This morning, the Lowlands Group hosted the first Our Milwaukee breakfast networking session at the Wauwatosa Hollander Cafe. It was very well attended; I bet there were 30-40 people there! The session opened with updates on the group from Pam Mehnert and Nancy Quinn and then proceeded in a rather unique fashion. The microphone was passed around all of the tables and every person present got to take a minute or so to update the crowd on their business and what was happening!
I was very happy to report that I just had a new promotional postcard printed up by OM member business, Heritage Printing and was going to working with another OM member, Burke Candy, very soon.
Many networking meetings fall short of expectations because you don’t know who you’ll meet or if who you meet will be a good connection for you. This meeting though, because of the “pass the mic” opportunity, allowed everyone to get an idea of who was in attendance and who we might like to talk to. It was very interesting to hear the news from all these Milwaukee businesses! I met and caught up with a LOT of great OM members:
- Stef Bartz Photo (as she said, “photographing kids, canines, and people too”)
- Laura Meuller and Tiffany Coris of the Pabst Theatre/Riverside/Turner’s Hall (the best concert venues in town)
- Robert Wendt of Heritage Printing (great customer service!)
- Dana Johnson of Open Leaf Excursions (check out her booking kiosk!)
- John Tomilson with Midstate Insurance (for companies with 2-50 employees)
- Bill Backes of Backes Fine Carpentry (new build and remodel)
- Sally Salkowski-Witte of Artists Working in Education (I was on their board for 8 years; a great organization looking for some sponsors)
- Dori Zori of 91.7 WMSE (THE college radio of Milwaukee)
- Claudia Guzman of 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, (a great innovator in Milwaukee radio)
- Jackie Valent Lucca of The Fast Foodie (“the country’s first and only Globaco truck!”) and
- Beth Handle of Laacke and Joys (Beth mentioned that L&J will soon have their own e-commerce site and some new murals at their downtown store)
Our Milwaukee really is a great networking group for businesses and a great resource for consumers. It’s my standard practice now, before I go shopping for something specific, to check the OM directory and see if a locally-owned business can take care of me!
Also, if you happen to be on Twitter, please check my list of tweeting Our Milwaukee member businesses!
