Previous Startup Weekend events have taken place in Boulder, New York City, San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta and Seattle.

Image: sxc.hu

Basically how it works is this … On Friday evening of the weekend, people are invited to pitch ideas for a new startup business. Teams are then formed around the most interesting ideas and they begin to formulate a plan to get things accomplished over the weekend. Teams work all day and evening on Saturday, finishing up on Sunday before giving presentations about their group’s accomplishments and future plans.

“Great ideas for businesses are plentiful, but very few people have what it takes to launch a great idea on their own,” said Shannon Paul, local organizer for Startup Weekend Detroit. “Startup Weekend is about encouraging the kind of collaboration essential to building communities of innovation and entrepreneurship.”

Everyone from marketing and PR people to technical gurus and graphic designers are encouraged to attend. You can learn more at detroit.startupweekend.com.

Schedule:

• Friday, Mar. 27 from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• Saturday, Mar. 28 from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Sunday, Mar. 29 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Location:

Compuware World Headquarters (2nd Floor), located at One Campus Martius in Detroit. Covered parking will be free in the adjacent parking structure.

Pre-registration is required and tickets can be purchased online for $40. Space is limited.

Image: svilen001 – sxc.hu

Post from: EveryJoe

Startup Weekend Detroit

So when I got my renewal letter, I wondered if it was worth it.

I spoke with friend Bonnie Ausfeld. She’s author of Business Networking Techniques for the Professional, or How Do I Get YOU To Remember Me and What It Is That I Do.

She told me that the reality is networking, like any other marketing tool, needs effort to make it a success.  Then she gave me some tips to make a business networking membership pay for itself – and more. I’d like to share some with you:

1. Be committed. What was your attendance at the meetings this year? Are you making your networking meetings a priority on your schedule? Some members do not receive a referral principally due to poor attendance.
2. Be on time. Members lose out on referrals when they are consistently late for meetings because the concern is that they will not be on time to the referred client and/or will not provide the information requested on time.
3. Sharing information freely. Help the members learn who you are and what it is that you do even if you think that they should already know. It also gives the opportunity to tell the members exactly what kind of referrals you are seeking.
4. Make new connections. What has been your commitment to the growth of the membership?” When you bring into the group qualified members, this helps you to be viewed as an expert in your field by the person you are introducing to the membership and enables your fellow members to connect with the new members connections.
5. Give to get. Are you “giving” referrals where the member can use your name? When you give, you will receive back double and sometimes triple what you gave. It may take longer than you expect, however it does almost always happen this way.

Soon after I decided to renew, a few interesting things happened for me: I got two referrals to big paying clients, I found a new joint venture partner – and I was elected president of the group.

Post from: EveryJoe

Did you get a ROI in your business networking group this year?