2020 RPCN Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame Gala Nominations Open
Nominations are open for the seven categories for RPCN’s sixth Annual Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame Gala. They are Consultant’s Consultant, Community Champion, Steve Royal Lifetime Achievement Award, Linda Halliburton Friend of RPCN Award, Dave Young Dedicated Service Award, Leadership Award, and Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
More information about each category and the nomination form are available here. Nominations close on Monday, March 2, 2020.
Join Rochester Professional Consultants Network (RPCN) for our sixth Annual Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame Gala on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at Glendoveers, 2838 Old Browncroft Blvd., Rochester, NY 14625. The gala begins with cocktails at 5:30 p.m. and dinner and awards at 6:00 p.m.
2020 RPCN Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame Gala Sponsorships Available
Sponsorship opportunities that will get your business in front of RPCN members and guests at the 2020 RPCN Entrepreneurs Wall of Fame Gala are available. The sponsorships are:
$500 Platinum: 5 minutes to talk about your business, put literature on tables, receive a list of attendees, have a link on the RPCN website, receive mentions on RPCN’s social media platforms, receive an ad in the July/August, September/October and November/December events flyers, have your logo on table tent card and receive a full-page ad in the event program.
$250 Gold: Receive a list of attendees, receive mentions on RPCN’s social media platforms, receive an ad in the July/August and September/October events flyer, have your logo on table tent card and receive a half-page ad in the event program.
$150 Silver: Receive a list of attendees, receive mentions on RPCN’s social media platforms, receive an ad in the July/August and September/October events flyer; have your logo on table tent card and receive a quarter-page ad in the event program.
Last week to register for RPCN's
5th Consultants Business Bootcamp!
Starting on February 10, 2020, RPCN will begin its fifth Consultants Business Bootcamp, a unique set of presentations, workshops and panel discussions helping participants learn how to start or improve their consulting business. Over the five Monday sessions, participants will:
Define their Services and Client Value
Identify and understand their target clients
Develop a plan to market themselves as a consultant
Learn how to build credibility and provide value
Learn how to present themselves and their value to prospective clients.
Obtain feedback on their value propositions from experienced successful business owners and consultants
Since its inception in 2012, the Consultant’s Business Bootcamp has given more than 85 new and experienced consultants terrific tools for building and improving their business for success. It's not too late to enroll and add your name to RPCN's Bootcamp alumni and kick-start your consulting business.
Read about the program, presenters, and sponsors here.
Update on the Enhancing Human Capital Lunch & Learn Sessions
We held the 10th RPCN EHC Lunch & Learn on Thursday, December 5 at 11:30 a.m. at Giuseppe’s Restaurant in Rochester and discussed Building Trust with Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Successful People. We had over a dozen attendees including two non-members and three first-time attendees. The discussion was lively and centered around trust and how to understand others better with special focus paid to Covey’s fourth Habit – “Think Win/Win.” This striving for outcomes beneficial to all parties was shown as essential in helping to build trust within and across teams. We continued the discussion by reviewing the six paradigms of human interaction (Win/Win; Win/Lose; Lose/Win; Lose/Lose; Win!; and Win/Win or No Deal) and when each form of interaction might be appropriate in business and in life in general. We also discussed the five elements of agreement and how, when they are all present prior to embarking on a new project, we have a natural framework on which to work in a trustful environment.
The 11th RPCN EHC Lunch-n-Learn was held on January 16 at 11:30 at Giuseppe’s. The session was enhanced by drawing on the profound wisdom of Charles Feltman in his renowned publication, The Thin Book of Trust. Our focus dwelt on four key aspects of trust, Sincerity, Reliability, Competence and Care as key factors necessary to consider in addressing our trust issues. In regard to restoring trust, we drew from a set of 7 guidelines he provided as a context to restoring faulty or damaged trust. Through it all, he emphasized the importance of intentionality in all our encounters to assure ultimate success.
On Thursday, February 20th (also at Giuseppe’s), we will tackle the elusive concept of accountability in a lunch and learn entitled: Accountability Starts With Trust. In this discussion, we will examine the definition of accountability and best practices for building it into the culture of a healthy organization.
To get more information about Enhance Human Capital (EHC), please contact the EHC team at EHC@rochesterconsultants.org.
Avoiding Grammar Glitches and other Bothersome Beasts #1
Numbers, numbers… how are they supposed to appear when in the midst of a bunch of words?
A few hints:
A common rule of thumb is that if a number appears in the content you are writing, the single-digit numbers are written out, so, “one through nine” is more correct than “1-9.” For larger numbers opinions vary. The traditional recommendation is that we should use numerals, so ”20 through 29.” However, there are exceptions to this. The first is when doing technical writing or any form that is specifically about numbers (a budget discussion is one example) numbers should be used. However, when numbers are not the main topic, such as for our RPCN Newsletter, words are preferable.
