Member Spotlights

Get on the Calendar

If you want to give a 15 minute spotlight, please talk with Jonathan Spiliotopoulos at one of our regular meetings or email him at jonathan@thecreativeoffices.com

Eligibility

All Beaver County Networking members who have attended regularly (at least 50% of our meetings within the past calendar quarter) are eligible to give a spotlight.

Rules for Presentation

Spotlights at other groups — particularly a popular three-letter group — tend to be sales presentations. And that’s consistent with their sales-oriented philosophy that mandates intra-group service swaps, imposes referral requirements, attendance rules, and so on.

But at Beaver County Networking, we have a different philosophy. We believe in building relationships, forging friendships, and establishing a strong network of authentic referral partners.

To be consistent with our approach, spotlights at Beaver County Networking are intended to be training sessions. Their purpose is not for you to deliver a sales pitch, but rather for us to learn about your business so we can identify great leads to refer.

To stay on point, we ask all presenters to follow the following rules:
DO: Extend your 30-second Elevator Pitch

Every week, we advise you to tell us three things during your pitch:

  • Who you are
  • What you do
  • Who you want to meet

If you extend this simple formula to your spotlight, you’ll surely tell us everything we need to know.

Spotlights at Beaver County Networking are not an opportunity to present your latest promotion. We are not providing you fifteen minutes with a captive audience. We all have products and services that we want — need — to sell. But that is not the purpose of networking, and it’s not why BCN exists.

A great spotlight will help us recognize when your offering would be useful, and it will help us recognize those people who will benefit from doing business with you. It’s about awareness, not sales.

Spotlights are 15 minutes. It’s not a lot of time, but it’s also not a quick 30 seconds.

In order to leave people with a positive impression of your capabilities, it’s important to have good command of your material you want to present.

Spend some time planning what you want to say. Make an outline noting key points that need to be discussed. Rehearse once or twice to be familiar with the content. Etc.

MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY WITH THE PROPER CABLES NEEDED TO CAST PRESENTATIONS TO OUR TELEVISION AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP PLAN IF THERE ARE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS.

Networking is personal. Videos from parent companies are impersonal. They may tell us about your product or service, but so can you — and so should you. This is your spotlight to teach us how to help grow your business. And we want to help you.

But videos make that difficult. In addition to being dull and sales-oriented, they often leave networking audiences with a negative impression of your capabilities. Perhaps, in the correct setting, they have value. But in a networking setting, they make it seem like you don’t know your business well and need a video to speak on your behalf.

It’s not a good look.

Talk to Jonathan at Beaver County Networking if you want to ask something not covered or if anything is confusing.

Questions

Can I email BCN members so they can learn more?

Unless BCN members have specifically opted into your marketing list, the answer is no.

We suggest putting a signup form on your website so people can opt in. Or make a webpage where people can download your content if they’re interested in learning more.

At risk of being repetitive, unless BCN members have specifically explicitly opted into your marketing communication, the answer is no.

If you’re reaching out to somebody directly and personally because you’d like to get to know them better, want to schedule a one-on-one, or feel that you have some synergy and can work together, then that’s just fine.

If your intent is to SELL, and/or if you’re just going to copy and paste a form letter to make your correspondence appear direct and personal, then that would not be appropriate.

Yes. But there are conditions:

  • If bringing food, you must supply everything related to the sample — including plates, utensils, napkins.
  • You must completely remove all samples at the end of the BCN event, including any garbage related to your sampling.
  • Samples should be provided as examples of your work; it should not be provided to entice on-site sales or signups.
  • If your sample includes any allergens, you must get approval from the BCN board at least two weeks in advance so members can be informed of the danger. You must also bring signage to put on your sample table that alerts members to the danger live at the event.

Spotlights are limited to fifteen (15) minutes. Please craft your content appropriately for the time allotted.

Meeting Information

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