Networking Opportunity — Grow Your Business in Dayton (Gybindayton.com)

Kettering Business Networking Group run by Ronald J. Solada

August 2, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

From one networking group to another. Someone mentioned that they went to a business networking group in Kettering so I inquired more about it.

Ronald J. Solada is the president of the group and is very inviting and helpful. The group meets the First and Third Tuesday of each month at 8AM in Christopher’s Restaurant at the corner of Woodman and Dorothy Lane. Ronald tries to have interesting guests at each meeting and I have found them to be informative for the meetings that I have attended. Before the speaker, everyone is invited to share their “elevator speech” or tell who or what kind of business they are looking for this week.

This is a no fee to participate group, but it is a ONE PER CATEGORY group. You can see who are the current members by going to the web site for their group here Kettering Business Networking. (Ron is currently looking for someone to keep the site up to date. In addition, he tells me that he seldom looks at the emails from this site. If you would like to discuss visiting the group with Ron email him at ron.solada@edwardjones.com OR just show up at one of the meetings OR give him a call at 937-293-7473).

Here is a photograph and video of the meeting this morning on August 2nd, 2011. Most of the groups that I have visited tend to be a little smaller during the late summer months. Come fall these tables will likely be full and more will needed to be added.

Here is a short video clip:

Kettering Business Networking Group (click on link for video clip)

If you are interested in visiting or joining the group, send Ronald Solada an email or give him a call: ronSolada@gmail.com or 937-293-7473 . Membership is based on attendance if the category you represent is currently open.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine & Housetrends Magazine • Dayton, OHIO • peter@photosbypdemott.com or pdemott@REACHusa.com • 937-478-6222

Filed Under Networking Opportunity Tagged With Grow your business, Kettering, Networking

Dayton Chamber After Hours at Antioch University Midwest on July 13th, 2011

July 14, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

A little drive to a very nice facility at Antioch University Midwest

I-675 North to Fairborn, turn right on Dayton Yellow Springs Road and drive for a little bit to the Anioch University Midwest building before you get to Yellow Springs. It’s a nice country drive. The building is beautiful and the landscaping is very nice.

When I walked in I was greeted nicely by the folks at the sign-in table

Seeing some display tables over to the left, I headed down that hallway. There was a hallway with display and food in a common area. There were a couple of rooms with displays as well. In the hallway I met Melissa Clough of Frosted Wedding & Special Occasion Cakes. She had a table with a nice cake which diplayed the logo of BellyFire Catering. The cupcakes had the logo of Uniglob Travel. Take a look.

Once I saw all this I went back out front to purchase a ticket for a Sprite. Ticket sales for beverages were in support of something, but I forget what. At that point I went back down the hallway and met a few more people and then started to feel a little frustrated that, “this is it?”, however when I was about to leave I noticed a person or two going down a hallway to another meeting room. Oh my gosh…. there were a whole bunch more displays and people wandering around in this room. I had heard some announcements and I was wondering where the speakers were. In any case, I went up to the announcer and suggested that she tell everyone about this other meeting room which she did do. I figured there could be others like me who did not see this hallway. After the announcement I noticed some of the folks that I had seen in the other hallway making their way into this larger room.

I had a nice chat with Michael Schuh, president and CEO of Michael’s Salon & Spa who was discussing his other business called The Media Group@ Micheal’s. He is working with companies to help them with SEO and various New Media (Facebook, Twitter, Mobile Technology, SEO, etc.) ways to grow their business and get noticed on the Internet and how to translate that into customer engagement.

At one end there was Peter Hirt showing off his Designs-on-Display. He was showing people how his displays are very easy to put up and put away for easy in and out at conventions and business meetings where you need a company display. He gave me a quick little demo:

Grocery list Honey, on your way home…

Now that I had seen all the displays and chatted with quite a few people, I was pleased with the event. I came away with several new contacts and a couple good leads as well. My wife called me with a short list of things to pick up at the grocery on my way home. I had her text me the list. On my way out I gave the rest of the REACH Magazines that I had with me to the ladies at the sign-in table and stopped to see the Antioch University Midwest display. Walt Ulbricht, M.A., the director of marketing communications, and I talked for a bit and I shared a couple ideas about marketing in REACH magazine with him.

Have you heard of “Prepaid Electric?”

Just a bit of humor. I’ve heard of Prepaid Legal services. I saw tables which had no display which had a sheet of paper on them which said, “Prepaid Electric”. As I was walking through there were several of these empty tables and I thought to myself, “who is the hell is Prepaid Electric and if they reserved all these tables, why didn’t they show up? Since I know Chris Elrod and she moderates these events, I asked her,”who is Prepaid Electric? I laughed at myself when she explained that those are just extra display tables ready for displays (and they have electric) if people show up who didn’t get registered correctly online. Too funny. Prepaid Legal and Prepaid Gift cards and Prepaid Electric?? I hope you had a good laugh on me.

