Nationally known brand expert Sandra Sellani, author of best-selling business book, “What’s Your BQ?” and VP of Marketing for NVISION Laser Eye Centers (www.nvisioncenters.com), will share her secrets to building your brand for 2012 at PCE’s Workshop and Networking Event being held on February 7, 2012 at Prego Ristorante (18420 Von Karman Avenue Irvine, CA 92612-0530) in Irvine. Check-in/networking from 5:30PM – 6PM; Speaker from 6PM – 7:30PM; Networking from 7:30PM – 8PM.

Co-Sponsored by the OCAMA, IABC, OC PRSA and OCAF.

In her workshop, Sandra will help you discover what makes you unique, steps to create your own brand, and how to build that brand among your clients, potential clients, partners and others. Branding yourself will help you break away from the competition and become known for being the obvious choice in your field. This will ultimately enable you to stand out when doing proposals for new business and in keeping existing clients.

You will benefit by :

• Taking the BQ Test to ascertain your brand strengths and weaknesses
• Discovering how to define your unique point of differentiation
• Understanding the differences between name recognition and brand recognition
• Finding out how to stand out from the crowd
• Learning how to make your first impression memorable
• Understanding how building your brand gives you a sustainable competitive advantage
• Learning about the VRIO Branding Model, what it is and how it works
• Seeing case studies on how branding has made a difference
• Exploring what efforts are needed to create your own brand

A copy of Sandra’s book, “What’s Your BQ?” will be provided to each attendee (who RSVP’s by 2/1/12). For those who RSVP after 2/1/12 and for walk-ins, books will be available after the event. Sandra will personally autograph books for attendees.

Please RSVP by clicking here.

Start the new year on a high note by joining us for a luncheon featuring William G. Briggs, Dean of the College of Communications at Cal State Fullerton.

We all know that the communications field is changing fast–we see it every day in our jobs. At our January meeting, Dr. Briggs will talk about where communications is headed–and how we can keep pace with the change. You will be able to use this insight as you plan for 2012 and beyond.

Dr. Briggs is a leader in our field, and has been recognized as an IABC Fellow, which is our association’s highest honor. He taught public relations and mass communications for more than 26 years at San Jose State University, where he served as director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Briggs as our guest. We hope you can join us for a great lunch, great networking and a fascinating look into the future of our field.

LUNCHEON FEE
Pre-registered IABC Members: $30
Pre-registered students: $20
Pre-registered Guests: $40
Please note that walk-ins pay an extra $10 at the door

WHERE
Scott’s Seafood
3300 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1806

RSVP
Tuesday, January 10, 2012

REGISTER

L to R: Teri Sawyer, President, PCE; Chelsea Sellars, President, OCAMA; Claudia Miller, President, IABC/OC; Cynthia Ragland, President-Elect, OC/PRSA; Hanna Na, President, Ad2OC; Lisa Delaney, President, OC Ad Club; Luz Marina, President, SoCal BMA.

If you were lucky enough to register for the December 1 Holiday Mixer before it reached capacity, you were also possibly one of the lucky attendees who not only enjoyed great food and networking, but won a door prize or auction item as well.

The event, held at Prego Ristorante in Irvine and hosted by IABC/OC, PCE, OCAMA, OC/PRSA, SoCal BMA, OC Ad Fed + Ad 2, raised more than $3,000 for Hands Together—A Center for Children and Families. This highly respected non-profit focuses on literacy for children in central Orange County, from infancy to kindergarten. In all there were 22 raffle items and 28 silent auction items, ranging in price from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars.

L to R: Dave Peters, Director, Hands Together; Claudia Miller, President, IABC/OC; Robert Kuhel, Board of Directors President, Hands Together.

Prego Ristorante (www.pregoristoranti.com) outdid themselves with hors d’oeuvres like Caprese and CrostiniMisti (toasted Italian bread with a variety of topping: cream cheese and smoked salmon, olive tapanda, bruschetta and more). Dinner was served buffet-style and included sautéed vegetables, chicken piccata, penne primavera and gemeli alla Genovese followed by a selection of Prego’s famous desserts. The restaurant even created a signature holiday martini just for our event!

Fun photography sessions were provided courtesy of Carlos Valle Photography (go to http://vallefoto.smugmug.com/Other/Holiday-Mixer/20433015_BrsBQc#1617154962_293SqsJ to view photos), with makeup courtesy of Couture Beauty. Soothing live music was provided by Leo Fishman and sponsored by Idea Hall. At the end of the evening, a good time was had by all!

Volunteers Needed for a Variety of Projects and Talents

Interested in making connections to great communicators and new opportunities to grow in your career? Get involved with IABC/OC, where your impact will make a difference, and your efforts will build your network and skill set. We are looking for volunteers in the following areas:

• Social Media Guru Or Want to Learn More About Social Media? Support IABC’s efforts to spread the word about our great services and programming through social media avenues. In particular, we need a volunteer to help with managing Facebook updates.

• Handy with a Video Camera Or Want to Engage with more IABC Members at Meetings? We need someone who is interested in video taping portions of our monthly meeting and engaging with attendees to create a short video that can be posted to our IABC/OC website (familiarity with a Flip camera preferred; we will supply the camera)

• Publicity Guru Or Want to Build Your PR Portfolio? The publicity committee could use a few volunteers to help promote events and other IABC developments.

• Great Sales Person Or Want to Make More Business Connections in OC? Join our Sponsorship or Corporate Membership committees to help organize outreach to OC companies. In particular, we would like to recruit a few volunteers who can help with phone calls during membership months, which happen twice per year (the next one is in December).

• Superstar Web Developer Or Want to Broaden Your Portfolio? We need help managing and coordinating content updates for the IABC/OC web site, and would especially love to have volunteers who are familiar with PHP.

• Expert Planner Or Want to Expand Your Planning Skills? IABC is forming a committee to plan the chapter’s 35th anniversary next year. This committee is a great first step toward getting more involved with IABC as you’ll work to showcase the chapter’s offerings and celebrate members in honor of the 35th anniversary milestone.

• Natural-Born Leader Or Want to Expand Your Leadership Skills? We are looking for a few IABC members to join the IABC/OC 2012 Board. Serving on the board is a great way to expand your involvement in IABC and the Orange County communications industry. And, we make it easy to participate, often combining board positions so that our members can share tasks and better manage their involvement.

Members: Got a Professional Achievement or Special Talent?
Please share it with your fellow IABC members. We have created a special place on the IABC/OC website to highlight the professional accomplishments and unique communications work of our members. Just completed a new communications campaign? Publishing a new book? Presenting a keynote at a conference? Let us know and we’ll showcase your special accomplishment or communications campaign to fellow members on OC.IABC.com. Please see contact information below for submissions and send us 2-3 sentences on your highlighted work.

To get involved, get more information on volunteering or share your accomplishment, please contact:

Lisa Falcetti
714.918.8228
lfalcetti@golinharris.com

Denise Keddy
949.500.5334
denisemkeddy@gmail.com