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June 2009 NewPath meeting is the "best deal in town"

Where else can you go to a free networking meeting and meet such great people? We had 19 reservations at last night's NewPath event and the following people showed up and had a terrific time networking and getting to know each other at a level that most other networking event don't even come close to. I think all of our guests will agree -- you had a great time didn't you? And it was free. Best deal in town.

Here are the folks who came out -- feel free to comment and add your own details in the comments below!

Posted by Alex Sirota on June 25, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

March 2009 NewPath networking meeting a success, even with only 7 people!

The March 2009 networking meeting had a much smaller, intimate crowd than usual but the people that come out are interesting as usual. We had to turn down the speakers a bit in the upstairs room at Starbucks but after we got our introductions together we had a chance to meet some very interesting folks. Here's a bit of a rundown of who came out to the networking evening.


  • James Barker - James is a really great business analyst, accurate and professional - James is currently doing work on a contract for the Ontario government.
  • Martin Cleaver - Martin Cleaver - Martin is one of Toronto's most prominent Wiki consultants, and is Publicity Chair for WikiSym, the International Conference on Wikis and Open Collaboration. His business interests are rooted in the field of Knowledge Management, and he is actively interested in Value Network Analysis. Martin runs two meetup groups: Knowledge Workers Toronto and Toronto Wiki Tuesdays.
  • Sheila Goldgrab - GOLDGRAB LEADERSHIP COACHING Sheila is a leadership coach who has worked for 13 years in the coaching space. She works with professionals and executives to improve their leadership brand. I am encouraging her to put together a talk at a Fall 09 NewPath meeting that will describe the different networking roles that people play inside their organizations.
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  • Stelian Moldovan - Stelian is a Microsoft developer and provider of hosted Exchange and Sharepoint services.
  • Martin Obern - Martin has the best job in the world - helping small businesses create marketing strategies without spending a fortune.
  • Scot Thom, VP Sales and Marketing, miro inc 
  • Scot described his product called mirosuite. Here's how miro describes their product: 
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  • mirosuite fits any budget and many verticals. Whether you sell your products online or in a store, need to manage your inventory in a stockroom or a warehouse - or you need to manage your teams and clients effectively and within tight project constraints, mirosuite can provide you a 360 degree view of your business, maintain your financials, streamline processes and ensure that you provide exceptional service to your customers.
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  • Even though the evening had a small group, the networking was interesting and lively. Thanks for coming out and look for our April event with Cheryl Rankin.

Posted by Alex Sirota on March 26, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thank you letter from Little Geeks

It's always nice to receive a thank you letter for volunteering. We received a letter from Lisa and Greg thanking us for the work we did. As you can see there is a call for feedback as well -- so if you have any good ideas for Little Geeks feel free to visit their website and let them know.


LittleGeeks meets NewPath letter

Posted by Alex Sirota on January 26, 2009 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Our next volunteer event - Little Geeks computer giveaway - December 29 2008

Posted by Alex Sirota on December 01, 2008 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 26 2008 - Old School Networking Upstairs @ Davisville Starbucks

Way back in 2002/2003, NewPath networking meetings were held at the Starbucks at Yonge and Davisville. Supposedly this is Toronto's oldest Starbucks, or at least one of the first ones. The upstairs meeting room was a perfect place to hangout and get to know each other better. So this month, NewPath returned to that location last night and packed Upstairs @ Starbucks.

Usually our networking meetings have about a 10% no show rate. A few registered people didn't show last night as well, but instead we had many more come out that had not registered on the formal invite.  So instead of the usual 10 we had 18 -- and that's always nice to see. I hope we keep up the trend, as we always have the nicest and most experienced people come out to have a good time.

Here's a sketch of a few of the independent business people who came to the event last night -

Doris from Organic Mechanic brought lovely scones that she makes which are made without wheat! They were a yummy treat, made with 100% Canadian organic spelt flour. Thanks Doris!

Tom Otvos has started a website to help indie bands get some buzz online at mybandsite.ca. Tom is a terrific programmer - I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years - we worked at EveryWare Development when I first immigrated to Mississauga from the U.S.

Erika Bailey runs The Clic Effect -- facilitating change management through constructive human interaction. Thanks for coming out to your first event Erika!

Terry Mutuku from World Association for Christian Communication came out. She is the Communications Coordinator and Web Manager for this social change organization. Check them out at www.waccglobal.org

Check out the full list of invitees and their websites at http://newpathnov2008.eventbrite.com. If you want to add a plug to your organization feel free to add them to the comments below.

Hope to see you at the next event!

Posted by Alex Sirota on November 27, 2008 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Inaugural "Movies that Motivate" event inspires 25 small businesses in Toronto

On October 29, 2008 NewPath held the inaugural "Movies that Motivate" event. We screened "Iron Man" featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (aka "Iron Man") and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony's gorgeous and loyal assistant.

