January Speaker: Gene Pryor from LOGIC Consulting

Our last GRAPE meeting featured Gene Pryor of LOGIC Consulting LLC speaking about 'collaborative logistics' and the optimal space West Michigan occupies to make it all happen. And by it, Gene is referring to the cutting edge concept of 'Coopetition' - the idea that competitors can cooperate in specific areas or situations (which is already becoming common in the IT world!).

Can You Connect to Your Customers Through Social Media?

On November 18 at ITT Tech at 11:30 am, Kristina Evey will be speaking to the group on improving your connections with your customers through Social Media.

Kristina Evey is an expert in helping companies better connect with their customers and clients in order to increase their profits. Since our emphasis has been on social media, she will incorporate this theme using increased customer satisfaction and retention as the desired outcome.

Kristina is the owner of Centric Strategies, a firm focused on improving the relationships that businesses have with their customers in order to increase profits with existing customers while, at the same time, attracting new customers. She helps companies nurture the valued relationships that businesses depend on in order to be sustainable in today's economy.

You can learn more about Kristina by visiting her websites at www.CentricStrategies.com and www.KristinaEvey.com

What Savvy Networkers Know....

October's GRAPE speaker was Jennifer V. Miller. She is the owner of a performance consulting company that serves a variety of industries— financial, manufacturing, human services and retail.

Carrying on the social media theme lately, her presentation focused on networking in the various mediums that we are all becoming familiar with, like it or not.

Jennifer explains networking as this -"My definition of networking is: “the purpose of networking is to connect people who have a mutual interest in developing a business relationship or assisting one another”. So with that framework in mind, I invite you to consider the following ideas, which I’ve playfully named “Miller’s Maxims”.

Read her summary of her presenation by clicking here.

How do YOU Network?

What’s your networking style— LinkedIn? Facebook? Twitter? Or do you prefer the old-school method of face-to-face networking?

Whatever your preference, please join us at the GRAPE meeting on Thursday October 22, 2009 for an extended networking session from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM at the ITT Technical Institute in Wyoming's Metro Health Park. GRAPE member and self-avowed “networking freak” Jennifer V. Miller will discuss how your communication style drives your networking behaviors. Building on the Social Media session presented in September, Jennifer will lead you through hands-on networking exercises that will engage you, no matter what your style. Come prepared to learn more about your fellow GRAPE members and to walk away with solid networking tips.

Photos from the September Event

Tim Penning, GVSU Professor of Communications, addresses new media or good old fashioned PR. Public Relations regarding companies has gotten far more public with the rise of social media.

A good turnout for the September meeting. GRAPE can be found on Twitter@GrapeGR, and we have groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Don't just fritter away your lunch hour - come to GRAPE for a great speaker and relevant conversations. We save the first half hour of our program for face to face networking time.

Save the Date - August 20, 2009 Learn all about "Lean Offices"

Mark your calendars: Thursday, August 20, 2009 - our own John Potter, Librarian at ITT Technical Institute will be speaking on "The Lean Office."

What do 'Lean' manufacturing techniques have to offer service companies? Lean production practices generally reduce costs, eliminate waste, and increase efficiency. However, translating these practices to an office environment is often less than obvious (though generally predicated upon optimizing office flow). And fully achieving 'Lean' may entail learning value stream mapping, root cause problem solving, and 5S methodology (to name a few). But these ideas are far from difficult to grasp and often enlightening.

July GRAPE Event: Marylu Dykstra from the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum