Holiday Geist Networking Meeting Mixer on December 20th in Log Cabin Animal Hospital

By Tom Britt
Tom@atGeist.com

Our monthly Geist Business Connections networking meetings have been very well received, raising over $600 for local charities thus far. These meetings are designed to help you network with other Geist area businesses and learn more about some of the area’s not for profit and volunteer opportunities.

A $5.00 per person per meeting fee is collected to pay for the meeting space, lunch, or other incidental charges. The remainder will be donated to the local charity of the month. To date, all the food, drinks, meeting space, and even desserts have been donated so 100% of our proceeds are benefiting local charities.

The Riley Cheer Guild, Creating Hope, and Compassion4Kids have been our guest charities so far. If you know of any local charities that would benefit from meeting the Geist business community, please have them contact us.

Unlike other business networking groups, the Geist Business Connections will not grant exclusivity to any business nor will it have weekly meetings. Instead, any area business owner is invited to attend as often as they wish and meetings are held monthly to limit your time commitment.

After each meeting, the registration sign-in list is emailed out to all attendees, both past and present, to encourage networking and offline correspondence. Businesses that are interested in hosting a monthly meeting and/or donating lunch/breakfast are asked to email Tom Britt (Tom@atGeist.com) or Sandor Gal (sandorgal@gmail.com). Check the atGeist.com website “calendar” for upcoming meetings.

December Holiday Geist Networking Meeting Mixer

Dr. Gal and I have decided to host a Holiday Geist Business Networking Mixer on December 20th at the Log Cabin Vet offices on Fall Creek Road. The format will be different for December. We will still have a local charity speak at 12:15 pm, but afterwards, we will host a blind gift exchange in lieu of our normal networking activities.

Each attendee is encouraged to bring a small wrapped gift (less than $10 in value is preferred but not mandatory) that is related to their respective business. Gifts will be handed out and we will open the gifts one at a time, announcing who the gift is from and the symbolism behind the gift. For example, a bank might give away a piggy bank. A financial planner might give away a pocket calendar. Dr. Gal will probably give away some dog toys or cat treats. Get the idea?

Please join us and have a good time meeting your fellow Geist business owners and managers. Everyone is invited and we encourage you to RSVP by emailing Tom@atGeist.com.

Special thanks to Dr. Gal for being so supportive of our group. Don’t forget that he’s a highly skilled veterinarian as well as a great host!

Best regards,

Tom Britt

http://atGeist.com

317-496-3599

317-536-3030 fax

Thanks to the 48 attendees at our "Geist Business Connections" luncheon at Dinner by Design, we were able to give Compassion4Kids (http://compassion4kids.org/) over $200 and meet some new Geist businesses. We also want to thank Debbie Howell at Miller Health Systems (http://millershealthsystems.com/fp-default.asp) for the delicious desserts and Ken Moreland for the drinks. We had a special surprise with Courtney Hall from the Hop Shop (http://indyhopshop.com/) giving out free wine and beer tastings as well.

Dinner By Design
Dawn and Brian Boyer
96th Street, Suite N
Indianapolis, IN 46250
www.dinnerbydesignkitchen.com
E-mail: dbfishers@sbcglobal.com
Phone: 317-596-9834

Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 21nd at Miller Health Systems at noon. We look forward to seeing you all there!

Networking Luncheon Raises $200 for Riley Toy Room
By Tom Britt

Our Geist Business Connections luncheon yesterday (September 28, 2006) at the Log Cabin Animal Hospital raised $200 for the Riley Toy room in addition to introducing over 40 Geist business owners to each other. Heather Dawes from the Cheer Guild at Riley Hospital for Children was our guest speaker, giving attendees a good overview of their toy room mission at Riley and ways that local businesses can contribute.

A big thanks to Action Air of Fishers (Kandie Dinger) for donating the drinks and desserts. Also, Chris Kauth from Inge's German Market brought in some German brats, sauerkraut, and German potato salad which was well-received! Thanks to them and the Log Cabin for donating the space, 100% of our proceeds went to the Cheer Guild.

Next month, our meeting will be on October 25th at Dinners by Design off of 96th Street in front of Menards. Dawn & Brian Boyer have graciously agreed to host our meeting and donate lunch. Ken Moreland is donating the drinks and we are looking for someone to donate desserts (hint, hint).

Thanks again to all of you who came. I'm sending out the contact list of attendees to you all today.

The 1st Geist Business Connections (GBC) meeting was held at the Geist Visitors Center on August 30th, 2006. The meeting was great. Please click on the 1st picture below.

