On the morning of April 20th, 65+ new AWNY members gathered at MSN for the New Members "Kick-Off" Breakfast where they were presented with the benefits of AWNY membership. Rona Wexler, a member of the AWNY Board of Directors, began the presentation, emphasizing the importance of quality networking and both meeting and working with people face to face. Her remarks were followed by Kamy English and Renee Martin, Co-Chairs of the Membership Marketing Committee, who walked new members through AWNY's website (www.awny.org). There were some notable features of the website that struck me (as a new member myself) as valuable such as the Membership Directory, accessible to members only. Members can search for other AWNY members by name and company as well as contact them for networking or information about their companies. Or they can go to AWNY's Job Bank for job listings. Finally, they can see what other AWNY members are doing by checking out the News Exchange or viewing AWNY's Member Features page. It's clear that AWNY provides members with the means to connect to other members both electronically and face to face.
Following the presentation, the Co-Chairs drew the first two raffle prizes, yet another fantastic benefit of being an AWNY member and attending the events. Raffle prizes ranged from E.L.F. makeup to movie tickets and snacks. Finally, the event moved on to the highlight of the breakfast - a speed dating style presentation where ten committee co-chairs spent two minutes each speaking to a group of new members about the focus and key benefits of their committees. The AWNY committees are by far the best way to get involved with AWNY, meet members and make quality connections. Please go to http://www.awny.org/Committees.html for a full description of committees and do not hesitate to contact their co-chairs. You don't need to be a long-standing member to join a committee OR co-chair or even organize an event. AWNY is a great, supportive environment and I for one, am eager to attend the next event - maybe even join an additional committee!