2002 Annual Conference – Register Now!

“The Power of Partnership”— Salt Lake City, June 20-22
 
Registration is now underway for NAWBO’s combined Annual Meeting and Women’s Business Conference, to be held June 20-22, 2002 at the Wyndham Hotel Salt Lake City and the Salt Palace Convention Center.  Complete conference registration materials and schedule of events are available at www.nawbo.org. Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of this special NAWBO energy – and bring your walking shoes, because there will be much to see and experience. Remember: a NAWBO conference of this magnitude now happens only once a year. So if you miss it, you’ll miss a lot.
 
Featured keynote speakers:
·         The Honorable Hector V. Barreto, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
·         A’Lelia Bundles, author, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker
·         Dr. Sharon Hadary, Executive Director, Center for Women’s Business Research
 
Also featured: a series of dynamic workshops, in separate tracks, that offer valuable business development and chapter leadership training. Choose from 24 breakout sessions on useful and cutting-edge topics that will arm you with tools and resources for success.
 
NAWBO’s Market Place Exhibits will showcase the latest in business products and services from NAWBO National Corporate Partners, NAWBO member businesses, and other supporting business organizations. To reserve your exhibit space, contact Lesa Faris at NAWBO National Headquarters, 800-55NAWBO.
 
A companion Procurement Fair, “Contacts and Contracts,” will be hosted by NAWBO’s sister organization, the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC).  (See story below.)
 
Sponsorship Opportunities are available at various levels and venues. Contact Lesa Faris, at 800-55NAWBO for more information.
 
Hotel Rooms:  A block of rooms is reserved for NAWBO Conference attendees at the discounted rate of $119 per night plus tax, single/double at the Wyndham Hotel Salt Lake City.  To receive the discounted room rate, call the Wyndham reservations desk at 801-531-7500 or toll-free at 800-553-0075, and be sure to identify yourself as a “NAWBO Annual Conference Attendee.”  Reservations must be made by Monday, May 20, 2002 to receive the discounted rate. After that date the hotel cannot guarantee our lower room rate or room availability, so call today! Delta Airlines has extended a discount to NAWBO members for conference travel. To receive your discount, call 800-241-6760 and identify yourself as a NAWBO member when booking your flight.
 
 
Exhibit Opportunities for WBEs at NWBOC’s Procurement Fair

Women business owners, corporations and government agencies from throughout the country are expected at “Contacts and Contracts,” an annual procurement fair sponsored by the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC). The two-day event will occur June 20 (6:30-9:00 p.m.) and 21 (7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.), 2002, in Salt Lake City in conjunction with NAWBO’s 2002 Annual Meeting and Women’s Business Conference. Exhibit opportunities are available to certified WBEs, as well as corporations and government agencies. “Exhibiting gives you more opportunity to interact with other exhibitors, such as corporations and government agencies, and ensures that your reach extends to every exhibitor and attendee with your marketing information,” said Janet Harris-Lange, President of NWBOC.  A discounted fee of only $400 per booth is available for WBEs with any type of certification. 
Those scheduled to exhibit include Dial Corporation, Morgan Stanley, United Parcel Service, Wells Fargo, National City Bank, AT&T, Digital Economic Technologies, First Union/Wachovia, U.S. Department of State and others. 
Women business owners, both those already certified as woman-owned enterprises and those new to certification, will find opportunities to secure procurement leads from public and private sector organizations and from other women-owned businesses. Admittance to Contacts and Contracts is free for NAWBO conference attendees. For more information on the procurement fair, contact NWBOC at 800-675-5066 or info@nwboc.org.
 

Membership Survey Underway – Respond by May 3, 2002

Please take a few moments out of your busy day to complete and return the 2002 NAWBO Membership Survey. Why? Because this may be one of the most important surveys you've ever received as a business owner or as a NAWBO member.
 
This survey, designed and administered by Center for Women's Business Research, is actually an important member benefit. Our continued goal is to enhance communication at all levels within NAWBO. By completing this survey, you will:
 
·         give us feedback that will help NAWBO serve you better;
·         provide important information about your business’ plans and expectations that your chapter can use with local
          media and local corporate partners;
·         provide NAWBO with valuable national-level data that will help shape public policy and other organizational 
          activities.
 
To encourage you to respond, two incentives are being offered. First, there will be a random drawing among those who have completed the survey. Two lucky NAWBO members will each receive a free one-year national membership. Secondly, the chapter with the highest number of members responding, and the chapter with the highest share of members responding, will each receive special recognition at the annual meeting and in NAWBOtime. Although we know you'd share your thoughts and opinions anyway, we hope these items will make you even more willing to respond quickly.
 
If you have not already completed the survey, which is only 30 questions in length and should take no more than 10 minutes, click on the link below:
http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?tavdf5dhq4493x7qg3fx7cnf
 
At the end of the survey you'll find instructions on how to enter the contest for the free membership, which will preserve the anonymity of your survey response.
 
