The Ottawa Network Presents

Inspiring a Sale From the Buyers Side
The First Step in Turning Selling into Buying

April 27, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm

@

bitHeads Inc.
1309 Carling Avenue
(entrance at east end of Westgate Shopping Centre)

Do you need to influence investors, partners or customers to buy products, ideas or services, or to buy into a vision? All of us influence and persuade other people every day, at work and in our personal lives. 

This session will focus on how to find and use a customer’s REAL psychological drivers to buy. Old school techniques of spraying features and functions and hoping, produce only random success and wasted effort. In today’s more sophisticated markets, discovering what drives another person’s business and decisions is essential before proposing a solution. The same applies to finding partners and investors. 

So come and experience our dynamic speaker and add insights and practical tools to your approach to sales influence. Discover how simple techniques can deliver dramatic results, whether you are a business owner, marketer, project manager or just thinking about a startup.

Trevor Wilkins
Principal of Holis Associates

Trevor Wilkins is an engineer turned software developer, who has ‘jumped the fence’ and been selling complex solutions worldwide for 25 years. He has been involved in or led start-ups large and small, from owner/developer in a garage, through to Director of a NASDAQ middleware company; from the City of London to the America’s Cup; in software and hardware technology; in the Americas, Europe and the Far East.

Trevor and his team have developed a radical and highly effective approach to selling which they deliver as the BCI Programme™. This session is a short snapshot of a key component of the broader BCI programme.

Event Moderator: Walter Knitl, The Ottawa Network
 

Click here for registration details.

The event is free of charge to TON members and anyone who would like to experience TON networking before deciding on membership.

Mentorship and Coaching – Getting it Right for Your Company

Why should you look for a mentor for your new business? Martin Horne, co-founder of the financial consulting company the Finelyne Group, maintains that businesses need coaches to help them make their products commercially successful. If it’s something that the CEOs of Google and Apple both use today, then start-ups shouldn’t turn up their noses either!

Martin moderated the April 13 session of TON, graciously hosted by Gowling’s and attended by 50 or more young company CEOs, ambitious start-ups, established companies and more. The two panellists, Bruce Lazenby, TEC Chair and Denis Colbourne, President and CEO of DC-Technologies Ltd., have both been mentors and advisors to different companies for many years. Here now, the top tips from the discussion.

How should you choose your board?

Experienced, challenging and someone not afraid to ask you the tough questions is what you should be looking for. Someone who can tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. “If you are really, really comfortable with your mentor,” says Bruce, “it’s probably the wrong person.”

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Gowlings Monthly TON “Starting your Start-Up Series” Presents:

(160 Elgin Street, 26^th Floor)

Business is a team sport!
Developing a winning game plan with mentors, coaches, and advisors.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 (5:30pm - 7:30pm)

Much like with sports, every winning business team has a group of dedicated, experienced, and enthusiastic coaches and mentors who offer guidance from the sidelines.  Do you have a set of good coaches and mentors offering you guidance?  Do you want to have a team of mentors helping you?  Not sure where to start?  Please join our expert panel of Bruce Lazenby and Denis Colbourne, moderated by experienced Hi Tech CEO, Martin Horne, for a discussion on these topics and more.

Our panel will be discussing how establishing an advisory board of proven business mentors can help you to grow your business.  Establishing and maintaining a clear vision and direction for your company, developing new ideas from fresh perspectives, obtaining impartial and objective feedback, and helping to maximize your business opportunities are just a few of the benefits that you stand to gain by having the right board of advisors as part of your team.  So, it does not matter if you already have an established board of advisors, or if you are looking to find out how to create one….you will benefit from this session.

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Thinking of selling your product in China or India? TON Tuesday was another hit this week as the panel explored issues around bringing your products to Asia. The challenges and rewards were explored through a panel discussion featuring Mike Manson, CEO of TaraSpan, Ying Hou, National Vice-Chair of China Initiative from Gowlings Lafleur Henderson LLP, Marvin Hough, MBA, Executive in Residence of the Telfer School at the University of Ottawa and Mark Bolger, Regional Manager of Asia at Export Development Canada. Here now a summary of the discussion.

If you are contemplating taking your company to Asia, this session is a must-read!

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The Ottawa Network Presents: Focus on Business
with China and India
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 5:30-7:30 pm

bitHeads Inc.
1309 Carling Avenue
(Entrance at east end of Westgate Shopping Centre)

It’s a global village, and two of the largest villagers are China and India.

You will meet them at the village market, so be prepared to trade. Come hear and interact with our distinguished panel on doing business with China and India. Get informed on the rules and tips for both selling into the market and buying talent, labour and supplies. Also, how does business culture on all sides, Chinese, Indian and Canadian, factor in your success at the market?

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Gowlings Monthly TON “Starting your Startup Series” Presents:

Hiring the “A” Team – A “Mel & Mel” Production on Building for Success
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Please join our expert panel of Mel Polowin and Mel Mulligan for a discussion on how to build a core “A” team.  Topics for discussion will include:

• factors to consider in identifying the required skills, experience and personality for the team you need;
• how the right team can help attract financing;
• how to attract people to a start-up in today’s climate;
• how to ensure you also hire for “fit” (people prepared to work hard for your company’s success);
• how to protect your IP when hiring; and
• factors to consider when choosing consulting vs. temporary employment vs. permanent employment.

Gowlings is very pleased to host Starting Your Start-Up, The Ottawa Network monthly event stream that combines quality networking with practical advice and insights from industry leaders and subject matter experts.   Starting Your Start-Up focuses on the business basics that are the foundation for launching and building a successful start-up in these promising and challenging times including financing, team formation, business & product development, sales, and marketing.

This event is provided at no cost for members of The Ottawa Network. Click here for registration details.

Melanie Polowin, Partner, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP

Melanie Polowin is a partner in Gowlings’ Kanata Technology Office, practising in the Employment and Labour Law National Practice Group.  She advises businesses from start-ups to well established companies, on a wide range of employment issues touching every phase of the employment relationship, with emphasis on the high technology sector.

Melanie assists businesses and investors with the employment aspects of corporate life-cycle events, including starting up, financing, mergers and acquisitions, and IPOs.  She advises on compensation, termination planning, proprietary interest and non-competition protection, and helps implement effective contracts, policies, handbooks, human resources-management and risk-reduction strategies, based on the practical needs of each client’s business.  Melanie also has considerable experience in managing and resolving employment disputes.

Mel Mulligan, President, Mel Mulligan & Associates

Drawing on over twenty years of progressive experience in business & human resources management, program, product and manufacturing management roles, Mel has worked with a variety of organizations in Canada, USA and internationally.  Over the last number of  years, Mel has focused on assisting in the design and rapid build of new companies, re-positioning or turn around of existing businesses, and he has also participated in conducting due diligence, acquisition and/or integration of 45+ companies located around the world.  He has worked in a number of industry verticals including on-line media; on-line financial and traditional brokerage services; high performance computing (hardware & software) solutions; enterprise software products and services; internet related products, services and consulting; telecom; and, aerospace & defence design and manufacturing.  Mel has also worked with clients in the federal and provincial public service, employee health benefits insurance, investment banking, and commercial construction industries.

Mel and his team can assist organizations attain their objectives through the provision of confidential “on demand” HR management services and solutions.

This event is provided at no cost for members of The Ottawa Network. Click here for registration details.