Wednesday, June 4, 2008
| 1:00pm - 4:00pm | NGLCC Council on Chambers and Business Organizations (CCBO) Leadership Meeting (Marquette - by invitation) |
| 4:00pm - 8:00pm | NGLCC Board of Directors Meeting and Dinner (by invitation) |
| 4:00pm - 8:00pm | Early Registration (Symphony Ballroom Promenade) |
Thursday, June 5, 2008
| 8:00am - 5:00pm | Registration |
| 8:00am - 9:00am | Continental Breakfast (Symphony Ballroom Promenade) |
| 9:00am - 10.30am | Opening Session and Keynote (Symphony Ballroom II & III) |
| 10:00am - 5:00pm | LGBT Real Estate Specialist Training (Nicollet Room -by invitation) |
| 10:30am - 10:45pm | Break |
| 10:45am - 12:00pm | Business Sessions |
Session I (Symphony Ballroom I)
LGBT Supplier Diversity 101: Get Certified - Get Connected!
Are you missing out on the millions of dollars that is being spent with certified LGBT suppliers? This session will give LGBT business owners and entrepreneurs the background and understanding on how to become a certified LGBT vendor to some of America's top corporations. Come hear perspectives from top corporate decision makers and discover how you can expand your business by becoming a certified LGBT supplier.
Moderator:
Katarina Semmes, Supplier Diversity Initiative Associate, NGLCC
Panelists:
Jeffrey Espiritu, Manager, Supplier Diversity & SBLO, Motorola
Brent Friedman, Site Sourcing Manager, GP, Merck
Stephanie Blackwood, Co-Founder & Client Services Director, Double Platinum
Session II (La Salle Room)
Take the Next Marketing Step -- Prove Return on LGBT Investment
Help your company take the next step in equality by integrating LGBT into the marketing and advertising mix. Learn the importance of proving results and how to design tracking and measurement into LGBT programs. Leading American brands are discovering that if you treat LGBT like a true business segment, it will perform like one. Proving the return is the best way to assure LGBT its fair share of investment in your company.
Featured Presenters:
Dawn Meifert, CEO & Founder, Merge Media Group
Matt Savage, President & Chief Strategic Officer, Merge Media Group
Session III (Marquette Room)
LGBT Supplier Diversity 360o
Have you wondered what might be missing from your business plan that is hindering you from achieving the success you know you should have? This intimate workshop is designed to help you identify tools you can use to close the deal. The certified businesses that attend this session should expect meaningful insight into the corporate procurement world, including the RFI and RFP processes. This session will also discuss strategic alliances, collaborating with Strategic Sourcing teams, building business opportunities in a business to business capacity and more.
Moderator:
Aditi Dussault, Senior Manager, Supplier Diversity Initiative, NGLCC
Panelists:
Irwin Drucker, Program Director, GLBT & International Supplier Diversity, IBM
Lisa A. Johnson, Group Manager, UPS Procurement Services, UPS
Sherri Macko, Manager, Diversified Supplier Program, American Airlines
Theresa Harrison, Manager, Supplier Diversity, Ernst & Young
CCBO Session: Chamber Sustainability (Ramsey Room)
In this challenging economic time, have you worked out a strategy to help your organization survive? Diversify your chamber's revenue for long term strategic growth through member dues, corporate partnerships and programs. Participants will explore new ideas for revenue and learn to develop and manage organizational budgets.
| 12:00pm - 2:30pm | Lunch on your own |
| 12:00pm - 2:30pm | BIZ - A New Voice for LGBT Business (Demonstration - Symphony Ballroom IV) |
| 2:30pm - 3:45pm | Business Sessions |
Session I (Marquette Room)
Cash Flow Solutions: Business Financing in a Challenging Market
Whether you've just opened the doors, are in your fifth year of business, or are looking to expand, almost every business has encountered cash flow issues. This session will take a detailed look at potential problems for business owners and offer solutions to break the cash flow log jam and help you get or grow to the next level. The session is ideal for any business owner that is looking for solutions to keep their business on track in a bull or bear economy.
Featured Presenter:
John Thwing, SBA Business Development Officer, Wells Fargo
Session II (LaSalle Room)
LGBT Supplier Diversity 201
This panel discussion will cover how to market your certification and effectively brand your company as an LGBT Business Enterprise. This workshop will present how to ensure you are a registered vendor with NGLCC Corporate Partners and provide a wealth of other information that will help get your business to the next level. Join NGLCC certified LGBT businesses and major corporations as they share valuable tips, insights and tools for selling to America's top corporations. Certified LGBT businesses and those LGBT businesses considering certification will benefit from this intermediate session on how best to pitch your product or service and how to maximize marketing opportunities through pleasant persistence.
Moderator:
Katarina Semmes, Supplier Diversity Initiative Associate, NGLCC
Panelists:
Jay Forte, CEO, American Language Technologies
Gail Snow, VP of Business Development, Hanlon Brown Design
Sean Montgomery, Owner and CFO, Integrity Staffing Solutions
Session III (Symphony Ballroom I)
Completing the Circle of Corporate Diversity: A "How-To" Plan for Selling Participation Internally
Are you championing your company adding certified LGBT businesses to its list of diverse suppliers? Do you want to learn how to get your company involved? Then this session is for you! Attendees will hear from the members of the NGLCC Procurement Council on their process for adding LGBT supplier diversity. You will learn why it is critical for your company to complete the circle of corporate diversity and how it can do so by bringing parity to its diversity practices through LGBT supplier diversity.
Moderator:
Aditi Dussault, Senior Manager, Supplier Diversity Initiative, NGLCC
Panelists:
Chris Crespo, America's People Team, Ernst & Young
Cordey Lash, Global Account Executive, LGBT Strategic Partnerships, Wyndham Hotel Group
Irwin Drucker, Program Director, GLBT & International Supplier Diversity, IBM
CCBO Session: Organizational Stuctures for Chambers (Ramsey Room)
What is your non-profit status? What bylaws does your organization have in place? Do you have an effective Board of Directors and are your committee teams performing? Participants will explore how to best utilize status, staff, volunteers and interns.
| 4:30pm - 6:00pm | B2B Networking Reception - Open to NGLCC Certified Suppliers (Imagehaus, 12 South 6th Street, #604) |
| Are you an NGLCC certified supplier or are you in the process of certification? If so, this is a premier opportunity for you to network with other certified and potentially certified businesses in an exclusive setting to develop B2B relationships. | |
| 6:00pm - 7:30pm | Welcome Reception in the NGLCC Marketplace (Conrad Rooms) |
| 7.30pm | Dine Out Minneapolis |
| Enjoy Dinner at one of the many OUT or ALLIED restaurants in Minneapolis while networking with colleagues and friends - old and new. Conference attendees will receive special discounts at participating restaurants. |
Friday, June 6, 2008| 8:00am - 5:00pm | Registration (Symphony Ballroom Promenade) |
| 9:00am - 10:30am | Marketplace Expo Opening Breakfast Keynote and Awards Presentation (Symphony Ballroom) |
In addition, join the NGLCC as we recognize excellence in the LGBT business movement. 2008 honorees will include the NGLCC Chamber of the Year, Rising Star Chamber and Corporate Chamber Champion.
Cynthia Wade - Oscar Winning Filmmaker - FREEHELD
| 10:00am - 5:00pm | LGBT Real Estate Specialist Training (Nicollet Room, by invitation) |
| 10:30am - 5:00pm | Marketplace Expo (Conrad Rooms) |
| 10:30am - 3:00pm | "Make the Connection" in the Marketplace Expo (Conrad Rooms and Foyer) |
10:45am - 12:00pm CCBO Session: Chamber Communications and Marketing
(Ramsey Room)
Communicating with your members, the media and the larger community. Using tools such as newsletters, electronic communications, your website, speakers' bureau and other tools to create and maintain effective messaging about the work and value of your chamber.
| 12:15pm - 1:15pm | CCBO Luncheon: Getting Connected: How to Effectively Build and Nurture Relationships with Local and State Elected Officials (Ramsey Room) |
Learn skills to help you develop and nurture relationships with elected officials to facilitate effective lobbying for your business concerns. This presentation will offer tips about how to get in front of elected officials and how to best ensure your message is heard and considered.