Testimonials of the GBC meeting on 8-30-06

"Dear Tom, Thank you for putting on this event, I really enjoyed the meeting. After the meeting both Molly and I could not stop praising the event, and the people we met, to all of our colleagues here at Old National Bank. We can't wait to host. I especially want to compliment you on the structure of the event. We both got a lot out of the one-to-one interaction, and were inspired by Mr. Gianfagna's story. I also appreciated that this event brought people in the community together on more than just a business level, and that it helped out a very worthy cause. I am thankful that Molly and I are able to represent Old National Bank in a great group like this. Once again, thanks and have a wonderful day.
Sincerely, Scott Petrin
Financial Center Manager, Old National Bank"

"Tom Britt at 09/01/2006 09:48 AM
you're welcome, I'm glad you both came! I thought the meeting was awesome...several people have stepped forward willing to help, host, or donate food/drinks for the next one. It's so rewarding to do business and help the community at the same time. Dr. Gal was a huge help in all this, he's as much to thank as anyone. See you on the 27th!"

"By Patti Quiring
Dear Tom: Dave Quiring had a nice time yesterday at the 8/30 Geist Business Connections meeting. He can't make the next monthly meeting, but he will return in November to meet other business owners/network. Neat idea you had re. the networking exercise. A new experience for Dave! I enjoyed hearing about how it worked. Great idea. Have a super holiday weekend Tom. Thank you for personally and professionally making a difference in the Geist area. Businesses created from the heart--you gotta love 'em. Bye now. Patti Quiring, Quiring Associates, Inc. search group. BTW, the cookout and tent also was above/beyond the typical networking event. Kudos yet again."

Please click on the 1st picture below to view all pictures.

The second business networking group meeting will be on Wednesday, September 27th at noon. Our first meeting brought out 35 local business owners and raised $175 for Creating Hope.

These monthly meetings will be designed to help you network with other Geist area businesses and learn more about some of the area's not for profit and volunteer opportunities.

A $5.00 per person per meeting fee will be collected to pay for the meeting space, lunch, or other incidental charges. The remainder will be donated to the local charity of the month. September's charity will be the Cheer Guild at Riley Hospital.

Unlike other business networking groups, the Geist Business Connections will not grant exclusivity to any business nor will it have weekly meetings. Instead, any area business owner is invited to attend as often as they wish and meetings will be held monthly to limit your time commitment.

Businesses that are interested in hosting a monthly meeting and/or donating lunch/breakfast are asked to email Tom Britt or Sandor Gal. If you are interested in having an active role in this group, you are also asked to contact Tom or Sandor.

Remember, all proceeds will go back into our Geist community charities!

INVITATION

1st Geist Business Connections Networking Meeting

When?

August 30th (Wednesday) from 12-1pm

Where?

At the Geist Visitors Center (Log Cabin Animal Hospital building)

Dr. Sandor Gal from the Log Cabin Animal Hospital and Tom Britt of atGeist are organizing a local business networking group which will meet on Wednesday, August 30th at the Log Cabin at noon.

These monthly meetings will be designed to help you network with other Geist area businesses and learn more about some of the area's not for profit and volunteer opportunities.

A $5.00 per person per meeting fee will be collected to pay for the meeting space, lunch, or other incidental charges. The remainder will be donated to the local charity of the month. August's charity will be Creating Hope.(http://creating-hope.org/)

Unlike other business networking groups, the Geist Business Connections will not grant exclusivity to any business nor will it have weekly meetings. Instead, any area business owner is invited to attend as often as they wish and meetings will be held monthly to limit your time commitment.

Businesses that are interested in hosting a monthly meeting and/or donating lunch/breakfast are asked to email Tom Britt or Sandor Gal. If you are interested in having an active role in this group, you are also asked to contact Tom or Sandor. Remember, all proceeds will go back into our Geist community charities!

The Geist Business Connections (GBC) group would like to invite you to its monthly meetings at Geist Visitors Center.

email: tom@atgeist.com
voice: 317-823-5060
web: http://atGeist.com

email: sandorgal@gmail.com
cell : 317-710-8851

Geist Business Networking Group Starting Up

Sandor Gal at the Log Cabin Animal Hospital and I are working together to form a Geist Business Connections networking group. Several advertisers and local area business people have expressed interest in networking.

Unlike other networking groups, we're going to meet monthly instead of weekly and not grant exclusivity to any business. Anyone can come, and we'll invite local charities to join us as well so we can get to know them and help them.

The fees will be $5.00 per person per meeting with all the proceeds going to the local charity of the month. Our first meeting will be Wednesday, August 30th at noon at the Log Cabin in front of Holy Spirit at Geist.

Check the calendar for more information. Everyone that wants to network with other local businesses is welcome to attend. Hope to see you there!

Tom Britt