$289,000.00 raised since 2005

BNI New Zealand and Hospice New Zealand renewed their partnership agreement this week with a signing ceremony between BNI National Director Graham Southwell and Hospice New Zealand Chairman Wilf Marley in Auckland.

Hospice New Zealand also presented BNI with a certificate acknowledging the contribution of the organisation and its members in raising $289,000.00 since 2005 for hospices throughout the country, as well as the sponsorship of 42 BNI Palliative Care Education Scholarships awarded to healthcare workers involved with hospice.

The goals of the national agreement are to raise funds for local hospices through local BNI chapters countrywide, to continue to provide multidisciplinary scholarships for palliative care health workers and to raise awareness at a national level through collaborative and national awareness activities.

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The more than 75 people who attended BNI’s pilot public relations and social media workshop on Auckland’s North Shore at the end of March have given the sessions rave reviews.

72 people said they found both sessions very useful to their business, and 49 said the workshops were very useful to them for BNI.

Some of the main points learnt in the social media session – run by BNI’s online community and social media manager Fiona Powell – ranged from ‘how to get started’ to ‘tips on managing your social online presence’ and ‘cannot manage search engine optimisation anymore without social media’.

Some of the main points learnt in the public relations workshop – run by BNI New Zealand Marketing Director Colin Kennedy – ranged from ‘how to write a press releases’ to ‘the power of the positioning statement in defining your business’ to ‘building relationships with an editor’.

A number of participants thanked BNI for the opportunity to learn about public relations and social media as a value added service, while others were also keen on more in-depth sessions at some stage.

“We were extremely pleased with the overwhelming response and happy to get away with just one complaint – that the room was too hot for the first session. The problem was fixed when we opened the windows after the break.

“The BNI team are discussing the workshop which was enormously successful and how we can make it available to members around the country. This is the year of adding value to members – so watch this space for details,” said Colin.

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I am pleased to announce the appointment of Colin Kennedy as Marketing Director for BNI New Zealand .

While this is an outsourced function, Colin will manage – at an executive level – all marketing and communication functions for BNI New Zealand. As such, he will design, implement and facilitate the annual marketing plan and communicate for the BNI New Zealand office and within its regions.

Colin will be the official spokesman for BNI New Zealand, building relationships with media and our partners including Hospice NZ, as well as representing BNI at all public speaking engagements (when BNI receives requests to talk at those functions).

What does this mean for you?

He will also be responsible for member engagement. For example, where previously I received requests to visit chapters in my capacity as National Director, Colin will now respond to those requests in his capacity as Marketing Director.

Colin will also represent BNI and negotiate in approaches from third parties wanting to work with BNI, and represent BNI at various community and business meetings to promote the interests of the organisation.

We have a number of exciting developments for members in the area of personal development, social media, rebranding, a national survey and other initiatives designed to deliver more value to members in 2010.

In his new capacity, Colin will assist or co-ordinate on each one of these projects.

The team

In Colin (Marketing Director), Sue Redknap, Fiona Harrop and Leigh Mason (BNI Support), Fiona Powell (Social Media Editor) and Brian Falkner (BNI Technical Support) and the team of 18 BNI directors, I believe I have a strong, capable team which will help us to raise the bar for you, our members in 2010; I for one  am looking forward to taking this journey with you.

Graham Southwell

BNI New Zealand –  National Director

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The idea behind this free and fun event is to highlight the power of giving referrals by challenging small business owners to make 1000 referrals to 1000 small businesses during the week. You can find out more about it here

As part of the Make a Referral Week 2010 Education Series John is highlighting the power of referrals and word of mouth marketing with a live event featuring some of the brightest authors, speakers and thought leaders on the subject of referral marketing.

You can join John for a live web discussion Wednesday, March 10th at Noon CST. Click here to register for the online seminar. (That’s 7am, Thursday March 11 our NZ time).

The panel includes Ivan Misner, founder of BNI and author of The 29% Solution,  Bob Burg, author of  Endless Referrals and the  Go-Givers Sell More, and  Ben McConnell, co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists.

This group makes up a panel of what may be the worlds single greatest collection of thought leaders on the subject of referrals and word of mouth.

More info on the entire week can be found here. Have you made your referral yet? Do it here

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9am – 11am on Monday 29th March at Sports House, Harbour Sport, Stadium Drive, Albany, 2nd right Nth Harbour Stadium

(Book on line on the BNI New Zealand website).

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BNI New Zealand achieved a world first today when the BNI website and BNI blog went live with the new international branding, developed to further emphasise BNI’s position as the world’s largest referral organisation.

The global theme will help BNI achieve communication consistency around the world, particularly as the organisation continues to grow at a phenomenal rate – already BNI is present in  38 countries (including China) and has more than 125,000 members worldwide!

BNI New Zealand will of course retain many of our unique Kiwi characteristics – including ensuring that our  material features  images of  New Zealand members. Our brochures are currently with the branding agency, but the starting point for our new look is the rebranding of the website and blog.

The new branding means a complete change across all of BNI’s communications – including referral slips, leadership team manuals and business cards.

This is just the first step in a number of exciting developments planned for 2010 – all with  the  aim of adding more value to our members.

Best wishes

Graham Southwell – BNI New Zealand

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Hutt Business Catalysts hands over $6,204.60 to Te Omanga Hospice

Forty minutes over breakfast was all it took for the Hutt Business Catalysts BNI to raise $6,204.60 for their local Te Omanga Hospice at their last meeting in December.

Chapter president Benn Milne says the chapter is in talks with the Hutt Business Connections BNI chapter to stage a similar event in November.

Pictured is the chapter, with chapter hospice and events co-ordinator Andy Soper (left) presenting the enormous cheque to Te Omanga representative Helen Kelland (holding the cheque on the right).

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