Welcome…

… to the new EuropeanPWN Nice – Côte d’Azur newsletter. The newsletter has had a very long ‘holiday’ indeed, but is now being re-launched in a new format: HTML rather than adobe attachment. Most of us are unable to attend every event, so the newsletter is a way to keep in touch on a regular basis. As always, if you have suggestions for newsletter content or any comments in general, we appreciate you sending it to secretary@europeanpwn-nice.net

Sign up now for our next networking lunch on Friday, 31 October!
Registration and details on the calendar.

Upcoming events

October 31st: Networking lunch at the AGORA Einstein, Sophia Antipolis
Networking lunches are informal events with a theme for discussion, in this case with a focus on getting the most from EuropeanPWN and our website (Ingrid Loren and Karin Trivere will prepare a short presentation).

November 18th: Personal Development with NLP/NeuroSemantics
The second of the workshop pair, the goal of this evening is to discover NeuroSemantics, which is the latest development of NLP. Topics covered are: Emotional Intelligence, Self-Esteem / Self-Confidence, The power of Implementation, The Power of Intentionality. There will also be possibility to discuss individual experiences and questions related to the content of the first workshop.

December 5th: Christmas party
A time to mingle and have a laugh with your network colleagues.

Registration and details on the calendar

Recap of Spring Events

April 2008: An evening with Mirella Visser
An informative and inspiring evening was spent in the company of Mirella Visser, our charismatic President who shared her wide ranging experiences with us. She discussed the role and the impact of our network, where we are headed and what the priorities for 2008-2009 are. She also shared with us what the European of the Year nomination meant to her.

May 2008: What do your networks mean to you?
Cécile Demailly, member of the EuropeanPWN board in Paris came to share with us her findings on the subject of Online Networking. The session prompted us all to go create or clean up our online profiles to ensure that our digital images work in our favor.

June 2008: Make your appearance work in your favor.
With the use of the excellent Agora Einstein facilities, we teamed up with make-up specialist Bluette Aimée Voegelin and photographer Phillipe Laval. Together they wove their magic to provide the attendees with some fantastic professional photographs. Meanwhile, we also worked in pairs to enhance our online profiles.


July 2008: Business Incubator for Female Entrepreneurs
Côte d’Azur Pionnieres Director Annie Blandel explained how this newly created business incubator can assist with start ups. As a live example of how this association can help, our very own member Karen Marsh presented her own Start Up experiences.


September 2008: Creating your Elevator Pitch
Twenty members and guests met for an interactive workshop to learn how to improve their Elevator Pitch. Two of our members, Dorothy Foster and Julia Haston had thoroughly researched the topic and shared with us their findings – what is an elevator pitch? Why do you need one? How do you go about creating one? What makes a good one? Using a combination of short videos, presentation, examples and exercises they ensured an entertaining and thought provoking learning event. Following suggestions from members we’ll be providing opportunities on a regular basis, for members to practice their pitch and receive constructive feedback from peers. The presentation used at the event can be downloaded from our on-line platform – how? Go to the Calendar where you’ll find it as an attachment to the 18th September event, or go to the Groups page, choose Nice Cote d’Azur PWN , and you’ll find the file there at the bottom of the page.

Members’ testimonials: Marion Furr

“I just had to write to say what a great organisation the EuropeanPWN is! Until January 2009, I am on sabbatical from my role as a Deputy Director in the Department of Health in London. My main objective is to learn to speak French. I am a lively and outgoing person but hadn’t anticipated how difficult it could be to make new friends while my French was still poor…

I had joined the network before I came to France and the people I met here really made me feel welcome. I soon met Pascale who works for Dale Carnegie Training. She joined the network to improve her English skills so we agreed to help each other. I know it would help me to be in a French working environment, but the conditions of my sabbatical do not allow this so I offered to work for free in return for work experience. Pascale facilitated an agreement whereby I get to benefit from Dale Carnegie Training’s programmes in French- in return for the work I do. Isn’t that fantastic?

So for me the EuropeanPWN has exceeded all my expectations. I have been welcomed into a new network of professional women who immediately helped me to feel less like a stranger in a strange land and offered all sorts of useful information to help me succeed. Thank you everybody, and especially Pascale.”

Members’ testimonial: Sophie Le Brozec

“I am British, married to a Frenchman (hence the very un-British surname!) and have been living on the French Riviera since 1998. My husband and I run LE BROZEC, an incoming travel agency where we organize luxury personalized holidays on the French Riviera www.lebrozec.com. I joined the EuropeanPWN as I wanted to meet and network with fellow business women in the region and across Europe. I was also very interested in the mentoring programme. I get so much out of this unique network – I’ve met, and I continue to regularly meet, some great people, I learn lots and I laugh lots! As for the mentoring programme, now I have a fantastic mentor in Marilyn Davison, who has taught me so much, and then from time to time Charlotte Ronnenfelt and I co-mentor which is great fun too. I really look forward to our EuropeanPWN meetings and regret it when I can’t make one.”

Mentoring

The Mentoring Committee is going full steam ahead, and held another workshop on October 4th. The focus was on briefing new potential programme participants on the basics of mentoring, as well as organizing new mentoring pairs. Please help the Mentoring Committee tailor the event by taking their survey.


Until this summer, the Mentoring Committee consisted of Ines O’Donovan, Barbara Wilson, and Julia Haston. Due to her ever more demanding schedule, Barbara was forced to step down, and we thank her for her much appreciated contributions. Luckily, a very qualified replacement was found in Photini Papatheodorou who has quickly come up to speed. Watch out for communications from the Mentoring Committee – a new initiative is a content-packed newsletter.

From the European Arena

EuropeanPWN in Milan were the hosts of this year’s European Annual General Meeting for our association. The biggest AGM ever, the June 27-28 event included a very professional press conference (hosted by Egon Zender), great news about new partners (Coca Cola, Sodexho… see the web site for details) and opportunities for Presidents – new and seasoned – to discuss and learn from one another. Next year’s European AGM will be right here in Nice, giving us the opportunity to showcase our region, our network, and not least our fabulous members (you)! There will be more to follow when planning gets more detailed.

The second edition of the EuropeanPWN Board Room Round Tables took place on September 16th. We are very proud that EU Commissioner for Competition Neelie Kroes accepted to be our speaker on the topic ’Europe’s competitive position in the world’. The EuropeanPWN Board Room Round Tables aim at bringing together board women of Europe’s international companies for the purpose of learning, exchanging experiences and networking across borders. Check out the Press Release on our web site.

Special offers for members

We have teamed up with the luxurious Spa at the Four Seasons Terres Blanches Resort to offer our members a 25% discount on treatments. The offer also allows our members access to the fabulous pool and hammam areas. Please contact Nathalie.Delclos@fourseasons.com ensuring that you mention your membership to our network.

Messages from the President

At the AGM in January there will be elections for the Board positions, as usual. It is always great to have some new blood, so please consider having a chat with existing Board members to find out if it’s something for you.

Also, as always the Board and I are delighted to hear feedback and ideas from you. Do not hesitate to get in touch, especially if you can’t participate in as many events as you would like to: one of the ‘side effects’ of being a professional woman is being very busy!!

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EuropeanPWN Côte d’Azur France

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Newsletter banner photograph (right) courtesy AGORA Einstein