Day 2:
Thursday, July 10

Presenter:
Ilise Benun


Networking is all about meeting people and making conversation, but there’s much more to it than that, or there could be, if you do it right. In this session, based on Ilise Benun’s popular article of the same title on Biznik, you will learn (and have a chance to practice) what to do and, most important, what not to do to develop the relationships that will provide a strong foundation for a thriving business.

Benun, author of Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive (Career Press, 2006) will share simple strategies and practical tips including:

• How to overcome the irrational fears that prevent you from connecting with people who – you never know! — could catapult your career
• How to introduce yourself to a stranger
• How to talk about yourself and your accomplishments without bragging
• How to get out of a conversation
• When and how to do the “business card exchange”
• …and much more!

More about Ilise

Ilise Benun is an author, consultant, national speaker and co-founder of Marketing Mentor - www.marketing-mentor.com

Her books include:

• The Designer’s Guide to Marketing and Pricing (HOW Design Books, Spring 2008)
• Stop Pushing Me Around: A Workplace Guide for the Timid, Shy and Less Assertive (Career Press, 2006)
• The Art of Self Promotion (2007)
• Self-Promotion Online: Marketing Your Creative Services Using Web Sites, E-Mail and Digital Portfolios and Designing Web Sites for Every Audience (HOW Design Books)
• Public Relations for Dummies, 2nd Edition (Wiley, 2006) with Eric Yaverbaum and Bob Bly

Her work has been featured in national publications such as HOW Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Nation’s Business, Self, Essence, Crains New York Business, Dynamic Graphics, IQ (a Cisco Systems magazine) and Working Woman, The New York Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, The Denver Post and more.

Benun publishes the Marketing Mentor blog and a weekly email newsletter, “Quick Tips from Marketing Mentor,” which is read by 8000+ creative professionals. Benun’s articles about marketing (with links to her various web sites) are posted on sites all over the Internet, including: Howdesign.com, Creativepro.com, Creativebusiness.com, Creativelatitude.com, RainToday.com, Slate.com, ClickZ.com, Jim Blasingame’s SmallBusinessAdvocate.com, Marketingsherpa.com, RecognizedExpert.com, Marcommwise.com, BusinessBooksandMore.com, Freelancewriting.com, as well as sites for trade organizations such as Usability Professionals’ Association (upassoc.org), Design Management Institute (dmi.org), Advertising Photographers of America (apanational.org), American Design Awards, and many more.

Benun has conducted workshops and given presentations for national and international trade organizations, including the HOW Design Conference, Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, NY Designs - a program of LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, AIGA (several local chapters), Graphic Artists Guild (several local chapters), NJ Creatives, International Association of Business Leaders, American Consultants League, Business Marketing Association, the Family Business Council, American Writers and Artists Institute, Editorial Freelancers Association, NYU Entrepreneurship Summit, WorldWIT (Women in Technology), American Marketing Association (several local chapters), the National Association of Women Business Owners (several local chapters), the Usability Professionals Association (several local chapters), the NY Public Library, the 92nd St. Y and many ad clubs around the country.

Through Marketing Mentor, Benun consults privately with creative professionals on their marketing and other client-related issues. She started her Hoboken, NJ-based consulting firm in 1988 and has been self-employed for all but 3 years of her working life. She has a B.A. in Spanish from Tufts University.



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