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Picture Yourself … as a Successful Consultant!
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 “Picture Yourself … as a successful consultant,” the RPCN’s full-day conference, coming up on Wednesday, October 15, at MCC, will be the event of the season. We have an excellent keynote speaker lined up: Dr. Bruce Katcher (pictured), founder and executive director of the Center for Independent Consulting and author of An Insider’s Guide to Building a Successful Consulting Practice.
The conference will focus on ways and tools to grow and expand your small/consulting business. We’ll have many interesting and helpful topics in three tracks focusing on consulting fundamentals, marketing and selling, and business building. Whether you are well-seasoned or just starting out, we’ll have something for you.
Registration for the conference is now open at www.RPCNConference.com. The early-bird registration price for RPCN members is only $99; it is $139 for non-members. Rates will go up to $129 and $169 respectively after September 15, so sign up now and save some money.
There will also be a conference booklet that will be given to all attendees in which you can place an ad for between $25 (1/8 page) and $100 (full page). We are expecting 100–200 attendees, so that should be a very cost-effective way to get your message across. If you, or someone you know, would like to advertise at the conference, please check out the website or contact Dave Bassett at dbassett@bassett.pro.
Exhibitor space (but only room for 12 exhibitors, so those will go quickly!) and sponsorship opportunities are also available. If you, or someone you know, would like to sponsor or exhibit at the conference, please check out the conference website or contact Tracey Aiello at tracey@winningcareerstrategies.com.
If you are interested in helping with this conference, we’d love to have you. The Conference Committee has been meeting at 3 PM on Thursdays at the Corner Bakery Café (3300 Monroe Avenue in Pittsford, across the street from the Pittsford Plaza). We have our program well hammered-out, but still have a lot of work to do. Our main areas of focus now are recruiting sponsors, exhibitors and advertisers; publicizing the conference; and putting together the conference program booklet. We are looking for someone to head up our efforts in getting advertisers.
As we get closer to the 15th of October, we’ll be looking for help with registration, putting together conference materials and day-of-the-event activities. If you’d like to help, we have a subcommittee that can use your skills; it’s a great way to get to know other RPCN members and demonstrate your skills. Please join us. Contact Dave Bassett at (585) 739-9726 or dbassett@bassett.pro for more details.
It will be a great conference. We hope to see you there.
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Opportunities abound to get involved with RPCN
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By Dave Bassett, RPCN President
 With RPCN entering its 25th year, we have a lot going on. We’ve held a series of strategic planning and implementation sessions with the membership and have gotten a lot of great ideas on how to implement the strategies and a lot of volunteers to help the board in doing just that. Our most recent session was held on August 8 and we’ll be sending an e-mail documenting that discussion in the next week or so.
What’s a 25th anniversary without some big events? Well, we won’t be letting you down. We’ll be holding a full-day conference on October 15 and bringing back the TrendTalks this winter. I’m very pleased to announce that Bob Lurz has agreed to move up the Consultants Boot Camp schedule from once every two years and will be holding another one this winter – likely in February and March. Details on that to come.
 In addition to those and our regular Friday morning meetings, we also have some special events planned. We held another fun “Surprise Thursday” networking session at the Flower City Grill on August’s Fifth Friday Eve. What’s the Fifth Friday Eve, you might ask? Well, it’s more commonly known as the Thursday preceding the fifth Friday of a month, when we don't hold regular morning meetings. When you see one coming up, watch for a Thursday evening social networking event (though we may skip one in October, as most people probably already have plans for Halloween). (Ed. note: See more photos from Surprise Thursday on the RPCN Facebook page.)
We are planning an evening boat ride on September 24 to enjoy our late summer/early fall weather (see the calendar at right). We also have plans for a special event this spring – details on that to come as the 25th Anniversary Committee finalizes them.
We will also have a lot of things going on behind the scenes. We have a website that has served our membership well since the last major revamping back around 2009, but a lot of things, especially social media, have evolved greatly since then. We will be revamping that in these coming months to take better advantage of social media and reach out to additional audiences. The Marketing Committee has been working closely with the web committee to plan these changes. The Communication Committee is also involved. We’re also looking into adding the ability to allow members to attend our regular meetings over the web.
Our Communication Committee remains committed to ensuring that our message gets out clearly and succinctly. They work diligently behind the scenes, and not just on creating and producing this newsletter. Messages that go out to our membership and outside groups have also received their gentle touch. Our Hospitality Committee staffs the table at Brighton Town Hall every other week and our Library Committee maintains an extensive collection of books valuable to consultants that our members may take out on loan. Our Alliances Committee continues to work to strengthen our connections to groups such as RochesterWorks!, High Tech Rochester, the Small Business Development Council and the IEEE, among others.