Please help us to better serve your needs and the needs of all other NAWBO members by completing and returning your survey before May 3rd. Remember that your responses are completely anonymous and confidential. We look forward to your honest and timely feedback!
 
 
National Strategic Planning Process Launched  

YOU are needed to help shape the future of NAWBO!   A big-picture 5-year strategic planning effort, chaired by Immediate Past National President Barbara G. Stanbridge, is now underway.  At this point in the 21^st Century, we are very seriously looking at how we can re-vision, re-new and re-structure our 27-year-old organization. 
 
This all-important strategic planning process features multiple levels of participation for all NAWBO stakeholders – and especially YOU.  Here’s how you can add your ideas and vision to this vital process of shaping our association’s future:
 
·         In the coming weeks, there will be an opportunity to add your voice to a virtual conversation taking place in the
          forum section of NAWBO’s national web site. 
·         There will also be a series of lively discussions held during the upcoming Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, in
          an Open Space format.  You can participate on Friday, June 21 from 2:15-5:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 22,
          9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
·         A Strategic Planning Retreat will be held in Salt Lake City immediately following the Annual Meeting.  The
          retreat will be held 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on Monday, June 24, and 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June
          25.  All interested parties are welcome to participate. To confirm your place, mark the appropriate box on
          your conference registration form.
 
The Strategic Planning Retreat will be led by Debra Weaver Parker of Dynamic Growth Strategies.  We hope you will participate in this important planning process.

 
International Entrepreneurs Wanted  

Global trade will be one area of focus at the Salt Lake City conference. In a panel discussion/workshop titled "Building Your Business with Cross-Border Alliances," the emphasis will be on trade opportunities between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.  NAWBO’s International Committee has invited members of our sister organizations in Canada and Mexico to attend the Annual meeting to encourage alliances/business relationships. The committee is putting together a database of NAWBO members who are currently involved in international trade, specifically to match members' businesses with appropriate businesses from Canada and Mexico.  
 
Interested? Then email the following information to leslie-g@cma-inc.com:
 
·         Information about your business, including what type of trade/services you do internationally
·         The kinds of companies you would like to meet
·         Description of countries you are currently working with
·         Your plans to attend the Salt Lake City conference
 
Be sure to include all your contact information.  The committee plans to make pre-meeting introductions in order to facilitate productive in-person meetings at the conference. For more information, contact Leslie Grossman (New York City) at 212.730.9400, Leslie-g@cma-inc.com, or www.cma-inc.com.


NWBOC Launches Online E-Procurement Site  

The National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC), a NAWBO sister organization and creator of the first national certification program for women business owners, has launched an online e-procurement site called the NWBOC Marketplace at http://nwboc.economicengine.com. The NWBOC Marketplace is designed to create new opportunities for women business owners and streamline the process of doing business with corporate America. By using the online service, women-owned enterprises will have access to corporations and government agencies seeking vendors across a wide range of industries.
 
“Going online enables us to provide convenient, low-cost access to a national marketplace in which women entrepreneurs and corporations can conveniently do business across the country,” said Janet Harris-Lange, NWBOC President. “It is the logical extension of our five-year-old, national certification program.”
 
Women business owners who meet the NWBOC criteria for certification can join the marketplace and be listed free of charge, plus create Marketplace profiles and use its tools to find corporate business. All active NWBOC-certified businesses are pre-registered and can enter the marketplace at http://nwboc.economicengine.com to update profiles.
 
Corporations will be able to search for products and services in the Marketplace by using keywords, business classifications and/or geography. “By communicating electronically, both the corporations and women business owners save time and money,” said Harris-Lange.  “This is a major way for corporations to simplify their outreach and help meet their supplier diversity goals. It’s also an easy way for women business owners to reach out and grow their businesses with corporate contacts and contracts.”
 
NWBOC’S national certification program offers an alternative to the costly, time-consuming and duplicative agency-by-agency and corporation-by-corporation certification process. More than 100 corporations, government agencies and other organizations acceptNWBOC certification, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Nabisco, Mobil Oil and Universal Studios. For more information on certification or on the NWBOC Marketplace, contact Janet Harris-Lange at 800/675-5066 or info@nwboc.org.  
         
Start Your Certification Process NOW!
If you’ve been thinking about certification, now is a good time to take action and start the process. You had to get all of your financials together for your recent tax filing, so you already have a head start on certification filing. The work you do to get all the financial history of your business together for certification has other benefits too. Put everything into a notebook, and create a permanent and accurate history of your company. It’s also information you’ll need for lending institutions if you ever request special services or a loan.
Certification provides a marketing opportunity for women business enterprises to participate in goals and outreach programs. In addition, certification enables women suppliers to develop relationships with larger companies and create opportunities for future partnerships with them on public and private contracts. Contact NWBOC President Janet Harris-Lange NWBOC at 800/675-5066 or info@nwboc.org to find out more about certification.