CostRegistration

Consulting As A Career: What You Need to be Successful

Presentation: Is Consulting Right for You?

Learn the key personal and professional characteristics and critical success factors for consultants.

Bruce Katcher, The Center for Independent Consulting

Joanne Dustin, Principal, Change Collaborators

Presentation: Launching Your Consulting Career – What to Do in Your First Year

Figure out your business model, financing, office requirements, website, networking, and marketing. Learn strategies and tactics to attract and acquire clients.

Steve Balzac, President, 7 Steps Ahead, LLC; President, The Society of Professional Consultants

Carl Harvey, Principal, Success & Self-Esteem

Discussion: Getting Your Questions Answered

Open Q&A session with a panel of seasoned consultants

Shelly Berman-Rubera, President, SBR-Small Business Results

Allen Falcon, President, Horizon Information Group

Ronna Cohen, President, Breakthrough Business Performance

Frank Mancieri, Partner, B2B CFO®

Networking Reception

complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer

Begins at 5:00

About our Presenters:

	Stephen Balzac, "The Business Sensei," is a consultant, author, and speaker. He is also the president of 7 Steps Ahead, an organizational development and management consulting firm. Building effective development organizations, improving team morale, developing effective communications between team members, reducing employee turnover, helping businesses identify and attain strategic targets, and applying sport psychology techniques to business have been some of his most successful projects. He is a contributing author to Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values Through Play, and the author of The 36-Hour Course in Organizational Development, due out later this year from McGraw-Hill.
Shelly Berman-Rubera, Founder and President of SBR-Small Business Results, is a Certified Small Business Coach, Emotional Intelligence Leader, and Lifestyle Management Consultant. Shelly offers small business owners and independent professionals business development consulting and programs. She is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience having started four businesses.
	Joanne Dustin, founder and principal of Change Collaborators, is dedicated to leveraging change as the driver of organizational and career success. She has had more than 20 years’ experience focused on change and career development as a consultant and coach to leaders at all levels.
Allen Falcon, president of Horizon Information Group, has helped businesses of all sizes with strategic technology planning, management, and operations. Allen has served as a part-time CIO for businesses in many industries. He has planned and managed technology projects that directly support his clients’ business goals and bottom lines.
	Carl Harvey, the founder of Success & Self-Esteem, is an accomplished and seminar leader and an award-winning salesman with more than 20 years of selling success to his credit. His company, Success & Self-Esteem, helps business owners develop the practices and processes to hire people who can sell, and then helps those capable salespeople develop the skills and psychological competencies they need for continuing success in selling.
Bruce L. Katcher, PhD, is an industrial/organizational psychologist, consultant, author, and speaker. He founded his company in 1993 to help firms find out what their employees and customers really think. He is author of the recently published book, An Insider's Guide to Building a Successful Consulting Practice, published by the American Management Association.
	Frank Mancieri, a financial professional for more than 30 years, provides companies with on-site chief financial officer and controller services on a long-term, part-time basis. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, specializing in accounting, and a master’s (MBA) in management, both from Bryant University in Smithfield, R. I.
Ronna Cohen, Founder/President of Breakthrough Business Performance (formerly The 20-20 Group), provides highly effective consulting and results-driven executive training for small businesses and regional nonprofit organizations. She has introduced BreakthroughAssess 3.0 - a unique multifaceted offering designed specifically to help consultants grow their business – increase their credibility and visibility, expand existing engagements, more rapidly book new projects, and prove greater value to their clients.

Agenda:

1:00 – 1:30 p.m.

Registration/networking

1:30 – 1:45 p.m.

Introduction/agenda review

1:45 – 2:45 p.m.

Presentation: Is Consulting Right for You?

What does it take, personally and professionally, to be a successful consultant? Do you have the self-motivation, self-esteem, and self-confidence? Can you work alone? How can you identify your true passion, and how do you translate that into something that you can take to market?

Bruce Katcher, The Center for Independent Consulting

Joanne Dustin, Principal, Change Collaborators

2:45 – 3:00 p.m.

Short Break

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Presentation: Beginning Your Consulting Career – the First Year

What decisions do you need to make, and what do you need to accomplish during your first year of consulting? What about office space, business cards, a website, networking? What strategies and tactics will attract and acquire clients, especially when you’re just starting out?

Steve Balzac, President, 7 Steps Ahead, LLC; President, The Society of Professional Consultants

Carl Harvey, Principal, Success & Self-Esteem

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Panel: Getting Your Questions Answered

An open forum where you can put your questions to a diverse and experienced group of consultants:

Shelly Berman-Rubera, President, SBR-Small Business Results

Allen Falcon, President, Horizon Information Group

Ronna Cohen, President, Breakthrough Business Performance

Frank Mancieri, Partner, B2B CFO®

5:00 – 6:30 p.m.

Networking Reception with complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer