Kelly Hoey · Strategic Networking Expert

Last month, I was fortunate to be asked to participate in a 2-day client symposium for law firm CMOs and Managing Partners put together by my brilliant friends at The Wicker Park Group [wickerparkgroup.com]. Nat and Laura curated a highly interactive and engaged group of professionals to discuss innovative law firm marketing initiatives, cutting-edge client service and focused business development strategies- all with an underlying focus on what’s game-changing now.

To discuss what’s game-changing, you need to know something about the traits of game-changers. The fabulous Sara …

I was contacted this morning by a business writer for a major national newspaper. This writer is looking for small business owners who travel for business and whose employees travel for business.

With a global network of inspired, empowered women – many who are small business entrepreneurs – I suspect you have opinions on business travel.

Here are the questions the business writer wants to discuss:

One: Do you manage your employees’ business travel in any way? If so, what travel management companies/tools do you use?

Two: If not, how do your employees arrange/plan their trave…

On May 25th 85 Broads and Collective-E members gathered together to discuss social ventures: not-for-profit organizations and for-profit companies that “give back” or being more visionary about the type of world we want to live in, “give forward” to improve lives, communities and the plant.

Organized by Beth Schoenfeldt, co-founder of Collective-E and Diana Sonis of 85 Broads, the evening focused on an interactive panel discussion. The panel was made up of 85Broad and Collective-E members – who all had an interesting mix of experiences. Here’s Beth’s overview of the evening:

Social …

Networking. Why does the word strike fear into the hearts of so many professionals (particularly lawyers)? Networking is about connecting with other people. That’s right, connecting. Not schmoozing, not sales, not “what can you do for me right now”. Think long-term relationship building, rapport, meaningful, genuine connections. And building those sort of relationships takes time – so no short-cuts, quick “how to” or 3 step guides, or you’re likely to shortcut the opportunity to really get to know someone.

This applies whether you connect with someone in person or online. There is a r…

I’m a tea drinker – that is my choice of morning caffeine. English style, with milk. It’s what I need to get my day started. Except today. Today’s energy and focus came from Linkedin. Yes, Linkedin. I spent over 2 hours updating my profile.

Why? Quite simply, I hadn’t fully completed my profile. And the relevance of that (on Linkedin, 85 Broads or on any social networking website) is who can find you, who can find out what you know, who can make connections with you based on shared interests, employers, educational institutions – if you don’t include that information in your profile.
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Kevin O’Keefe is a high energy, power-house of information on blogging and using social media for law-firm marketing. He’s the CEO of LexBlog, Inc., a former trial attorney and someone I’ve developed a deep professional relationship with – all through Twitter. Kevin was in New York recently for LegalTech 2010 and after 45 minutes of highly animated discussion, we plotted a course of action to combine my passion for connecting, networking and 85 Broads with Kevin’s expertise of how and why “professionals” such as lawyers should shed their fear of social media tools and actively start marketi…