An Inspired Beginning
8:00–8:45 a.m.

Women are encouraged to arrive between these hours to register, pick up the event day packet, enjoy hot coffee and a continental breakfast, visit businesses booths and begin strategic networking with other women before the formal morning program begins. Come early and settle into the cozy and relaxed environment while enjoying soothing music by guitarist Kelly Birtch. Create some early morning "ties" before this busy and inspirational day begins.

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The Women TIES Retreat Welcome
Speaker: Tracy Higginbotham
8:45–9:00 a.m.

Join Women TIES President Tracy Higginbotham as she kicks-off the retreat with a warm welcome, a signature sales tool for the day and an overview of the amazing line-up of women, wisdom and warmth that will fill the day's activities.

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Making Different Work
Keynote Speaker: Julie Pech
9:00–9:45 a.m.

To achieve great entrepreneurial heights, it is imperative women business owners understand how and why they are unique in the marketplace. Sometimes discovering how we are different and finding our own moment of truth determines the course of our business venture. Daring to be different takes guts, discipline and determination.

Denver Colorado woman entrepreneur and author Julie Pech, Owner of The Chocolate Therapist, LLC, a company that produces and sells healthy chocolate and coffee along with "The Chocolate Therapist" book series, will share her philosophy about embracing uniqueness and making different work. Highlights of her keynote address will discuss unconventional business wisdom that has led to her success. Learn how realizing what makes you different is more beneficial than fitting in; how serendipity can play a part in making important business decisions; and how leaping first and looking for the parachute later catapults dreams quicker.

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The Joy & Challenge of Managing "You" the Brand
Speaker: Gwen Webber-McLeod
9:45–10:30 a.m.

Most women entrepreneurs begin their enterprises as sole proprietors or as small business owners. As the leaders of these types of companies, we create a corporate brand based on our personal leadership skills, actions, and communication. We become the key factor in the brand of our corporation whether we want the responsibility, role or scrutiny. We are "our company" and its perception can be affected by both positive and negative perceptions in the community.

Gwen Webber-McLeod, President of Gwen, Inc., a woman who named her company after herself, will share the thoughts behind incorporating her name into her business and what she learned about branding to help other women entrepreneurs. She will also discuss the importance of representing your corporate brand consistently in terms of word or deed and how to strategically 'clone' yourself in others so they can deliver your brand the way you do. She will also touch on the personal challenges women entrepreneurs may face at times in the community when the brand becomes powerful and misunderstood as personal gain. This will be a powerful presentation meant to make you walk away better understanding the joy and challenge of managing your personal and corporate brand.

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Understanding the Intangibles of Growth
Speaker: Jo Beth Dellinger
10:45–11:30 a.m.

In most successfully run companies, there comes a time when business is booming and the decision to grow the company rests on the shoulders of the owner. The decision to add staff, increase the amount of physical locations, or offer more products and services challenges the woman entrepreneur. Expansion is an exciting new phase of entrepreneurship yet there are numerous intangible elements of growth that can help and hinder the most prepared and seasoned woman entrepreneur.

Jo Beth Dellinger, a 24 year entrepreneurial veteran, who has run a million dollar in sales business for multiple years, has learned valuable lessons from both the successes and failures in expanding her company across the state. She'll share the intangible elements to growth that every woman entrepreneur should be prepared for no matter what size business or length of years in business. Sometimes the best entrepreneurial lessons come from tough decisions. Learn how to recognize, calculate and make challenging expansion decisions as the leader of your own growing enterprise.

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Lunch, Music and Conversation
Music Performer: Kelly Birtch
11:30 a.m.–12:40 p.m.

After a full morning of filling the mind with information and inspiration, an non-structured hour has been set aside for women to enjoy a delicious buffet luncheon, partake in the book signing by author Julie Pech, visit business booths, converse with other women about the conversations of the morning, and relax the mind before an energetic afternoon of activity begins. Beautiful background music will be performed by Central New York guitarist and composer Kelly Birtch known for her amazing diversity and range across many musical genres. The goal is to give you time to soak in what you learned, share thoughts with others, relax and prepare yourself for an impactful afternoon of marketing and sales.

