Topics

Saturday - Worshop Session 3

Do you clients remember you? Using Email marketing to make your business brilliant
By Tash Hughes, Word Constructions, and Lucie Battaini, MultimediART

They say it's cheaper to keep a customer than find a new one, and this time, they are totally right. Whatever business you're in, your customers need to remember you and feel a personal connection with you and your business. As many small business owners don't have time for personal contact with every client every day, group emails and email newsletters are an effective way to spread your message for a minimal cost.

In this workshop, we will outline the technical aspects of sending emails and electronic newsletters - software options, different formats, effective designs and tips and tricks for all the different email software out there.

We will then work through what to put in your newsletters - and what not to include, too. The presentation will also include attendees breaking into small groups and brainstorming specific topics for their own email communication, through an interactive discussion.

Sunday - Workshop Session 4

Anti-Stress (and Anti-Ageing) Solutions and Strategies for Brilliant Business Mums
By Simone Morley, Centre for Wellness & Fertility

Did you know that as women, our thoughts and feelings directly influence our physiology and therefore our health! How we feel about ourselves and how we cope with the day to day stressors can influence everything from energy levels (and therefore our productivity) to whether we may develop a chronic disease! Our ability to not only be brilliant mums but also brilliant business owners, now and in the future, is going to depend on our attitude towards our long term health and wellbeing. As women in the 21^st century we are surrounded by `stressors' both as parents and business owners and managing and minimising these will determine how well we succeed as both!

Topics the presentation could cover:

Understanding the stress response and the impact on our health and long term wellbeing.
The significance of stress on our roles as both mothers and business women
How we can look after our nervous system so it will look after us (while we look after our business)
Strategies to manage and minimise the impact of stress
The rewards of effective stress management specifically for women
anti-ageing
increase productivity
ensure vitality and good energy
emotional stability
disease prevention

My goals for this presentation/workshop would be to

increase awareness on how positive and negative stress impacts working women from a mental and physical health perspective
provide specific tools and strategies that women can immediately apply to restore balance and make a difference to not only their lives but their families and workplace
empower attendees to want to make better choices for their future health and well being

One of the tools provided would be a questionnaire to self assess the impact of stress and a `Lifestyle Prescription' containing key food, nutritional, herbal and medical tips to strengthen our stress coping mechanisms and achieve and maintain optimal health.

Sunday - Workshop Session 5

An Intellectual Property Perspective: How to protect my brilliant business idea
By Yvette Kwei, Magnum IP Legal Services

A workshop-style discussion (pitched at beginners – intermediate level) about how a business idea can and should be protected using various forms of Intellectual Property protection.

Working example
‘’I would like to sell and market my new ‘SleepBag’ called PJ Turtle (logo designed). It’s like a grobag® only for bigger kids and to be attached to a child’s bedding. My child and I loved the ‘grobag’ but unfortunately she grew out of it. We needed something that she would not kick off during the night and that would stay on her all night to keep her warm and snug especially during cold winter nights. My intention is to get a prototype of the ‘Sleepbag’ made then sell it here in Australia and New Zealand and eventually overseas. I wish to set up a website and will advertise it in magazines. I intend to sell by taking phone and online orders through my website. Now, let’s look at how I can protect my business idea.’’

Over to the floor…what can I do to protect my idea>

Topics to be briefly covered:

- What is Intellectual Property?

- How to identify your Intellectual Property (using the above example)

- Protecting your IP from your competitors and employees

- What do you do if you are accused of breaching someone else's IP

Working in a clutter-free, productive place
By Natasha Crestani, Inspired Honey

The Cost of The Lost

Ever lose important documents? If you can’t find something within approximately 7 minutes, you don’t know where it is! The state of your desk is not a measure of how busy you are, rather it is a direct result of your level of control over your day. Here’s some quick tips for paperwork:

Do It (some things must be handled immediately)

If it can be handled in 5 mins or less, deal with it and get it out of the way.

Delegate It (can you give this to someone else?)

Divide It (the sliced bread method is effective for large projects)

Slicing big projects up into manageable portions leads to a shift in your mind on how you perceive the task. You’re more likely to do it.

Defer It (plan a future appropriate time to action it)

Ensure you set a definite deadline. eg an Excel spreadsheet with Action Plan and timelines marked.

Dump It (some things are just a total waste of time)

D-Box It (give it a quick scan & file it)

Give it an overview first to ensure it’s not needed to be actioned first.

Sunday - Workshop Session 6

Online Promotion to Grow Your Brilliant Business
By Mandy Stevens, Direct Digital

The growing importance of the internet presents opportunities to the savvy business owner. Understanding these opportunities is the first step towards growing your ‘Brilliant Business’.

Areas covered will include:

Search engine optimisation and organic traffic generation – link-backs, blogs, article submission, eNewsletters, RSS feeds
The debate in the advertising community - branding vs ‘call to action’
Search engine advertising – key concepts and options
Affiliate advertising – pay per result
Directory/ niche website advertising – how to make sure you get value
Social networking sites – Facebook, myspace, youtube etc – opportunities for you
What next? Conversion, Conversion, Conversion!

The benefit of online promotion is that results can be monitored, so I will give delegates practical advice on how to establish and track your own ‘key performance indicators’ to determine the right mix of online promotion for their business.