This is slightly complicated by my current favorite book on such issues, Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer, Copy Chief at Random House. Dreyer is not only not pleasantly relaxed about grammar rules, but he is also extremely funny. His book includes a seven (not 7) page chapter for writers on the use of numbers. I had originally written this piece for last month’s newsletter, but after submitting it to Melanie I discovered that Dreyer adds two points that I had omitted. First, once committed to either numerals or words, stay with the same form for all related references. In other words, “We had eight laptops between us, but in the other room there were 9 more,” would not meet with his approval.
Order:
With our newsletter in mind, I have lately been puzzled by the number of times I have seen a space between a numeral and its accompanying “th” e.g. “6 th.” It finally occurred to me that people may write it that way NOT because they think that the space belongs there (it doesn’t), but because they are trying to avoid the automatic turning of the “th” into superscript. The superscript is particularly annoying when it tends to try to continue as superscript in the following words. There are two ways around that. One easy way is, indeed, to type a space between the numeral and “th” but THEN backspace, so moving the “th” back into proximity to the numerals. Ta-da! You have beaten the dreaded superscript!
The other way, and that preferred by Dreyer, is for all references to order to be written as words. For example, “fourth” or “three hundredth” rather than “4th” or “300th.”
As mention earlier, there is an exception to most of the “preference for words” rule. When the order is the actual topic of what is being written. For example, If writing specifically about the order in which certain horses have placed in several races, he would prefer that we use numerals rather than words. This applies to ALL articles about numbers when they are the subject of the piece, such as budgets and accounting.
Installment 3: RPCN Accomplishments over 30 Years (1990-2020)
As I researched topics for this 30th Anniversary article, I unearthed this newsletter article written in October 2010 for RPCN’s 20th Anniversary. Wow! How things have changed in the last 10 years. The year 2010 was before Boot Camps, Pathstone, Enhancing Human Capital, U of R Vision, Awards Galas, Operations Team, 501C3, Trend Talks, Global Leadership Summit, etc. These newer accomplishments (and numbers of opportunities) need to be celebrated and added to the 20-yr info. But, the core values and sentiments are still there. Let’s make sure that we enjoy and make use of these opportunities.
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October 21, 2010
RPCN: 20 Years of Accomplishments (Delivering on the Promise)
By Bob Lurz
What has RPCN accomplished in its first 20 years? How do we answer such a question? There are no RPCN buildings or monuments, no institutions that RPCN has founded, no legislation passed because of RPCN. So what have we done that we can be proud of?
We’re an organization dedicated to serving its members, so I guess we’ll have to look to them to see the good we’ve done. Our Mission (promise) is to provide members opportunities for Networking,
Learning, and Mutual Support. I believe our “monuments” are the people who have benefitted in some way from their association with RPCN and its Mission. Let’s see how we’ve done with providing these opportunities.
Members: Starting with about 10 founding members, we hit a membership high of 240 in the mid-1990s (with a big Kodak and Xerox influx). We don’t know the exact number of “unique” members (by name) we’ve had. In the 1990s our membership turnover was about 40%. The average membership over many recent years has been between 100-120, with members coming from many different companies.
Assuming an average of 100 members per year, the total 20-year membership enrollment is 2000.
Meetings: Friday meetings started with two per month, and grew to four in the mid-1990s, with the Breakfast Club & Tech Group (now the Business and Technical Forums). As members and others sought information, explored consulting, started up and grew their business, RPCN directly touched the lives of about 18,000 attendees.
The more than 800 Friday meetings have been the main RPCN benefits and opportunities “vehicles” for members and guests. Adding conferences and other meetings make about 900 meetings. Adding Board and Committee meetings bring the total to about 1500 RPCN meetings of one type or another. (Innumerable spinoff meetings like one-on-one, etc., greatly increase the “opportunity” totals).
Opportunities: But, raw numbers are unimportant. Think about how 1500 RPCN Meetings have given us thousands of opportunities to:
Get to know each others’ aspirations for a career, exploring, startup, and business.
Build useful business networks (beyond former “networks as employees”).
Explore what it takes to be an entrepreneur/consultant, and decide to do it (or that it’s not for me).
Learn basics, techniques, and tips of how to start and run our business and be a great consultant.
Make presentations and facilitate at RPCN meetings, special events, and conferences. (And, in the process, showcase our knowledge and expertise. Also, build trust).
Explain our business and benefits in 30-seconds or less.
Give each other referrals, recommendations, and testimonials.
Do business with each other.
Also, because of RPCN, we’ve had many other opportunities to:
Write articles in the RPCN Newsletter.
Write pieces for the RPCN: Online Forums, Social Networking Groups, and Discussion List.
Lead and serve on RPCN Board, committees, projects.
Collaborate with other members on business projects.
Form “consulting alliances” to offer full-service consulting to clients.
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Delivering on the Promise
We have accomplished and delivered on the RPCN Mission (and continue to do it). This is our 20-year “living monument” to the consulting and business community.
