“Using the iPad for Business” – FINE Meeting May 17th

7 05 2012

You can have a lot of fun with the iPad, you can watch videos, listen to music, take pictures, and play games. However it can also be a powerful business tool as well.

Wendy Tremaglio, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker in Westport has been a trailblazer; she was an early adopter of the first iPad, moved to the iPad 2 and has graduated to the iPad 3. The iPad has become an integral part of her business.

Ed Fitzgerald is a web marketing and technology specialist, a lifelong PC guy, he got his first iPad a few months ago and was amazed at what it can do. He now uses it for his business and often skips carrying the laptop in favor of the iPad.

Wendy and Ed teach iPad classes for Realtors and will share with us examples of how they use it, along with tips, tricks and the apps they have found to be most useful.

Wendy has been a Realtor since 2003 and is a partner in TNT Partners, an award winning team at Coldwell Banker. Prior to that she owned Tableworks/Dining In in Norwalk for 20 years.

Ed followed a career at IBM with the creation of an internet based medical education business which led to a web marketing and technology consultancy focusing on the real estate industry.

The meeting starts at 9AM with networking, followed by a welcome and each attendee giving their 30 second elevator speech introduction, followed by our speakers, more networking, and ends at 10:30. It takes place at the Wilton Library, in the President’s Room on the second floor. The library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in Wilton Center, just off Route 7.  Coffee will be available. There is no admission charge, however a $5 donation will help cover the room expense.

Our coffee sponsor is  Anne DiFrancesco of A&M Studios, an advertising design studio specializing in marketing programs, product introductions, direct response, relationship marketing and web design consulting. Thank you Anne!


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“Michigan Mania – Lessons from the Northern Woods” … FINE Meeting April 19th

12 04 2012

Our speaker at the April 19th meeting will be John Carroll. John has been speaking on inspirational and motivational topics to area organizations and events for over 15 years. A retired human resources executive, through his keynote presentations, enjoys giving HOPE …. “Helping Organizations and People Excel” …. and many of his talks center around his own life experiences. Michigan Mania is one of those talks with anecdotes from when he lived in Northern Michigan on Lake Huron.

This is John’s second visit to FINE, he last spoke in February 2010. His presentation, “Matter of Style” was about identifying your own “imprinted” style and ways to effectively use that knowledge when communicating for maximum effectiveness with others, and was very well received.

John founded John Carroll International to help individuals and businesses uncover and develop their God given talents and potential. A resident of Fairfield, Connecticut and Drummond Island, Michigan, John, in his programs, blends New England ingenuity with northern woods’ warmth and simplicity.

As an organizational effectiveness and performance management consultant, John has been helping large and small businesses with people issues, leadership development, rewards, succession planning, recruitment and interviewing, customer relations, sales training, communications and interpersonal styles. Clients have included software and systems, health care, telephone, consumer goods, retail, insurance, architectural services, banking, transportation, publishing, document management services, and marketing services. For more information about John, visit www.johncarrollinternational.com.

Note that the meeting starts at 9AM, ends at 10:30, and will take place at the Wilton Library, in the President’s Room on the second floor. The library is located at 137 Old Ridgefield Road in Wilton Center, just off Route 7.  Coffee will be available. If you would like to be the coffee sponsor and get additional time to talk about your business, contact Bette Lynn Paez at blpaez@sammonsrep.com. There is no admission charge, however a $5 donation will help to cover the room expense.


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“A Small Business Blogger’s View of Connecticut’s Small Business Landscape” – March 15th Meeting

9 03 2012

Our speaker will be  Adam K. Ney Assistant Director of Public Affairs, Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).

Adam is a long-time employee (24+ years) of CBIA and besides helping to drive the association’s grass-roots legislative, he also works with CBIA member companies and other NGOs to help identify and promote small business opportunities and activities in Connecticut.  Adam also writes and manages content not only for CBIA’s Small Business blog, but also for the association’s manufacturing and green business blogs.  Here’s a link to the small business blog for members of FINE to review http://www5.cbia.com/smallbusiness/.

At next week’s meeting, Adam will discuss current small business activities in the state including;

·The Department of Economic and Community Development’s (DECD’s) Small Business Loan program initiated by the special legislative session this past Fall

·Small Business issues before the legislature

·Some non-legislative activities that are promoting small business growth in Connecticut

·Open discussion

Note that we will be meeting in the Smilow Lounge, on the second floor of the playhouse, and that we have shortened the meeting to end at 10:30 in order to reduce the cost of the room rental.

As we discussed at the last meeting, since the Playhouse tripled our rent and are charging for set up and take down time, we will need to charge more for this meeting, $10.

We have been looking for a new location and will likely be meeting at the Westport Library, however, since they have a 6 meeting per year limit, the other meetings would be at the Wilton Library unless we can find another Westport location.

Hope to see you there.

Ed and Bette Lynn 


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FINE Meeting – February 16th – “Roundtable on New Ideas for 2012″

10 02 2012

The February meeting of FINE Business Networking will be an opportunity for everyone to participate and to benefit from hearing about what others are doing to grow their business in 2012. We will go around the room and those who want to share an idea and get feedback from the group will have the opportunity to do so. Bette Lynn and I will moderate the roundtable and would like to know in advance if there is something you would like to share. It will help us prepare and make sure the roundtable is effective. 

We will also spend some time talking about the future of FINE. The Playhouse has raised the room rental fee so we are looking for a new location and considering changing the time and day. We would be interested in your thoughts. Note that we will be meeting in the Smilow Lounge, on the second floor of the playhouse.

Joe Terbell, an experienced professional college counselor will be our coffee sponsor. He will introduce his new business College Steps.

 Hope to see you there.

 Ed and Bette Lynn  


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FINE is taking a winter vacation, next meeting is February 16

11 01 2012

FINE is taking a winter vacation. There will be no January meeting. The next meeting is February 16th at the Westport Country Playhouse in the Smilow Lounge. Details will posted soon.


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FINE meeting, 12/15, our speaker is Colin M. Caplan, founder and owner of Taste of New Haven

3 12 2011

Our speaker at the December 15th meeting of FINE, will be Colin M. Caplan, founder and owner of Taste of New Haven food and drink tours.  Colin started this company in September of this year as a way of providing a one-of-a kind event for both Connecticut residents and tourists. For the restaurants and shops the tours provide direct stimulus, new and potential repeat customers and an image of busting activity. Colin also felt that this idea would change people’s perception and image of New Haven, which has been plagued with negative publicity in recent years.

Colin will talk about how he took a traditional education and career like architecture and turned it into non-traditional entrepreneurial ventures with multiple streams of income including leading culinary walking tours, authoring published and non-published books on history and architecture and historic design and research. Colin will explain some of his methods of marketing and the technology he used to do it. He will also talk about the challenges he has faced in getting started and his ideas for growing the business in 2012. 

He was born and raised in New Haven and developed a passion for architecture and history at an early age. Colin received a Masters in Architecture and Minor in Earth Science from Tulane University in New Orleans. He returned to the Elm City where he worked with a non-profit affordable housing development company, multiple architecture firms and became heavily engaged in his community.

Colin is Historic Officer of the Friends of Edgewood Park, Historian for the Broken Umbrella Theater Company, past Chair of the Alliance for Architecture, past board member of the New Haven Preservation Trust and in 2008 Colin was recipient of the Annual Arts Award from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.  Colin has published four books on New Haven history and architecture. He has written and is continually researching and writing histories about towns, neighborhoods, buildings and families all over Connecticut. His collection of vintage photography is viewable and reprints are available for purchase online at www.magrissoforte.com. Colin’s tour company is also online at www.tasteofnewhaven.com.

The meeting is in the Lucille Lortel Barn at the Westport Country Playhouse from 9 – 11 AM with time for networking before and after Mr. Caplan’s talk. Coffee, tea and a baked good ( prepared by Bette Lynn Paez, co-leader of FINE, financial planner, and former bakery owner) will be provided. In order to cover the expense for the room and coffee when we don’t have a coffee sponsor, there is now a $5 charge which will be collected at the door.


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November 17th meeting … “The Revival of The Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport”

7 11 2011

Our speaker for the November 17th meeting of FINE Business Networking is Lynn Julian, a partner in the revival of The Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport. Ms. Julian will talk about the entrepreneurial challenges of starting the business, which just had its grand opening in September, about their marketing programs, and the role of the theater in the revitalization of Bridgeport.

The Bijou Theatre, dating back to 1909, is located in one of the oldest buildings used as a movie house in the country, and continually run as a movie house. The Bijou Theatre is a luxurious, diverse, multi-use venue, known for its unique mix of independent, documentary and classic films, live comedy, music and theatre.

Ms. Julian (marketing/pr director) and her partners, Christine Brown (program director) and Kathy Reynolds (operations director), have created a synergistic, creative relationship, combining different perspectives, experience, education and talent, that has developed the brand, and fueled the launch of the theatre.

“Our chief goal is to cultivate the personality of The Bijou and tap into its past to bring a newfound energy to Bridgeport.  Both the theatre and the city have seen prosperity and peril over the decades. We couldn’t be more excited to have opened the Bijou’s doors at a time when an artist murmuring is captivating within this urban, industrial setting.  We hope to do our small part to support the kind of fresh exchange, the dynamism that means revitalization for Bridgeport and for its residents and neighbors.”  You will be entertained, as soon as you walk through the doors.

For more information visit www.TheBijouTheatre.com.

Our coffee sponsor for this meeting is Dr. Tom Woodman, BrainCore Therapy Systems, www.norwalkbraincore.com. BrainCore Therapy provides a unique drugless approach to treating Neurological Dysregulation Syndrome (NDS) that may be associated with the symptoms of many neurological based conditions.


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