We will also be looking to expand into other caribbean countries in the near future!

Thanks for the support and see you at the next Entrepranu Meetup!

Here is a quick Bio on Steve:

Steve manages the e-Learning Academic Development Team within the Centre for Learning and Quality Enhancement (CLQE), and is also one of the University’s Learning Support Fellows. The team focuses on the curriculum and how e-learning technologies and methodologies may be applied to enhance the student learning experience. By training Steve is a cartographer, having originally studied at Oxford Brookes, and is research cartographer at the University.

We are excited to see everyone out at Entrepranu 1.1 and we are excited to meet all the new faces as well as welcome back all the previous members!

Greg

On June 7th we will have our second business meetup for anyone interested in business, networking, and public speaking in the Caribbean.  This meetup is dedicated to Growing our businesses and therefore will have a networking/referral pitch session that will describe the mission statement of the company, the strategies involved in running the company, and the difficulties faced with running the business.  You should also explain what type of people you are looking to work with, from referrals, sales, marketing, and any thing/one else you are looking to get in touch with!

We do not have a Keynote speaker so far, and I am not sure if we are going to get one for this meet up and mainly focus on sharing our businesses and getting the feedback and conversation going about our businesses.

If there is anything you would like to see on the agenda please email me: greg@entrepranu.com and let me know!

See you June 7th!

Greg

The night started with an opening remarks and thanking everyone for coming as well as an overview of what Entrepranu is.  We then gave the floor to everyone in attendance to come up and give a speech, a toast or a presentation on anything they wanted to talk about.  Moving along to Battle Decks, a game that takes a slide show presentation you have never seen and pits 2 people to pitch the slides to the audience.  It was a great time and had everyone laughing.  We then had Laura Cotton give her top 10 tips on public speaking, and finally closed with a discussion on creating a charity for Antigua that combines all the entrepreneurs skills.

The next Meetup is on June 7th @ 5pm!  We hope to see everyone there again and to bring your friends!

Greg

Managing Director & Principal Consultant

Laura Cotton, with more than 10 years of experience with public relations and facilitating change, has been hands-on with nearly every type of change a company could undergo. Seriously … ask her. With her proven portfolio of change and communication programmes, Laura confidently (pro)claims she cannot be daunted by any task or surprised by any hurdle in business life.  Maybe that’s her usual optimism speaking, but it’s as contagious as her energy and honest approach to solutions.  

Just before graduating from Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah, USA) with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and a minor in Business Management, Laura enjoyed a brief stint at Connect PR coordinating media pitching for high-tech clients. After graduation, Laura joined Atlantic Southeast Airlines/Delta Connection in Atlanta, Ga., USA. Under the tutorage of her “best boss ever,” Laura initiated and coordinated internal communications for the airlines quickly growing staff and external communications for its expanding markets and parent company, Delta Air Lines. She managed communications programmes supporting the company’s accelerated growth, active negotiations with labor unions, station closures and openings, new executive management, sale to SkyWest Airlines, and new corporate branding.

In 2006, Laura’s former CEO and vice president invited her to create the corporate communications department at Caribbean Airlines Services, Inc. – a division of Stanford Financial Group. She accepted and developed public relations, internal communications and advertising programmes for both Caribbean Sun Airlines (based in San Juan, Puerto Rico) and Caribbean Star Airlines (based in Antigua & Barbuda, West Indies). In her role as manager – Corporate Communications, Laura acted as chief communications counsel for the CEO and served as the communications consultant on the company’s strategic planning team.

While at Caribbean Airlines Services, Laura directed all communication for one of the biggest business collaborations in Caribbean history with the LIAT and Caribbean Star merger acquisition. In recognition of her versatility, she was appointed as the director of Caribbean Star.  In this role, Laura was based in Antigua and oversaw all aspects of the airline’s ultimate closure. 

