09/18/2013
Hi All,
Hope you are all doing not just well, but GREAT! It has been almost ten months since we had our first BGS social meet, which has a great success and member’s response was very encouraging. A new member was able to start a career in Toronto because of this networking opportunity, which is great. After that event we had sent a survey to all of you. Thanks to those who took out some time to provide us with their valuable feedback. The most important issues were venue, membership fee, frequency of the event, types of events and personal and professional benefits to the members.
Before talking about our next social meet I would like to update you on the recent events.
Last month I attended a two days BGS Training seminar in Chicago, where I met chapter representatives from all over the US and from international chapters too. They all shared their experiences with me which will be very helpful for our chapter.
From this wonderful experience, I can say that these events are not just about the happy hours or meeting for drinks or dinner, but way beyond that. I met people from different parts of the US who built up great network over the years, personally and professionally. Many of them have helped others in their career and business opportunities. Some of these people have worked or lived in Toronto and are very excited to know about our first Canadian chapter. It is quite possible that in the future our members may have some cross border business/career opportunities. BGS Head office has amazingly helpful people. They were very happy with our first event and are expecting a greater participation in future.
Many of you have contacted me recently to know about our next event and I want to update you on that too. Our next BGS Happy Hours event will take place on Oct 16th (Wed) 2013 at 7:30 pm in Toronto. You will receive a broadcast email from BGS head office, once the venue is finalized. Last event was sponsored by BGS head office on an exception basis but for all future events our chapter will be responsible. As most other chapters are doing, not to have membership fee to avoid auditing (we still have to send yearly financial report to BGS head office), we will not ask for membership fee (at least for now). There is no other cost involved and members will pay for themselves if they like to have drinks/food during the social events, which is very reasonable.
I am very positive that there will be a larger participation in this event as many new members have shown their desire to participate. I will be more than happy to talk to you in person to explain the personal and professional benefit of BGS chapter membership. Once our chapter establishes and starts growing we will meet more frequently and will have more activities like guest speakers series.
Please let me know by Sept 25th if you are attending this social event as I need to arrange a place for the event. I would like to thank all of those, who showed their great interest in our last event and would like to welcome you all in our next event.
Cheers
Atul Jain
BGS Toronto Networking Group