Panelists:
Ellen McInnis, Government Relations Director, Wells Fargo
Justin Nelson, Co-Founder & President, NGLCC
Lee Anderson, Government & Public Affairs, General Mills
1:15pm - 2:45pm CCBO Session: Maximizing Your Chamber's Use of Technology
(Ramsey Room)
Stay ahead of business trends and use technology to add value to your member benefits. In addition to understanding the potential of a well designed website, participants will discuss the use of blogs, podcasting, streaming and online newsletters.
| 3:00pm - 4:15pm | Business Sessions |
Session I (Marquette Room)
NGLCC WBI Women Leaders Roundtable
NGLCC Women's Business Initiative (WBI) members and other interested attendees will have the chance to hear from top women in business and politics about what they have done to shatter the lavender ceiling. Panelists will share compelling insights about what it takes to succeed in today's competitive world and how they have become leaders in their respective industries. The right mix of entrepreneurs, corporate leaders and elected officials promises that this roundtable will be one of the top "must attend" sessions of the conference again this year.
Panelists:
Deborah Graves, RN, MBA, CEO, Regency Hospital of Minneapolis
Rep. Karen Clark, Minnesota State Senator
Danielle Anderson, VP, Senior Case Manager, RBC Wealth Management
Session II
Furthering LGBT Leadership and Employee Resource Group Development
While business has laudably come a long way in its support of the LGBT workforce sector, are there disconnects between what organizations are doing today to support retention and development of LGBT employees, and the retention/development experiences of current LGBT leaders? This session will open a dialogue among the attendees regarding the presenters' reserach on pivital circumstances LGBT leaders have found in becoming leaders, what organizations can do to help, and what they can do to further support professional development of LGBT staff.
Featured Presenter:
Steve Salee, Senior Vice President, Corporate Counseling Associates
| 4:30pm - 5:30pm | Film Screening: Freeheld |
Join conference registrants at the screening of Academy Award winning film: FREEHELD. Cynthia Wade, conference keynote speaker and Director of Freeheld, will follow the screening with a Q&A session.
The documentary film "FREEHELD" chronicles Laurel Hester's struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. With less than six months to live, Laurel refuses to back down when her elected officials - the Ocean county Freeholders - deny her request to leave her pension to Stacie, an automatic option for heterosexual married couples. The film is structured chronologically, following both the escalation of Laurel's battle with the Freeholders and the decline of her health as cancer spreads to her brain.
| 6:00pm - 7.30pm | Wells Fargo Presenting Sponsor Reception (Symphony Ballroom I & II) |
| 7:30pm | Dine Out Minneapolis |
| 8:00pm - 10:00pm | Hilton Major Donors Reception (The Marquette - 701 Marquette Avenue, Invitation Only) |
Saturday, June 7, 2008| 9:00am - 10:00am | Registration (Symphony Ballroom Promenade) |
| 10:00am - 1:00pm | Procurement Council Meeting (Hennepin & Carver Rooms) |
| 10:00am - 11:15am | Business Sessions |
Session I (Marquette Room)
State of the Movement: Insight from National LGBT Organizations
This session will give an update on the State of the LGBT Movement in this critical election year and what national organizations are doing to affect change at the ballot box as well as major initiatives.