Dayton Chamber Events can be found on their online Events Calendar

Dayton Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours are FREE with your RSVP prior to the event by phone (I think they are free all the way around, but this makes it so that when you arrive there is a name tag ready and waiting for you). In addition those who have display table give door prizes that are given out during the event. When you arrive, you put your business card in a basket so they can draw names for the door prizes. Usually the event sponsor has a brief time to talk about their programs and/or facilities early in the meeting. The food is always good. The variety of vendors with displays varies from event to event and also depending on the location. You can LIKE the Dayton Chamber on Facebook

Filed Under Networking Opportunity Tagged With Dayton Chamber Business After Hours, Networking, Social Networking for Business

There is an App for that – Presentation at NEW MEDIA Dayton

July 8, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

There was a nice group at the NEW Media Dayton meeting this month with a presentation about smart phone Apps. This was my second visit to this group which is also a LINKED IN group. If you join the LINKED IN group, then you will be notified of the meeting topics, meeting times etc.

During the presentation, the speaker asked how many people in the room were there because they were marketing related and how many were technology folks. It looked to me like about 1/3 said they were technology folks and another 1/3 raised their hands to say they were marketing folks.

The discussion explained the importance of mobile friendly web based apps and development of native apps (apps that are downloaded onto your smart phone and reside there). It sounds like businesses need quite a bit of guidance about applying these new technologies to their marketing mix as the speaker indicated that there is a lot of money that gets used for failed ideas, but at the same time there apps that can go viral and gain hundreds of thousands of users and even millions of users in a matter of months. It was clear that companies wanting to create an app need to have a good understanding about how consumers use them from start to finish and what makes an app a success from the consumers perspective. Given the development costs you should not dive in without a serious knowledge of where you will end up.

In any case, if you want to get some consultation with some marketing and/or techy type folks, this might be a good group for you to join and network in.

Here is a video clip showing all the networking that was going on after the meeting dismissed:

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine Dayton • 937-478-6222 • pdemott@reachusa.com

Filed Under Business Inspiration / Information, Customer engagement, Networking Opportunity, Social Media for Business

What are your biggest challenges in marketing or advertising your business in Dayton?

June 29, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

What is YOUR biggest challenge or frustration in Marketing or Advertising?

For many small businesses and large as well, figuring out how to gain the attention of consumers is a daunting challenge or sometimes pure frustration. I am very curious to hear from you about what makes advertising and marketing your business in Dayton a challenge for you.

Reply with a short paragraph of one or two things

I’m just looking for short paragraphs as comments or replies to this post so that as I scan the internet for valuable information for you and your business, I can provide you with the content that best meets your needs.

Help others as you share

Please share your thoughts here as a comment to this blog post or on Linked-In as a discussion comment. Your thoughts may help others as we seek to help businesses grow in Dayton and surrounding communities.

Thanks, Peter DeMott

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • Dayton, Ohio • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com or use contact form at top of page.

Filed Under Advertising in Dayton, Business Inspiration / Information, Growing your business, Networking Opportunity

New QR codes and how to use them to market your business

June 10, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

5 Ways to Use QR codes for small business

That was the name of the presentation, but I was so involved that I did not take good enough notes to list the five ways here.

I went to the New Media Dayton meeting today in particular to hear about QR codes and how businesses can us them to promote. The presentation was given by Shawntay Fields of Comtactics Mobile solutions & Interactive Marketing here in Dayton. She did an awesome job presenting and showing us several examples of businesses using QR codes to interact with their customers with calls to action, increased customer loyalty and several other points. She gave us several places (URLs) on the internet to create QR codes free and also explained that various forms of QR code tracking are also available at an additional cost.

http://www.newmediadayton.com/506/june-10-5-ways-to-use-qr-codes-for-small-businesses/

I can immediately see how some of my current REACH Magazine clients could implement a QR code into their print ads and even on window stickers at store locations or job site signs to increase consumer interaction and even give incentives to buy now or learn more about the business.

You can create your own FREE QR codes at one of these web sites:

http://qrcode.kaywa.com

http://weallscan.com

http://scandayton.com

I was impressed with the group New Media Dayton and plan on attending more of their meetings in the future. They have a GROUP on LinkedIn which you can join to learn more.

Julie Wallings was taking pictures which will be up on the New Media Dayton web site within a couple of days.

Getting a QR code scanner for you smart phone is easy

Just go to iTunes and pick up one of the FREE aps for QR code scanning

All you want to know about QR codes to promote your business

Additional reading from Mashable:

QR codes to market your small business

Learn More about creating QR codes

Online marketing is moving to the streets and offline

Example

Here is an example of a very simple QR code. This one will likely appear on the ad on the back cover of REACH magazine promoting the summer Blood Donation drive with the Community Blood Center. In the summer sometimes blood donations drop and each year we help the CBC ramp up donations by promoting them in REACH magazine. This QR code took me about a minute to make using the Kaywa link above.

