Contents This Week

• February Comment
• Welcome to new and renewing members (side bar)
• Membership Tip- Managing your profile (side bar)
• Schmooze Deluxe now on iTunes
• Meet a Member
• The February Schmooze
• Professional Development Workshop
• Members Discussion Group
• Promote your own events and news!

February Comment

Our January schmooze was a lovely soiree & I was delighted to find that the smooth, sophisticated vibe that Schmooze events are renowned for was evident in our very first Monthly Schmooze in Melbourne this year.

There was no spin, no name tags, & definitely no ‘in your face’ networking. Instead people came to enjoy themselves and to take a genuine interest in the other people there. The music was fabulous, the canapés were generous & the overall vibe was….well….schmooze!

So, where to now?

We have quite a program forming, starting with a discussion group. We would like to invite you to share a coffee & your thoughts on a few things, like the topics you would like to see in our professional development workshops and opportunities for Schmooze generally in Melbourne.  It would also be a great opportunity also for our Foundation Members to get to know each other. If you'd like to participate in this informal gathering over a coffee or drink please let us know this week.

Keeping to our philosophy of keeping the growth of the professional community organic we're relying on you to spread the word amongst your friends and colleagues who you think would enjoy Schmooze and gain benefit from the range of opportunities we offer.

We are also launching our first Professional workshop in March. The topic will be on wellness in your work life, & will be held on Tuesday 15th March from 17:30 – 19:30. These workshops aim to provide practical expert insights that participants can then 'plug and play' right away.

More details coming soon so stay tuned.

On behalf of the team I look forward to welcoming you at one our events coming up.

Cath O'Connor

Members Relations Manager

Schmooze Deluxe now on iTunes

Released in 2007, this limited release album was produced to showcase some the Canberra region very talented musicians.  Co-produced by Phillip Jones and leading Canberra dj Ashley Feraude, the album became an instant collectors item.

Keeping to a mellow vibe of chilled melodic and rhythmic sounds, these original compositions make for a journey ranging from trip hop, funk, soul, disco & electronica through to roots, contemporary pop, blues, jazz and cabaret.

Due to popular request you can now purchase the album on iTunes, just search for Schmooze Deluxe and create the perfect soundtrack for cocktail hour for your place!

You can also preview the tracks on our website here.

Meet a Member: Matt Coleborne

Continuing our occasional series of meeting some of the very diverse membership, meet this week one our Foundation Members for Schmooze Melbourne, Matt Coleborne.

• Position: Managing Partner, three of a kind.
• Are there particular influences or role models in your work? Steve Jobs, Apples CEO, for three reasons:
  1. He continually strives for innovation in his business and the products they create. It’s a continuous cycle and it’s never finished. Even though they get to market with innovation in what appears like a sprint, Steve is actually steering Apple on a journey, that’s being run with the pace and stamina of a marathon.
  2. He has the extraordinary ability to look into the future and instinctively see what people want. He’s done that consistently in a way that no one else has.
  3. He backs himself and stands behind his ideas and forgoes market research. Shortly before the iPad tablet went on sale last year, Steve Jobs showed off Apple’s latest creation to a small group of journalists. One asked what consumer and market research Apple had done to guide the development of the new product. “None” Mr Jobs replied. “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want”.
  Also, Bernard Villemot, a French graphic artist, famous for his advertising images for Bally, Perrier and Air France in the 1960’s and 70’s. He also achieved incredible critical acclaim for his paintings and was one of the first modern graphic artists to show it was possible to make some money from your craft and not starve.
• Is there such a thing as an ideal client for you? At the heart of our approach is a model of collaborative relationships, with our creative and business teams, with our specialist associates and with our clients. It is with this model of collaborative relationships that we can enhance the projects outcome through a greater sphere of creative influence. Our ideal client not only embraces this but actively contributes throughout the project with us.
• Do you have a Schmooze story you’d like to share?  One of the greatest desires we all have in our lives is to be closer to people. Not just connected to them. Connecting is functional and tangible. Closer is different to connecting, it is emotional. Right now in Australian society, we feel more alone and separated than in any other period. We feel like strangers in our own streets, in our own communities. How many of us really know the names of our neighbours, or would trust them enough to leave our kids with them for an evening.   Schmooze with its approach and hosting by Phillip, goes further to bring us all closer together. Not just in business, but as people. Cocktails and late mid-week nights aside, it’s this deeper empathy of Schmooze that’s the real story here.  (That's very insightful Matt, and really nails what we're about, thank you!)
• Tell us something about your vision for your company?  When we started out a year ago, we created Three of a Kind for one simple reason – to turn challenger brands into success stories. We thrive on the challenge of helping small and medium-sized businesses evolve into the sort of brands that people talk about.   My expertise comes from working with some of Australia’s biggest brands (the likes of Telstra, American Express and KFC). I started this business with a passion to share what I’ve learnt and help turn new and aspiring brands into household names.
  I also wanted to create an environment with my partners that allows us to put our creative and business talents to use on worthwhile and interesting projects. Right now we’re doing that by creating rich and interesting content for young children to be delivered on technology platforms like the iPad. The first project is a children’s book called “I love my Dad…” with the sale proceeds being used to bring the technology to local schools in our community. So it becomes a continuous cycle of benefit as more and more copies are sold.
• Your website for more information? www.threeofakind.com.au

