives with absolutely no authority". Although Shane was able to surprise his Agent with the ability to meet up to 14, (I think it was), Network representatives a day, it lead to very little in the way of work. Shane did not believe that this "Networking" his agent kept talking about was of any use, but his agent pushed him to remain polite and keep doing the "meet and great" and building his relationships with these people. Shane was ready to "throw the towel in" and return to Australia. With a little more determination, Shane finally achieved a 'gig" and he started to learn what Hollywood was all about.
When his big break came, Shane realised what this "networking" thing was all about. When he fronted CBS to take on the NCIS job, guess who the Senior Network representatives were? The young aspiring Network representatives had now climbed the tree and had a lot of power. The relationships he had built with these representatives, would lead to his appointment and the rest is history.
Shane is now the converted and spoke of how important Networking really is.
It may not happen today; and it may not happen tomorrow, but Shane's experience highlighted the importance of building relationships that will last into the future. MMMMM, I think we had a short workshop breakfast with a Networking and Relationship building guru, called Julia Palmer, who highlighted the exact same things!
So for all those people who think Networking is about getting transactional deals within 1 to 2 meetings, WRONG. This is a single transactional method and does not lead to long term sales success.
So networking is very important and so is MBN.
We have recently had our AGM and a new Committee was put in place. OK, a few of us were "rehashed" and we had a few new ones put their hands up.
Our "rehashed" Committee members are myself, John Stock, Jo Banks, David Markus, Greg Robinson and Harsha Cooray.
Our new members are Tony Payne and Terri Mandler.
We welcome back those "rehashed" and welcome those new and I look forward to working with each of you over the next 2 years to continue growing MBN.
I would also like to congratulate Greg Robinson, who is the new Vice-President and Tony Payne who is our new Secretary/Public Officer. John Stock has not completely gone away and is still main man, in control of our financial affairs as Treasurer.
One of our Committee Members has left us and I would like to personally thank William Garrigos for his great effort and input over the last 2 years. It has been a pleasure having William as part of our team and we wish him all the best in his new role at Vic Uni and look forward to seeing him at a few of our future events.
As well as a slight committee change, we have also had some sponsorship changes. Metlink are still our major sponsor, but Victoria University were unable to continue their sponsorship at the present time and we thank them for their support and hopefully will be able to continue the great relationship we have with them.
"One door closes and another door opens". Heard this before?
Well welcome our great friends at Westpac who have stepped in and taken another step in the great relationship we already had. It is fantastic to have them "on-board" and we have some great ideas and events that we will work together on. Many of you may have already met Casey and Peter, and the great team they have. We love having them as part of MBN and look forward to developing the current relationship. Our relationship with Westpac is also developing across to our great Partners, City of Melbourne and between the 3 of us, we have some great things to come.
Put these dates in your diary:
July 28 - Supper Club, Celebrating "Mentors"
August 3 - Energise enterprise , Ready, Steady, Grow
August 27 - Melbourne Day (175 years) Luncheon Debate, "That Melbourne is STILL the Foodies capital"
October 8 - MBN Golf Day, Green Acres Golf Club, Kew
October 23 - Supper Club, celebrating "Integrity Inspired Leadership"
32 Hour Challenge – A new and exciting way to develop your skills. Are you strong enough in your business
skills?
There are also a few more events that are "cooking in the oven", so stay tuned and get ready for a lot of fun and networking filled events over the next 6 months. We are working on the areas of cooking, team/personal/networking development and Spring Carnival to name a few.
Well that is enough, I'm getting tired and excited just thinking about all that is coming up in the next 6 months.
I look forward to seeing all of you at our next event and wish you a safe and networking filled Winter.