When: Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Where: Parlour, 270 Adelaide Street West

Time: 6pm-8pm

Registration: http://guestli.st/96087

• JCI Toronto’s Brand Strategy
• Calendar of events
• Annual Budget
• Organizational Structure

For members,this is an important process that requires your input.  For prospective members, this is an opportunity to explore the various volunteer opportunities that are available to help you develop your leadership skills.
Following the meeting we’ll be heading down the street to The Elephant & Castle (King & Simcoe) for drinks / a bite to eat and any 1-1 questions you would like to ask members of the JCI Toronto Executive.

Join JCI Toronto for your final Apres Work Social of 2011 @ Nyood.

DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 2011
TIME: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: 1096 Queen St. W. (at Dovercourt)
REGISTRATION: http://guestlistapp.com/events/74478

Canada’sSales & Innovation Conference Toronto | November 22nd, 2011 | 8:45AM – 4:30PM | Metro Toronto Convention Centre

On November 22nd, 2011 thousands of professionals from across Canada will gather in Toronto to discover the ideas and trends that are shaping the future of sales. Join them and hear from the world’s most renowned experts, leaders and bestselling authors, including…

* Seth Godin – Sales & Marketing Innovation
* Barbara Corcoran – Sales Success & Personal Branding
* Keith Ferrazzi – Relationships for Revenue Growth
* Sally Hogshead – Persuasion & Influence
* Jerry Greenfield – Values-Based Selling

Through this special offer, you and your colleagues can take advantage of our preferred pricing and SAVE $50 off the regular price of $399 by using promo code NM24.

PLUS – when you register 3 or more people, you’ll save an ADDITIONAL $50 off each ticket!

BONUS – you’ll also receive a FREE copy of Seth Godin’s latest book Poke the Box.

Register Now - https://www.theartofsales.ca/promo/NM24

JCI Toronto is kicking off its Leadership & Entrepreneur Conference with an Opening Night Party that will combine networking, a couple of artistic surprises and dancing. We purposely made this event open to non conference attendees, because where networking is concerned, the more the merrier!

The event will be held at Home Nightclub, a new venue that is owned by former JCI Toronto members. You even have time to grab a bite to eat and whatever else you fancy before festivities begin.

• 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm: Networking
• 9:30 pm – 10:00 pm: Opening Night Remarks
• 10:00 pm – 12:00 am: Dancing (there is no hard stop)

Start your weekend early (the right way) by meeting young professionals and entrepreneurs from all across Canada at this unique event. Tickets are only $20 and can be purchased here (limited availability at the door).

Date: Sept 22 – 24, 2011

Location: Toronto – Toronto Board of Trade, 1 King West, among many more!

Registration:  www.cosmopolitan2011.com

This travelling national leadership conference lands in Toronto Sept 22 – 24^th 2011 at the Toronto Board of Trade by day and 1 King West by night, with nightly access to the Vault for after-soirées.  You will:

• Connect - with 150 forward thinking young professionals from various industries and functional areas in a more personal way. We don’t discriminate; in fact, we think you’ll benefit from the diverse perspectives represented.
• Cultivate – your skills with training sessions led by professionals such as Sprouter’s Erin Bury. Training covers the corporate, entrepreneurial and not-for-profit sectors, which you will likely experience before you retire to a yacht off of a Mediterranean Island (we have high hopes for you).
• Create - opportunities for yourself based on your new connections, skills, and inspiration from our Key Note Speakers. One of whom is Stuart Knight, a dashing and hilarious entrepreneur who has used his passion for entertaining, writing and motivating the masses to create a 15 year, self directed career.

Tickets are on sale now!  For more information check outwww.cosmopolitan2011.com.

Date: July 13, 2011
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: Metro Hall, 55 John Street, Toronto, Ontario  M5V 3C6
Registration: http://guestlistapp.com/events/63003

According to Entrepreneur.com “Social Media Marketing has become a prized resource for small businesses and many business owners now say their efforts are paying off”.

Social media represents an exceptional opportunity for small businesses and non-profits to engage their customers reach new prospects and market their organizations more effectively.