Have You Heard an Inspiring Speaker?
Consider RPCN!
Since 2013 RPCN has been on a quest to “Learn from the Best”. We have brought in speakers who have made their mark in various aspects of business. We find many presenters through networking and at conferences, workshops, trade shows, universities, and professional organizations. Through these resources, we have engaged some very stimulating, insightful and inspiring speakers. Members have suggested a topic of interest or a speaker that turned out to be a real inspiration. Presenters have mentioned that speaking at RPCN is so interactive, they actually learned from the group.
In the recent few years, we have had some marvelous presenters on a variety of topical areas.
Business – of– Business
Marketing & Sales
Economic Opportunity
Consulting Fundamentals
Computer & Software Skills
We have been inviting members to participate more broadly in the programs.
Have you identified a topic that we seem to have missed in our offerings?
Have you been to a presentation or a conference where a presenter did such a good job, that you believe RPCN should hear him or her?
Have you been so inspired by a topic but you thought you could better?
Would you like to cover a topic of your own?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, as a member, RPCN may be the place to make your suggestion, recommend a speaker or a topic, or try out your material to hone your speaking skills.
We’ll even give you feedback as you compose your presentation, slides, and speech.
Some books which I have read have helped me in both my personal and professional lives. I love to read and enjoy exploring a variety of perspectives, views, and techniques the authors share. Here are highlights from my first choice. (Others will follow in subsequent issues of the RPCN Newsletter.)
Superbosses: How exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent by Sydney Finkelstein
I happened to find this book when browsing an online bookstore. The title had me hooked. I was not disappointed as the compilation is from the perspective of those who have worked for people who they thought were great bosses. It’s funny, but the attributes which seem to repeat consistently were the same for the exceptional managers and mentors I’ve worked for in the past. The things these great bosses have in common include that they:
Have a specific vision that energizes and inspires,
Push team members to stretch themselves,
Delegate but also get in the trenches to work with other team members,
Really get to know their team and what motivates them,
Be transparent, let those around them know their values and live them,
Really listen for understanding,
Give direction but don’t micro-manage,
Nurture and spend time as a team outside of the formal workspace,
Devote time to team building activities i.e., picnics, concerts, plays, sporting events,
Being proactive.
Apply these principles, together with your personal values, at work, play, and in your relationships, and I believe that you will improve your productivity and have a most fulfilling life.
Other books by this author: Why Smart Executives Fail: And what you can learn from their mistakes (2004); Breakout Strategy: Meeting the Challenge of Double-Digit Growth (2006).
Did You Know?
RPCN Bylaws (Or How RPCN is Required to Function)
Have you ever wondered how the Board of Directors knows what is acceptable for RPCN and what is not? Well, it turns out that our organization is required to operate using an extensive set of guidelines, known as the Bylaws,
The Bylaws cover virtually every aspect of RPCN, from elections to successions and everything in between. It makes for some interesting reading and will provide you with intimate knowledge of your organization.
Here is how to find the Bylaws:
First, log in to the RPCN Website. Then, under Members Only, scroll down to Bylaws. This page will take you to links to the most current (and past) Bylaws in both PDF and .docx formats. The Bylaws are updated whenever a change is made which warrants it. The last update was in 2017.
Take a look at the structure behind RPCN. It can help you better understand why our organization operates the way it does.
Not an RPCN member? You can join RPCN now to receive great benefits, including free admission to RPCN presentations, a listing in the RPCN Member Directory, and discounts to RPCN events. Click here for more information on joining RPCN.
Program Ad Sheets
At every RPCN meeting, and at our events and tradeshow booths, RPCN distributes the Program Ad sheets.
Ads are inexpensive and support RPCN. The cost for members to advertise is $20 for 2 months. For non-members, the cost is $40 for 2 months. The deadline to get your ad included in the March/April 2020 calendar ad sheet is February 14, 2020. Sign up for your ad here.
A note from our copyeditor:
Good day, RPCN members:
As you know, I “pre-edit” the RPCN before sending it on to Melanie, who puts the newsletter together. This note is just to help us keep things in order because the system sometimes becomes rather more complicated than it sounds here.
In order to help me to retain my sanity, and to avoid my stretching Melanie’s to its limits as well, would you please, if possible:
1. Get your copy of the newsletter to us as close to the 21st of the month as is possible. (It is much more efficient if I can edit them all over a short period.)
2. Put your name and “RPCN newsletter” in the subject line.
3. Make sure that the piece you have just finished writing IS the piece that you actually send us.
The RPCN newsletter welcomes news, success stories, tips, resources, events and other items that would be of broad interest to consultants. Submit a newsletter item to newsletter@rochesterconsultants.org for inclusion.
Numbers, numbers… how are they supposed to appear when in the midst of a bunch of words?
Superbosses: How exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent by Sydney Finkelstein
RPCN Bylaws (Or How RPCN is Required to Function)