Cleveland Park Library 
1st Floor Large Meeting Room 
3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
(map) 

Description: Business isn't what you know, it's who you know. We've all heard this classic. But how do you get to know the people you need to know to be successful?

At this event experienced networkers talk about the tools, groups, and techniques they used.

Moderator: Andy Forbes is the fourth-most-connected LinkedIn user in the Washington, DC, area. He is an active member of Netpreneur (moderating its "Talk the Talk" dicussion list), the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs, and the American Small Business Coalition.

Currently the director of product development at NuRide, Andy has been a business founder, business owner, consultant, director of IT, software engineer, and more. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Andy may be reached via e-mail.

Panelists: Melinda Sigal is the second-most-connected LinkedIn user in the Washington, DC, area. She has been involved in many nonprofit organizations and networking groups, including the Amercan Marketing Association and the Marketing Executive Networking Group. Melinda started the American Business Women's Association Chicagoland Express Network in the year 2000, building it to more than 100 active members in less than 2 years.

Melinda is an integrated marketing/promotion executive specializing in strategic marketing, branding, promotions, advertising, event marketing, and public relations. Working on brands such as Dannon, Heinz, Nestle, Kraft, Hormel, Dentyne, Trident, Halls, Rolaids, Neutrogena, Dial, Vidal Sassoon, and Timex, Melinda has helped companies and agencies use new ways to grow and sell their products and services. In addition, Melinda Sigal has more than 8 years of management level business and not-for-profit foundation experience with organizations such as the National Association of Women Business Owners, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Genesis House.

JD Kathuria is the co-founder of ExecutiveBiz, a new area networking group. He is also the editor of Potomac ExecutiveBiz, the weekly digital magazine of the Potomac Officers Club. With a circulation of more than 30,000 DC area professionals, Potomac ExecutiveBiz has inside access to business and government leaders. It provides the local executive with the information needed for operating a successful business, a look at the people who matter most in the Washington, DC, business scene, and useful business intelligence.

Sid Smith is a partner at the international law firm of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, where he represents clients in a range of corporate, securities, and intellectual property matters including public and private financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, licensing, and securities regulatory compliance. His clients include: Radio One, Inc., Wirespan Communications, Inc., Riptopia, L.L.C., Yarto International Group, L.P., and The SEED School.

Sid co-founded The Exchange, Inc., an organization of African American entrepreneurs, technology executives, venture capitalists, and investment bankers designed to increase business opportunities for African American business people and business owners. He is also a Charter Member of The Marathon Club, a private nonprofit organization focused on increasing the availability and investment of private equity capital into businesses that have significant minority ownership or management participation. Sid is active in a number of community organizations, including serving as Advisory Board Co-Chair for the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce Incubator Program and as Advisory Board Chair for the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Greater Washington Division, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching low-income students how to start their own businesses.

Stephanie Bauer is a product manager at Merchant Link, where she is responsible for defining existing products and directing the strategy for creating new products. Prior to Merchant Link, she was Product Manager, Internet & New Media, at the leading wireless association and oversaw CTIA-The Wireless Association(tm) online initiatives. She led the site through three major overhauls and various product launches, marketed and managed new subscription-based e-mail products, and implemented revenue-generating partnerships. Before her role at CTIA, Stephanie held a marketing position at SatoTravel, a travel management firm, where she provided marketing services to more than 500 offices worldwide.

Stephanie Bauer has a BA in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government from American University, with international experience in trade relations at the Université catholique de Louvain in Brussels, Belgium. She has an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Stephanie is the Chair of the MBA Alumni Committee of the Robert H. Smith School of Business Alumni Association at the University of Maryland. She also was the co-founder and first president of the Part-Time MBA Association. Stephanie Bauer leads the "Ask the Expert" Series from Netpreneur, a monthly panel aimed at helping entrepreneurs build their businesses.

Agenda 

12:45 pm	Check-In
1:00 pm	Welcome & Announcements
1:10 pm	"And You Can Quote Me on That . . . " Tax Updates & Accounting Tips, Jina Etienne, CPA
1:20 pm	Panel Discussion: When, Where, and How To Network!
2:20 pm	Q&A
2:50 pm	Closing announcements
3:00 pm	Informal queries, conversation, networking

Presentation Description | Speaker Information | Meeting Agenda | Location  | Sponsors | Registration 

Location: One-half block south of the Cineplex Odeon Uptown movie theatre on Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. (There are many restaurants suitable for pre- or post-meeting gathering/networking/refreshment in the block north of the library.) 

Parking: Very small lot, off Macomb St., to left of library. 

Metrorail--Cleveland Park Station on the Red Line (on Connecticut Avenue, just 1.5 blocks north of meeting site) 

Several times a year a smaller group (usually about 8 to 15) goes to Nanny O'Brien's (directly across the street from the Cleveland Park Library at 3319 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 202-686-9189, open 2 pm Saturday to 2 am Sunday) or another local establishment for continued conversation, networking, and refreshment following the meeting. (Participants pay for their own beverages and  food.)  

Join us!