You could win a brand new JEEP Patriot by signing up to give blood this summer. Scan this QR code to learn more.

The Brady Bunch business networking on Friday’s at 4:15pm in Centerville

May 21, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

I have visited the Brady Bunch twice now. Last week there was a pretty large group of about 20-25 people. This week there were fewer, but Friday was the first nice sunny day in weeks it seemed like. The group leader also indicated that several members had emailed him with scheduling conflicts.

This is a one per category group, but it is not affiliated with BNI or Rainmakers or other pay to participate groups. You can see the organization at their directory web site. Dave Kay of The Advisory Group – Wealth Management Advisor is listed in the “staff” as group organizer.

Click here to view organization of the group: Brady Bunch B2B Networking . Bill DeFries, Beef O’Brady’s owner, is listed on the staff of the group and Raymond Olfky is staff listed as the administrator. There are 45 listings in the official directory which is administed by Peter Haigh of Broadleaf Computer Services . I am not sure of the exact procedure for officially joining, but once you join you have access to the directory functions.

At this point, there are several people with various marketing functions, but so far it appears that there is enough diversity that we can actually benefit from each other so I plan to join the group.

Here is a photograph of the smaller meeting on Friday May 20th, first full day of sunshine in the Dayton area it what seemed to be a decade. A server stops by so you can order drinks which can of course include a beer or soft drink or other bar drinks. I found it to be a nice way to end out the week.

Once you are added to the mailing list, Dave sends out an email about topics for sharing. This week was a follow up from the previous week when everyone was asked to share a situation that showed outstanding customer service to the benefit of a client or customer or toward another member within the group.

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine Dayton • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Filed Under Networking Opportunity

Dayton Chamber After Hours May 11th, 2011 including video clips

May 14, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

A more relaxed and open networking meeting:

Each Dayton Chamber business after hours has a little bit different feel to it. This one was located at the Dayton Convention Center and it seemed to me to have a more open, ‘I want to meet people” feel than some of the other ones that I have been to. Although it was not cramped or overcrowded, there was still lots of hustle and bustle with people introducing each other and helping with connections. In my case, I met someone that I thought could profit from meeting Rick Moody who has a commercial real estate business. The feel of the event was less rushed and more conversational than some in the past. Of course that is a good thing.

More nooks and crannies to explore:

I think that the fact that the business tables were placed in various nooks and crannies it was easier to have good conversations because the noise level was less. In the past I might have thought that being down a hallway was not so good for that business, but since there were several hallways to explore and they were all on the same floor, I think this time it was a big plus.

Here is a video clip of the Dayton Chamber After Hours: Quick video clip of Chamber After Hours

Here is a 2nd video clip a little bit later: Video clip on Dayton Chamber business after hours networking

Did you attend this Dayton Chamber business after hours event?

If you did, feel free to make comments about your experience. Did you make some good connections? Was it a good event for you and your business?

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine in Dayton • peter@photosbypdemott.com • 937-478-6222

Filed Under Growing your business, Networking Opportunity

Dayton’s B2B BNI Chapter guest day on Friday at Champs Restaurant

May 9, 2011 By Peter DeMott Leave a Comment

The Dayton B2B Chapter of BNI meets every Friday morning and is normally hosted by Jeff Blumer at Bellyfire Catering at 2462 Dryden Rd. in Dayton.

But, for their guest day, they moved to the main dining area of Champs Restaurant in Centerville. Good thing too, because there were a record number of visitors. I think it was in the 80′s. The handout sheet for the group lists 37 active members for this BNI Chapter wish a pretty diverse list of categories of business.

People were pouring in when I arrived at 7:25am. Within a couple of minutes almost all the tables and booths in the main dining area were full. There were several visitors that were from other chapters of BNI who were there to see what a visitors day could look like and to offer their support, but that was a small number of perhaps 5 or 6 who mentioned they were from other chapters. Most of the 80+ visitors were here by invitation from the members within the group.

For this last still shot, I tried my best to capture the entirety of the room, but the video clip at the end of this post gives the level of activity and the number of people in the room.

You’ll have to excuse my motion blur images as I was just shooting with my point & shoot camera and not my professional gear. I use this camera for my blog posts because it has video as well. The next image is the video of people arriving and finding seating. You can hear the amount of introductions occurring throughout the room in the video clip.