You can read more members profiles on our website here.

The February Schmooze

We had such a swell time at the last Schmooze, we thought we'd do it again at the same place!

The monthly Schmooze's are informal, welcoming and the perfect environment to cultivate new contacts. We keep it low key and personalised, and we attract a diverse range of outgoing professionals from a wide range of sectors and organisations.

Our team will welcome you and introduce you about to ensure you get to meet the people you want to, and we promise a very enjoyable evening out that is not your typical business networking vibe.

• Where: Penny Blue, 2 Driver Lane, off Little Bourke St
• When: Tuesday February 22nd from 5.30pm
• RSVP to rsvp@schmooze.net.au this week!
• Cost: Mr members: free, includes two complimentary drinks and canapes, Non-member Guests: $55.00 incl GST includes two complimentary drinks and canapes. Invoices will be issued when you RSVP and you must pay before the event.

Members Discussion Group

Normallly these gatherings are reserved exclusively for professional and young professional package members only and provide an invaluable opportunity to meet, learn and exchange professional insights in a relaxed setting.

Each month the group discuss in detail ideas raised by the seminars and workshops, so this month's theme is about professional and business relationships and how best to leverage them. The discussions are led by one of the Schmooze team, and all members actively participate in the sharing of knowledge and ideas.

This month though, we'd like to open the discussion to anyone interested in finding out more about Schmooze and suggest ideas for our program.  We believe that our program needs to be informed by the interests of our members and is shaped by the topics and professional needs.  

So we'd love to get together with you over a coffee or glass of wine and hear what you'd like us to roll-out for you.

To get involved please contact us at info@schmooze.net.au and we'll confirm a time and place.

Professional Development Workshop: Work-Life Balance for busy professionals

The first workshop for the year will be on the evening of 15th March.  Presented by Dr. Marc Bajcic of Waverley Central Chiropractic Clinic we'll explore practical ways you can achieve that often elusive state of balance.

More details will be released soon, but pencil in the date now.

Schmooze members can attend these workshops (social members at a special rate of $35.00) and non-member guests are very welcome with guest passes ($55 incl GST all inclusive) available.

For more information about this year's program including upcoming topics, please see our website here.

Promote your own events and news!

Professional and Young Professional package members can also add their own events and news directly onto the website via a simple form in the Members Lounge.

We can then include them in this enews.

Note the deadline for content is the Friday before next weeks issue.

You can also add info such as newsletters, announcements, new staff appointments, special offers for members, job ads etc in the same way.

Just log-in and go to the Add a Notice page in the Members Lounge.