"A group needs only two things to be a tribe; a shared interest and a way to communicate."
- Seth Godin
Good Day EWI!
Again, writing this a day early as I am leaving tonight for a whirlwind trip to visit Philadelphia and Washington areas along with Wendy Cowley, ED/COO and Kerry Feltenberg, Events Chair, EWI of Phoenix. We are touring the short-listed hotels in each city for LCAM 2014. Our goal is to meet with the Chapters in each city, the CVB's and through site visits, narrow the choice down to one hotel in each city. We will then advise the LCAM Site Selection Committee, headed up by Nancy Harrison as Vice Chair. The committee will then summarize the two choices and distribute to you, the member, to cast your vote on where we will be gathering for LCAM in 2014. How exciting! Of all the initiatives we undertook last year, I am very proud of bringing this decision into the hands of the membership. I was always very vocal about allowing Chapters to formally express their interest as it is a critical component when there is any revenue to be realized for the Chapters in being named host city. I am very excited to be making this trip and really looking forward to my first Amtrak experience!
This has been a very short, crazy week as I was in Las Vegas last weekend. Always such an intense city to visit. You come back wiped and ready for a vacation! The travel agent in me must take a moment here to pass on to you an enthusiastic endorsement of Gordon Ramsay's "Steak" restaurant in the Paris Hotel. It was the most incredible meal I have ever experienced. If you go, be sure to do it right and go for the five course tasting menu with wine pairings. Unbelievable! And yes, the menu did include the Beef Wellington which literally melted in your mouth. Here is last seasons winner of Hells Kitchen, Christina, busy at her new job.
If you are heading to Vegas within the next five weeks, make sure you also take in the Soul 2 Soul show at the Venetian with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Lovely!
Okay, enough travel talk! Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Calgary Executives Association breakfast, followed by a meeting with their Chapters ED, President and a Corporate Board Member of IEA. What exciting energy we shared! Concrete plans are underway for how their local Chapter and ours can connect and support one another. Their Corporate Board meets in May again and will be presented with a motion to formally endorse EWI. Once that occurs, IEA globally will be aware of who we are, where we are and all that we can offer their member Executive's employees!
We have so many things in common and it is easy to see how we emerged from this dynamic group of business leaders meeting in San Francisco back in 1938. Their concepts are all so similar; support the firm as that is the member, limit membership to only one company in each minor classification and most importantly, gather regularly as like-minded business professionals to grow from one another. EWI and IEA can soon easily be described as a "tribe" as we share a common purpose. I am very touched by their willingness to work together with us to establish a joint community. The impact on one another where each organization has a Chapter will be huge, as demonstrated by their Calgary Chapter's willingness to attend our upcoming meetings, dedicate one of their meetings to EWI and to help us in our upcoming fundraisers.
For locations where only one of us exists, the growth potential can be huge for EWI. If we want to launch a Chapter in a new location and IEA exists, we will have a group of businesses with the same overall vision and that will make our recruitment so much easier!
I look forward to sharing more with you as conversations develop.
Have a wonderful weekend and I will have lots to share from this weekends trip in the next blog!
- K
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