Because of the size of the group, things were rather rushed with everyone in the room being invited to give a ten second elevator speech about where they work and what kind of referral they are looking for. After the meeting it was difficult to even get to people you might have wanted to meet. Kim Salomon is the president of this group and did a fabulous job of keeping things moving along. After the meeting I introduced myself to Kevin Harker who I have called consistently over the years trying to get him to advertise in REACH magazine.

Overall the meeting was impressive, but because it was rushed it would be nice to visit a regular meeting in their normal venue to see the interactions and referral sharing within the regular 37 members.

Here is the video clip of the room filling with guests and members of the Dayton B2B Chapter of BNI.

Dayton B2B Chapter of BNI (Business Networking International)

MVI_2403

Filed Under Networking Opportunity Tagged With BNI in Dayton, Business growth, Grow your business, Networking, Tools for business

Thursday morning Breadwinners Chapter of BNI (Business Networking International)

May 7, 2011 By Peter DeMott 1 Comment

Todd Dyer invited me to his chapter of BNI (Business Networking International) which meets each Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. After that meeting on May 5th, their meeting place has changed to Five Seasons Fitnness Center near the Wilmington exit of I-675.

I was immediately welcomed. I also noticed another associate, Tammy Brown of TL Brown Photography. Tammy and I are both on the board of PPSO (Professional Photographers of SW Ohio).

After someone introduced the concept of BNI which is a givers gain philosophy where if you help others find business, then they will help you find business the meeting proceeded. Each BNI chapter keeps track of each referral given along with one on one meetings among members and closed business. Before referrals are passed about the room, a sheet was given out that listed all the members names, phone numbers, and the type of business they represent. At this point, everyone stands up in turn and shares what referral they are looking for this week. The sheet that was handed out has a handy blank place next to each member’s name where you can take notes of they who they would like to meet this week. So, it is like have 20-30 sales reps working for you if everyone works the program. If everyone looks of referrals for everyone else each week, then everyone gets referrals sent their way too.

After everyone shares about themselves and the referral they are looking for, Tammy Brown was introduced as the business of the week. Each week a different member shares more in depth about their business so that the other members get a better understanding of what they do and the clients they are looking for. Tammy did a great job explaining that she loves to photograph families and help capture their love and relationships in artistic portraits that each family will cherish for many years to come.

This is Todd Dyer, the friend who invited me to the meeting. When it was time to pass the referrals, several in the group explained how delighted they were with Tammy’s work. Several had purchased family sessions from her from within the group.

At one point there was a break for about 10 minutes to chat and go get more coffee or whatever. Immediately people started into to conversations throughout the room. This seems like a strong group with lots of good people and good relationships.

When the meeting is closed by the president someone’s name is drawn and a door prize was awarded to someone in the group. Each week the featured business provides the door prize for the group.

After the meeting one person expressed some interest in finding out more about my business, advertising sales with REACH Magazine. I plan to visit the group again to get a better feel for whether or not it is a group that I want to join. It seemed that everyone their was working this networking system diligently with scheduled one on one meetings, referrals passed and sales completed announced at the meeting.

For more information about BNI in Dayton and in Ohio click on this Link : BNI Ohio

Peter DeMott • REACH Magazine • 937-478-6222 • peter@photosbypdemott.com

Filed Under Growing your business, Networking Opportunity Tagged With BNI in Dayton Ohio, BNI-business networking International, Business growth, Centerville, Dayton, Grow your business, Networking, Tools for business

Kettering Business Networking Group run by Ronald J. Solada

What are your biggest challenges in marketing or advertising your business in Dayton?

What is YOUR biggest challenge or frustration in Marketing or Advertising?

Reply with a short paragraph of one or two things

Help others as you share

The Brady Bunch business networking on Friday’s at 4:15pm in Centerville

Dayton Chamber After Hours May 11th, 2011 including video clips

A more relaxed and open networking meeting:

More nooks and crannies to explore:

Did you attend this Dayton Chamber business after hours event?

Dayton’s B2B BNI Chapter guest day on Friday at Champs Restaurant

Thursday morning Breadwinners Chapter of BNI (Business Networking International)

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A little drive to a very nice facility at Antioch University Midwest

When I walked in I was greeted nicely by the folks at the sign-in table

Grocery list Honey, on your way home…

Have you heard of “Prepaid Electric?”

Dayton Chamber Events can be found on their online Events Calendar

What is YOUR biggest challenge or frustration in Marketing or Advertising?

Reply with a short paragraph of one or two things

Help others as you share

Getting a QR code scanner for you smart phone is easy

All you want to know about QR codes to promote your business

Example

A more relaxed and open networking meeting:

More nooks and crannies to explore:

Did you attend this Dayton Chamber business after hours event?

Your next step: Sign-up for Email Delivery of Updates

QR Code For Your Site!

Blogroll

Recent Posts

Tag Cloud

Archives

My Latest Tweets

Search this site

Site tools / Meta