Panelists:
Darryl Herrschaft, Director, HRC Workplace Project, Human Rights Campaign
Russel Roybal, Director of Movement Building, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
Kevin Shytle, Managing Director, Out and Equal Workplace Advocates
Kate Karasmeighan, Chief of Staff & Director of Affiliate Relations, NGLCC
Session II (La Salle Room)
Web 2.0
Are you striving for the business of tomorrow, but using the technology of yesterday? This session explores how to take your 2.0 office and make it a 5.0 enterprise. Learn about solutions that can save you money and streamline your process without busting your budget. Hear what steps you can take to be more competitive in your industry by upgrading your equipment.
Featured Presenter:
Matt Skallerud, President, Pink Banana Media
CCBO Session: Leader Development (Ramsey Room)
Whether you're assembling your chamber's twentieth board of directors, gathering volunteers for subcommittees or hiring your first staff, it's critical to find and nurture strong leaders for your organization. Participants will hear from experts about how best to attract talent to chamber leadership teams.
| 11:30am - 12:45pm | Business Session |
Session I (Marquette Room)
Image Matters: Media Training for LGBT Business Owners
Nervous about the glare of the media? Do you want to make sure you get the right sound bite? As a business person, your brief interaction with members of the media can mean great things for your company or organization or cause a slump that will make you wish you had put your foot in your mouth before the interview started. Participants will learn how to look their best on camera, speak in sound bites, answer questions strategically and stay on message. Tips for TV, radio and print publications will be covered. As a result of this session, participants will know how to convey a compelling mesage to the media with confidence. Additionally, you will know how to get the sound bites you want into the story before you even sit down for the interview.
Featured Presenter:
Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Session II (LaSalle Room)
LGBT "Niche" Communications
Many companies refer to the "LGBT niche" in their sales and marketing plans, but we all know that there are many diverse communities within LGBT (based on age, gender, ethnicity, geography, etc.). With a limited budget, fine-tuning your communications investment toward your best prospects makes financial sense. Learn how to identify appropriately matched niche markets within LGBT, and through case studies, how other companies are communicating their products and services to these communities within the community.
Featured Presenters:
Tom Roth, President, Community Marketing
David Paisley, Senior Projects Director, Community Marketing
| 11:30am - 12:45pm | CCBO Session: Philanthropy and Scholarship for Chambers of Commerce (Ramsey Room) |
Your Chamber can and should have a major impact on your community. Learn how to incorporate scholarship programs and other philanthropy into your chamber's community outreach and support.
| 1:00pm - 2:30pm | Closing Session Keynote Luncheon (Symphony Ballroom II & III) |
Opportunity Knocks: Leveraging Opportunities for Visibility and Growth Through the NGLCC and Our Corporate Partners
Did you know that there are several ways that you can gain valuable growth opportunities, visibility and competitive edge for your business by taking advantage of resources and programs through the NGLCC. This session will share several initiatives that can positively impact your business. Attendees will learn about competing for the NGLCC/Wells Fargo LGBT Business Owner of the Year, IBM's Business Mentoring Program and Supplier Diversity Town Hall Meetings, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year (not LGBT specific) and much more. If you're serious about your business, then you don't want to miss this session.
Kenneth Fakler, Partner, Risk Advisory Service, Ernst & Young
Mark Ng, VP, Integrated Marketing & LGBT Segment Manager, Diverse Growth Segments, Wells Fargo
Irwin Drucker, Program Director, GLBT & International Supplier Diversity, IBM
Chip Green, Owner, Green Ink Communications
| 1:00pm - 4:00pm | LGBT Real Estate Specialist Certification Class (Nicollet Room, by invitation only) |
| 2:45pm - 4:00pm | CCBO Session: Chamber Directories |
| 2:45pm - 5:00pm | Corporate Advisory Council Meeting (by invitation - Hennepin & Carver Rooms) |
| 5:00pm - 6:30pm | WBI Networking Party B.A.N.K Lounge at the Westin Minneapolis |
| 6:00pm - 8:00pm | VIP Major Donors Reception |
| 9:00pm | Closing Party |