Laura’s trademark is her ability to quickly read cultures and win trust. Her time in the U.S. and Caribbean has taught her valuable lessons about the differences in business and work cultures – lessons she is eager to share with others. It was that desire that motivated her to form Pearl Strategies in 2008.

With her current clients, Laura manages all types of change communication and strategic public relations initiatives with her infectious dedication and passion. She developed several corporate communications strategic plans for Caribbean Airlines in Trinidad – including its crisis communications plans; coordinates media relations for Atlanta Jazz Dance Preservation Society; developed community marketing initiatives for Heritage Security in Antigua; and has monitored personal media coverage for Caribbean government leaders.  

Outside of the workplace, Laura is an avid dancer. She has been a swing dance instructor since 1997 and has been a featured dancer in performance troupes in Atlanta, Ga., and South Florida, USA. Just turn on some music and watch Laura’s eyes light up, feet tap and hips move. If not dancing, Laura usually can be found on an airplane satisfying her wanderlust.   

Pearl Strategies Link

We will start the meetup with the 3 minute speeches, then move on to a pitch game called battle decks (will be explained there if you don’t know what it is). We will then have our key speeches and finally end off with a brain storming session for a charity program for Antigua. We then can head to the Carlise Bay Bar and have a few drinks to continue networking, if you would like!

I am excited to see everyone there and part of something new on the island!

For the facebook event go to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=75667445898

This is the first in my series of talks with people that I think are very cutting edge and innovative when it comes to business, technology and marketing.  I want to explore all types of businesses, who is behind them and how they got started.  I love talking business and when you ask people about their businesses they are so passionate and love sharing their vision and knowledge with you, which in turn rubs off on you.  My goal is to speak to the people that are making things happen and get my pseudo MBA through listening to their knowledge.

The first Talk is with an OLD friend of mine, John Boxall.  John and I met when I was in grade 2 and he had just moved to my home town of Rossland BC, Canada.  At that time, him and I bonded over our love for Nintendo and that bond grew when the Super Nintendo came out and he was the only kid in town to have one!  The most tragic thing happened a few years later, when John’s parents moved to Vancouver, stealing away my best friend.  Years went by and although we tried to stay in touch, we eventually lost contact.  Flash forward to 2006, where after the nagging of my university friends, I joined Facebook.  It wasn’t until another girl who was in my grade 2 class contacted me, that brought back the memories of the good old days and my best friend John.  So I typed in his name in the search and low and behold, there was 500 results in the search, but only 1 John Boxall that was part of the Vancouver Network.  So I emailed him: Is this my best friend from Rossland from grade 2?

“Yes it is!”

Although he admitted his memories of Rossland were pretty hazy having been almost 20 years ago, we quickly set a time to meet up and turns out he and I were still the technology loving, nintendo playing guys we were back in the day.

After speaking with John, I really realized he had a great tech focused mind and really was creating some awesome web apps and tools.  So luckily years down the road, thanks to technology, we have kept in touch and I am still amazed at the stuff this guy is doing and really believe he is a leader in his field.  I am lucky to have him as the first person in the Entrepranu Talks series and hope you guys enjoy it!

Entrepranu 1.0 is scheduled for May 3rd 2009.  Come and join like minded business people to discuss business, network, learn and share.

Because it is the 1st meetup everyone attending must follow the first rule of Entrepranu, which is everyone must give a 3 minute, speech, toast or presentation.  This 3 minute speech can be about anything, the idea is to force people out of their comfort zone so that they can become better public speakers.

4pm - Welcome, Meet and Network.
4:15 - New Member Speeches/Toasts/Presentations.
4:30 - Keynote Speaker 1 - Greg Harrison talks about Split Testing
5pm - Discussion Q&A
5:30 - Keynote Speaker 2 - TBD (email greg@entrepranu.com if you would like to present)
6pm - Discussion Q&A
6:30 - Charity Discussion
6:45 - Closing Remarks

We are very excited to have you attend our business networking and join in discussions that can help improve your business and your future!

To RSVP please email Greg @ Greg@Entrepranu.com