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Social Media Marketing: Turning Relationships into Gold
Speaker: Janelle Fields
12:45–1:15 p.m.

Social Media Marketing continues to be the most important medium for marketing a business as we enter the second decade of the millennium. The learning curve for advertising a business, reaching out to potential consumers, and networking with complimentary companies remains diverse. The one thing that rings true is how vital it will be for large and small companies to use social media marketing to turn online business relationships to revenue.

In this special presentation, Janelle Fields, President of JFields Marketing, will provide a broad perspective on how utilizing social media marketing as a networking and relationship building tool is the key to eventual monetary success. Her presentation will also demonstrate examples of women owned businesses successfully using this marketing tool; and tips and techniques to implement to increase relationship building through this medium. Walk away feeling encouraged, not overwhelmed; inspired, not discouraged; and confident of the path you'll need to take from this point forward to turn online relationships into gold.

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Mind, Body, Business: How to Keep Things Going in Tough Times
Speaker: Merci Miglino
1:15–1:45 p.m.

As the saying goes, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Never has there been more truth than during this extended economic downturn. It has taken mind, body and smart business to sustain ourselves and our companies during recent tough times. It also takes a lot of tenacity and confidence to survive the multitude of business setbacks that all women entrepreneurs face.

Merci Miglino, an experienced and popular Albany area business and career strategist, will inspire you to think about how your best self rises during a crisis and how you can use your super powers—creativity, resourcefulness and determination—to turn any bad situation around and to survive any challenging time.

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Leveraging Your Gifts: Creating A Comfortable Sales Style
Speaker: Lynn Hidy
1:45–2:15 p.m.

To the woman entrepreneur sales are viewed as a necessary evil - it is something needed to create a client base, earn revenue and grow. Many women aren't comfortable with the sales process and then falter with success in this business area. What most women business owners don't understand is how easy it is to create a comfortable sales style utilizing their own natural gifts to accomplish the results they seek.

Potsdam woman entrepreneur Lynn Hidy of UpYourTeleSales.com will explain how discovering your talents and turning them into strengths can make the sales process easier. She'll introduce women to the idea of leveraging their gifts to make sales feel effortless and how to open the door to utilizing their passion to sell prospective clients on buying from them. She'll explain the essentials of expending less effort on areas of weakness and spending more time focused on areas that feel effortless to move you forward in your sales goals.

Directly following this sales presentation, a one-hour intensive speed networking forum will be provided as an opportunity for you to market your business one-on-one with others in our amazing network. This impactful sales event will increase the buying and selling power of every woman in the room for future business development.

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Regional Speed Networking
Facilitator: Sandy Jurkiewicz
2:30–3:30 p.m.

Sandy Jurkiewicz of CenterState Corporation for Economic Development will facilitate our special regional speed networking session aimed at helping women entrepreneurs create new regional economic ties with each other. Bring business cards, your 60-second pitch and your listening ears for a chance to spread the word about your company and develop new business relationships. You might make a couple of important connections to catapult your next big goal, project or business endeavor.

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A Relaxing Ending
Speaker: Tracy Higginbotham
Special Musical Performance: Maria DeSantis and Kelly Birtch
3:30–4:30 p.m.

As this powerful day draws to an end, a special closing has been planned to thank some women who have truly lived out the "Women TIES" mission and to end the formal program with an inspirational musical performance by popular Central New York female vocalist Maria DeSantis and guitarist Kelly Birtch.

Following the end of the formal program, women are encouraged to shop at business booth vendors and mingle in the quaint fireplace room or on the beautiful Lodge deck overlooking the pond while enjoying a cash bar and networking more strategically with new regional women entrepreneurs you met all day long to strengthen your economic "ties."

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