The response was terrific! We sold out the 25-seat Hazelton Hotel Silver Screening theater. The two million dollar facility was the perfect setting for our guests to enjoy the movie in full luxury, enabling them to think deeply about the business-related themes in the movie. The leather seats comfortable, the 32 foot screen was bright and sharp, and the sound system was sublime. Each time Iron Man took off I could feel the seats shake in a most subtle way, not too loud -- just the way the movie was meant to be seen.

Here are some pictures from the event (click on each picture to zoom in):

Emmanuel Lopez (Motivatorman.com) addresses the group below, with "Iron Man" on the screen in the background. Here's the handout that Emmanuel put together to motivate the discussion for our guests.

Img_7058_copy  Img_7059_copy   Img_7048

And here are some testimonials from our guests. Several guests sent us kudos right after the event on Wednesday night!

"Thanks again for hosting the event last Wednesday.  I really enjoyed it -- beautiful theatre, good dialogue ... and, of course, it's hard to go wrong when you're showing "Iron Man" for this type of thing!" - Roger P.

"Good evening Alex, thank you for your email.  I was out of town for three days and wanted to comment on the Wednesday evening event.  I had a great time.  What a great concept!!  Movies that Motivate.  It was unique and very inspiring.  Please let me know when you are having your next event.  I will definitely let my friends and colleagues know about New Path." - Dorothy G.

"Many thanks for the Iron Man movie last night....it was amazing...great night.  Love the concept of the small theatre...Never been so comfortable." - Peter E.

"You sure know how to throw a movie night. Alex, it was a wonderful evening and all on a Wednesday.  How great is that!  I certainly enjoyed the movie (one I probably would not have rented myself - and look what I would have missed). And the discussion after, some great thought provoking insights.  It was a fantastic luxurious venue and very professionally and thoughtfully organized. Thanks so much Alex, and count me in for the next one." - Doris P.

In the words of Tony Stark after his first experimental flight over the Afghanistan desert, "Movies that Motivate was..."

Ironman_07 

"...not bad."

Posted by Alex Sirota on November 03, 2008 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Our Summer 2007 social

The NewPath Summer Social for 2007 went off nicely on the patio at the Fox & Fiddle. The weather was perfect and it was a good opportunity for existing and new members to meet each other over food and drink. Thank you all for coming out -- it was great to see you.

Here are some pictures for your memories:

Dsc02021_2 Jeff Chow and Alex Sirota






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Arni Mickelsons and Richard Rogers


 


Dsc02023Klara Tsinman and Misha Rybalov






Dsc02024Tania Samsonova and Richard Underwood




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Michael Psylakis and Ushnish Sengupta






Dsc02026

Rick Niesiobedzki and Kevin McIntosh






Dsc02027Alla and Suzy Dickstein

Posted by Alex Sirota on August 10, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Thoughts from the April meeting on Blogging for Fun and Profit

Thank you to Leesa Barnes of Caprica , Mark Evans of B5Media , Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk.com and Ed Lee for joining the NewPath Network on a discussion of Blogging for Fun and Profit.

We had a wonderful turn out of over 25 people at the event and to my surprise there were many bloggers already in the audience.Img_0240

The highlights of the discussion for me were the insights on how blogs have evolved over time to challenge traditional media, the motivation for blogging and why blogs make sense for a small business.

It was also interesting to hear that  blogging is not for everyone. It takes

- commitment to blog (text,video or pod) on a regular basis (some blog at 6am before most of the eastern timezones rise, being a journalist doesn't hurt at all)

- decent writing skills

- a passion to blog about something important to you

I think what is most interesting about blogging is that the person behind the business can shine through. Some of us thought that if you had a splashy web page for your business, then your business would appear larger than it really is, but that is a misleading isn't it? What is more important is content rather than flash -- and blogs seem to be a perfect representation of that -- blogs rarely have pictures other than IN content and they rarely have much decoration. They are about your stories and why we should read you and buy from you rather than someone else.

Here's an innovative example of what I mean.

Oh yes there are pictures from the event:

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Here is Alex, Kelly and Ed after the meeting...

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And here is Mark, Stephen and Misha enjoying the networking...

 

Posted by Alex Sirota on May 03, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A timely meeting -- Blog for Fun & Profit

Hello friends,

Our next meeting on April 25 is now taking registrations. We will have a panel of known bloggers in Toronto talking about why they blog and why you could start a blog for your business or help a non profit start a conversation online.

Notice I said 'could' rather then should. There are very many perspectives on blogging -- blogging has a different purpose for everyone. And it gives each person a voice -- it appears that blogging is humanizing the Internet, which I think is great.

We'll see what our bloggers think. Please come out on April 25 and tell your colleagues who have been thinking about blogging to come out. It should be a good time.

Posted by Alex Sirota on April 17, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Both Sides of the RFP/RFI Process

It looks like the TPMA (Toronto Product Management Association) has picked up on our topic from last month.  They will also be talking about RFP's and Proposal writing.  If you are interested in the subject you may want to get their perspective.  The details are at Both Sides of the RFP/RFI Process

Posted by Richard Underwood on February 12, 2007 | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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