Learning, Ladies' Style

Imagine attending a girls' weekend.  But for BUSINESS.  At a beautiful resort. With some hot business topics like Mobile Marketing, with a dynamo speaker to kick off the conference. Then two chefs who demo easy-to-do holiday entertaining ideas -- demos you can TASTE -- with recipes to repeat yourself, sizzling up the classroom. Then a networking class, one on how to have a happy life, a fashion and image consultant, a best practices share-a-thon, and a wine painting party to let your inner child free.

Bottom line: two days of chatting about "what-works-for-you" business topics, intertwined with deep discussions on balancing your life. It was learning nirvana for women... because with us, both topics -- our work lives and our spirits -- are interconnected.

That's what I experienced this past weekend at the Women's Retreat, appropriately entitled "RENEW" hosted by the Carolina Association of Advertising and Marketing Professionals with a small network of under 50 bubbly attendees. Networking excellence, from start to finish.

Was any business written at this conference? Immediate ROI? Don't think so. But then again, what we learned at the conference was that good networking takes time. Nurturing. Developing, And these women -- lifelong learners all -- are so worth getting to know.

So thank you, fellow attendees. I learned more from you than you know. Congratulations to LIsa Bibb and her committee for a model event of interactive learning innovation... including an entirely new way to use a corkscrew.

Be well and happy.

Mary Ellen

The Scarlet Marketeer