With all these activities, plus several others, it’s a busy time for RPCN. It’s also fun. If you’d like to help, we’d love to have you contribute. All of our committees are actively looking for volunteers to help out. If you’re interested, please check out the website to get the contact info for the particular committee you’re interested in or contact me at dbassett@bassett.pro.
Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts on how we’re doing, what you think we’re doing well and what you think we could do better. The members are the lifeblood of RPCN and we look forward to your enthusiasm and continued participation. Thank you for your support!
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Professional development: The 9th Annual “Build Your Business” conference hosted by Communication Central takes place on September 26–27 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Rochester. This conference for entrepreneurial communicators offers tools of the writing, editing and proofreading trade and covers approaches to the freelance lifestyle. Topics include finding clients, marketing, pricing, networking and balancing work and family, among others. RPCN members can take advantage of the Colleague rate, and the early-bird deadline has been extended to August 31. More info.
Networking: AMA|Rochester hosts its Fall Kick-Off Networking Event on Wednesday, September 10, from 5:30– 7:30 PM at Havana Cabana Island Cafe & Rum Bar, 289 Alexander St., Rochester. Enjoy the summer weather while you still can and network with other marketing professionals. More info.
Starting a Business: SCORE of Greater Rochester hosts a five-part series of three-hour workshops designed to give you the tools, information and advice you need to succeed. Simple Steps for Starting a Business Boot Camp begins on Saturday, September 6, from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM at the Rochester Business Alliance, 150 State Street, Rochester. More info.
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We want you!
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The RPCN newsletter welcomes news, success stories, tips, resources, event announcements and other items that would be of interest to consultants. Submit a newsletter item by email to the Communication Committee. RPCN members also may write articles for our website; submit articles here. In the newsletter, we'll highlight submitted articles aimed at helping consultants make their businesses better.
If you have newsletter questions or suggestions, or ideas for how RPCN could improve communications, contact the Communication Committee:
Janice Hanson, Chair
Barbara Moore
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
Steve Royal
Collin Paran
Please send articles for the October newsletter by September 15, 2014.
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Upcoming events
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Technical Forum
facilitated by Steve Royal
Friday, September 5, 2014
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Pittsford Community Library
An informal, facilitated roundtable discussion of any technical issues that consultants encounter in running their businesses, including computers, the Internet and phones. Wondering what kind of questions people are asking? For a list from recent forums, click here.
Helping Your Clients Understand Theirs
presented by Jon Siegel
Friday, September 12, 2014
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Brighton Town Hall - Downstairs Meeting Room
Traditionally, market research has been unaffordable for smaller businesses and non-profits. This is rapidly changing as a technological revolution is transforming this industry. “Do-it-yourself” tools like Survey Monkey are only a small part of this transformation. RPCN members are in a unique position to help their clients take advantage of these changes.
This talk will describe how technology is changing what smaller businesses and non-profits can do and describe several innovative firms and approaches that you may want to add to your toolbox of resources. Here is a short video introduction to his presentation.
Business Forum
facilitated by Bob Lurz
Friday, September 19, 2014
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Pittsford Community Library
An informal, facilitated roundtable discussion of issues regarding starting or running a consulting business. Wondering what kind of questions people are asking? For a list from recent forums, click here.
RPCN Board Meeting
Friday, September 19, 2014
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Pittsford Community Library
RPCN’s monthly board meeting begins at approximately 10:00 AM, after the Business Forum. Everyone is welcome to attend, but only board members may vote.
Erie Canal Cruise & Dinner
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Join your RPCN colleagues for a special evening boat ride on the Colonial Belle and an Italian buffet dinner. The cost is $20 Members, $30 RPCN Guests. Pre-register for the event on the RPCN website.
Transforming Kodak Alaris: A customer-driven approach
presented by Jack Rieger
Friday, September 26, 2014
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
Brighton Town Hall - Downstairs Meeting Room
Traditional approaches to business planning and product development are inefficient and suffer high risk of failure. A customer-driven lean startup approach is the method used by leading Silicon Valley firms today. Adopting these methods is both vital and difficult for established companies.
Jack Rieger of Kodak Alaris will review the approach and lessons learned from the battlefield. Here is a short video introduction to his presentation.
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Making your business better
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Travel tips: For consultants who travel, RPCN member Rosemarie Caillier describes three exercises that you should do on long plane rides to prevent blood clots from forming, including walking the aisles, moving your feet while sitting and stretching. See her blog Foot Scribe, Live Well on Healthy Feet.
Working at home: “When you’re at home, folks experience a much narrower range of your amazingness.” Jolie M. discusses the pros and cons of working out of your home in her article Why It’s Okay to Do Laundry When You Work at Home.
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