Letter from the President
As summer winds down, SME Cleveland is gearing up for the 2011-2012 program year. Our focus for 2011-2012 is to offer quality networking events, useful SME-U workshops, luncheons with top notch speakers, and a continued effort to keep members engaged in the organization and, most importantly, provide new contacts and sales leads for all involved.
We kick off the year with a Professional Development Day on Tuesday, September 13, from 8:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Cleveland South. Our speakers include Hal Becker, Marvin Montgomery, Michael DeAloia and Jeff Nischwitz. This is a must attend event for anyone who wants new tools to succeed in sales and marketing! More information including the topics is available at www.smecleveland.com.
The SME luncheon on September 26th will be held at Doubletree in the Grand Ballroom and the guest speaker is Joe Roman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
October offers a SME-U workshop featuring Kordell Norton whose topic is "There be Wild Things out there" and a Business After Hours at Fahrenheit in Tremont on October 20th.
November 8th's SME-U presenter is Bob Schultek and Bob's topic is "Selling Strategic Value to Increase Sales Productivity." We are currently working on a November luncheon speaker.
December brings about the "Bowling out the Year with SME Cleveland." It is a great early evening event with bowling, delicious food and casual networking.
It's with great excitement that we announce Paul Matsen, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Cleveland Clinic as the 2012 Business Executive of the Year. Paul and Distinguished Marketing and Sales Award recipients will be honored Thursday, February 23 at the InterContinental Hotel. Nominations for DMSA recipients are open - download the nomination form from our website - www.smecleveland.com..
We ask you, the SME Cleveland members, to offer suggestions on increasing the overall benefit of membership. Another goal for this year is to host an event with several other local organizations. Many of you belong to other organizations or are aware of other organizations and we would appreciate you forwarding organization contact information and event ideas to our Executive Director, Mary Margaret Lavelle. Networking with other organizations is a great way to make new contacts and further your own career.
Program chairs are busying coordinating Luncheon speakers, Business after Hours events and SME-U workshop speakers. Check the website frequently, it's updated often and offers a member news page and the ability to add your Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook information to your member profile!