The online magazine added that “getting started without any previous experience or insight could be challenging”

This session aims to help in surmounting that challenge by walking you through five practical strategies that help an organization gets started online:

• Identify how to engage with people
• Integrate online activities
• Develop content and find ways to effectively reuse it
• Turn online connections into real business leads

Lisa Kember is the Regional Development Director for Constant Contact a company that helps small businesses, associations, and nonprofits connecting with their customers, clients, and members since 1998 She teaches best practices in online marketing to the company’s clients

Lisa is also an entrepreneur. She launched Hyperactive Communications, a business marketing agency, in 1999 and worked with the likes of Canada Life, Research in Motion, EllisDon Corporation, AMJ Campbell, GE Canada, and ICICI Bank Canada. She currently holds ownership in two ventures in the real estate and educational sectors.

Recognized for her leadership, Lisa has been honoured with numerous business awards. She is active in the business community, sitting on the board of directors for the Mississauga Board of Trade and writing frequently for the Business Times.

Lisa holds a BA in Honours English from University of Waterloo, a marketing certificate from Ryerson University, and a Resource Development Management diploma from Sheridan College.

DATE: Wednesday, June 29, 2011
TIME: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Brassaii, 461 King Street West
REGISTRATION: Free to JCI Toronto members and subscribers to our eNewsletter. Registration is required.http://guestlistapp.com/events/60024

Located in the heart of the stylish King West District, Brassaii Restaurant and Lounge is Toronto’s sophisticated nouveau riche cosmopolitan and culture destination. Nestled amidst a romantic cobblestone palazzo courtyard and charming outdoor patio, Brassaii embraces its architectural heritage, elevating your experience to an expedition in urban archeology and design.   Join JCI Toronto as it hosts another Apres Work Social for networking and meeting new people at Brassai for an enjoyable social gathering ambiance.

The ‘Breakfast with a CEO’ event this Wednesday was a huge success. Our generous host, Shauna Cooper, spoke for about half an hour describing her career path, some of the challenges she’s faced, and the opportunities she’d been given. One of the big takeaways was that we should not limit ourselves to the jobs that exist; we can always decide what job we want and convince someone that they should give it to us. A remarkable example from Shauna’s own life is the more than a decade she spent working part-time in full-time roles while at BMO, a decision she made in order to better balance her home life (priority number 1) with work (a close second). Over that timeframe, she held several roles in many areas of the firm, roles that are not typically available on a part-time basis. How did she do it? She made her case and sold it well, followed of course by proper execution, which helped open doors that led to increasingly senior positions within the firm.

After a long career with BMO, she was offered a job working with an upstart firm from the U.S. with whom she was working on an outsourcing deal for the bank. Surely no small risk, but she took the offer. Consolidation in the HR outsourcing sector saw her survive two different acquisitions over the next few years, and eventually landed her a job as the CEO of Aon Hewitt Outsourcing Canada.

Shauna then spent over an hour addressing questions from the twelve people in attendance, a good mix of JCI members and non-members (for now at least). While a full transcript at this point would probably make for interesting reading, I’ll attempt to summarize some of the important bits of wisdom she imparted.

• Know your priorities. Despite her obvious ambition, Shauna prioritized her family life, and spent years working part-time so she could have time with her three children. If you are willing to work hard, you can have both.
• Don’t think you always need to move up. Shauna held many roles in her time with BMO, and when she switched positions they were not always promotions. Lateral moves within an organization can provide you the chance to develop relationships with other people in the company, and learn new skills that can be applied elsewhere.
• Love your job, but if you don’t, be passionate about doing the best job you can. While everyone wants to have a natural passion for whatever they are doing, inevitably most of us will find ourselves in a position that we find less than satisfying. Shauna found herself in this position a few times in her career, but she found passion for the work not from the job itself, but from her desire to do the best job she could. In the end, this type of attitude can only help you move on to bigger and better things.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks. Leaving a long career with BMO must not have been easy. Leaving the security of a large company that most likely isn’t going out of business anytime soon for an upstart that just got their first customer in Canada must have been even harder. Without taking big risks however, you can miss out on the big rewards, like running a big organization like she does now.
• It’s who you know, but not just who you know. Shauna told us that it is certainly important to connect with the right people and build relationships. These are the people that are going to help push your career forward by offering you jobs and promotions. At the same time, hard work should not be discounted. Buckle down and show these same people what you’re capable of and opportunities will find you as well.

I wish I could do justice to the breakfast, but I guess you had to be there. My advice, don’t miss out next time and be the first one to sign up for the next ‘Breakfast with a CEO’ event.

Jaime Macrae