second quarterly coffee recap

This post could also be titled what went well and what went wrong.

I placed myself at Java B Good this morning from 7 to 9 a.m. with a large cake from Sweet Binney's. The cake was fabulous! The coffee was also wonderful, and Bryan Marker and Christopher Erickson were very helpful. The atmosphere at Java B Good is lovely as it sits right inside the Boesen's located on Ingersoll, a kind of tropical retreat among flowers and plants.

Shortly after I had stuff in place, poster out and items on display Erin Hefner owner of Personal Touch appeared and we sat over coffee and cake and visited . . . for most of the rest of the time. It turned out to be a great way to hear about her business and her services. We discussed what she is currently doing and an idea emerged of a way to promote her business that will be fun.

I know I didn't remind everyone via Constant Contact which I should have done as I ramp up using that service more efficiently. The only thing I'd mentioned was in the Holiday card sent out a month before the event. I also didn't put notice in the paper. I blame this to being out of sorts this week as my 21-year-old son is headed to South Africa for 2 years to serve in the Peace Corps. I'm feeling sad, happy, nervous and all.

Lessons were learned and I donated substantial cake to Beacon of Life where I found out more about their organization.

Going forward I'm thinking that maybe I should shift these quarterly gatherings to evening events and have them over wine and appetizers and perhaps let people know more often. More to follow.

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Sandy Renshaw]

Hi Sherry,

I wondered how your event was - and really wanted to be there. I had several conflicting appts. that morning. Thursday seems to be a popular time. Remind me next time and I'll put a notice on AroundDesMoines.com. The more notice, the better! We all get so busy we forget.

Sandy

[Sherry Borzo]

Hey thanks for the comment Sandy. Actually I did several things not so well on this event. I should have sent an email reminder to members and merchants a week or so out but spaced off doing that. The only thing I had done was mention it to merchants in a Christmas card about a month ago! I'm like the poster child of what not to do here. Thanks for best wishes!

[Art Dinkin]

Sherry,

Wish I was there, but I am afraid I just didn't know. Congrats on your milestone. The work that you are doing strengthens our community.

[Sherry Borzo]

Thanks Art. There I sat with my big ol' cake but I didn't let everyone know! I'll do a better job of getting out the alert next quarter but next time it may be at a bar with chips or something.