December 2006 Newsletter

ABA meeting at the Library:
Tuesday, January 2, starting 7:00 p.m.
66 Front Street (downstairs, via side door)
Meetings are free of charge, and are open to all business owners, executives, and managers

Speaker: Jacki Rose will help us hone our public speaking skills!

Jacki  has helped hundreds of people become confident, dynamic, and engaging presenters by developing their public speaking skills. Animated, humorous, and entertaining, Jacki is passionate about helping people overcome their fear of public speaking, brush up on their skills, and realize their potential in creating and delivering powerful presentations.

Presentation: Elyse Shuster of CruisingCo.com & MouseEarVacations.com will tell us about a very new type of tour called “Adventures By Disney."

New benefits for ABA Members
The "Why Join?" button on the ABA Web site has been changed to "Member benefits." There you'll see a listing of benefits, including these NEW ones:

1. You can now publicize on the Web site any discounted products and services offered to ABA members only. If you have special offers for members, e-mail two or three lines of wording to our Publicity Coordinator, Linda Herring. If you'd like, include the link to a page on your own Web site that gives more details, and we will hot link it at no charge.
2. You can also publicize testimonials about your business, from any two of your satisfied customers. E-mail the Publicity Coordinator up to three lines of wording for each of your two best testimonials. Also, we'll draw a name at each ABA meeting to see which member's testimonials will be showcased on the first page of the Web site that month. (You must come to the meeting to participate in the drawing.)

Welcome Baskets
There are some leftover items not given out as part of the Welcome Baskets program. If you see your name on the inventory sheet, you may need to update your materials or add enough to meet the quantity of 30 required. New participants are also welcome to join in. Either way, if you want to be part of the Welcome Baskets being distributed in March or April 2007, come to the Library for a special meeting (date/time TBA) to discuss what has to happen and to drop off your items.

Changes to the ABA Bylaws
You need to attend the January meeting to vote on the changes presented in November!

Annual Potluck Dinner
The potluck dinner at the Warren Conference Center on December 5 was fabulous! The location was beautiful, the food excellent, and many members walked away with prizes from the games and drawings. We also collected a number of items for Ashland's food pantry.

Looking ahead to February
A Panel Discussion will offer additional networking tips for all of us.