yep! Gift Drive - December 10th

Since the inception of yep! - members have come together in December to help give back to the community during the holiday season. One way that we have done this in the past is by partnering with a local non-profit and purchasing gifts for the children and families that they serve.

In 2009, we are pleased to partner again with Safenet to provide gifts to children of families displaced by domestic violence. The gift drive is one of our most popular annual events and we are pleased that the Erie Chapter of PICPA and yep! have come together to make the 2009 event larger than last year.

We encourage all yep! members and non-members to attend the event and give back during this holiday season. To make it easy to select a gift, the list has been posted online at the link below and our goal is to exceed the number of gifts requested.

http://www.youngerieprofessionals.org/news/2009/11/save-the-date-yep-holiday-gift-drive

I hope to see you there!

yep! Gets Wired for Networking

This evening yep! hosted Bob Allen from Dale Carnegie Systems to talk to our organization about how individuals can improve their networking skills. The system is based off of the work and best selling book "How to win friends and influence people" - by Dale Carnegie. Bob's exercises on how to effectively communicate and present yourself in several business and networking forums provided attendees with a wealth of knowledge during the two hour session.

I would encourage any professional who is looking to improve their networking and sales skills to investigate the Dale Carnegie system.

A special thanks to Bob for providing the seminar to yep! and to Amanda Lasky and Phil Gallagher of the Professional Leadership and Development Committee for organizing the event.

As I have mentioned in other posts, we have been working to broaden the scope of our programming for 2009 and beyond. Working with other local groups, we are trying to create new events that will improve the ability of yep! members and young professionals to learn new skills. Bob shared an article from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle talk about how young professionals in Rochester are using networking methods to help move their careers forward in the current economic climate.

Once we have some additional details from other partnerships - I will post them on this site and our main website. If you have an idea of a seminar that you would like to see yep! sponsor - send me an e-mail.

Upcoming yep! Events

Representatives from our various committees have been busy planning several events for our members and individuals in the community. yep!'s monthly happy hour series continues this month at U Pick 6 - Erie's newest craft beer store and deli. The event starts at 5:30 PM on September 10th and is open to both members and non-members.

yep!'s happy hours are generally on the second Thursday of each month. October, November, and December's events have been scheduled and are listed below. Be sure to add them to your calendar and check our website for future updates.

October 8th - Safari Grille
November 12th - JR's Last Laugh
December 10th - Fox and Hound (yep! Holiday Gift Wrapping Event)

In addition to social networking, the Professional and Leadership Development committee has been working to promote a special networking event on Monday September 14th.

"Getting WIRED for Networking" is an exclusive Dale Carnegie seminar for yep!.

Dale Carnegie wrote the book "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Join us at the BrewErie on Monday, September 14th at 6:30 pm for a presentation from Bob Allen - A Dale Carnegie Certified Training Consultant. Learn how to present yourself professionally and make the most of a networking event.

Topics will include:

Present yourself professionally, learn a "Conversation Stack", gain credibility, create an effective business statement, and make the most of networking opportunities.

Learn more and register on our website or contact Phil Gallagher for more information.

Looking for leaders

As a volunteer organization, the leadership team of yep! changes each year as individuals take on new responsibilities or their terms expire within the organization. Although the terms of several of our steering committee members do not end until December, we are in the process of recruiting individuals to join yep!'s leadership team. The steering committee manages the day to day operations of the organization with oversight provided by the Board of Directors. Below is a general outline of roles and responsibilities of members of yep!'s steering committee.

yep! Steering Committee Roles and Responsibilities

As young professionals, all of us juggle multiple responsibilities and have several after work commitments. Before committing to being a member of the yep! leadership team, please review the following list of roles and responsibilities.

What we need:

• Two year term commitment with five to ten hours of time per week.
• Attendance at monthly yep! Steering Committee Meetings.
• Planning and Coordination of monthly or bi-monthly committee meetings.
• Management and recruitment of committee members.
• Execution of strategy for committee in conjunction with Executive Committee.
• Development of monthly reports and meeting notes for Steering Committee.
• Research and feedback from membership to ensure that Committee is meeting their needs.
  

What you will receive:

• Experience running and managing a committee.
• Opportunity for leadership advancement in yep! and other local organizations.
• Ability to apply your talents outside of work to make a difference.
• Meet new friends and network professionally.
  

I have been a member of yep! since 2006 and can attest to the value of becoming more involved in the organization. Although we are not compensated for our efforts, our leadership team is committed to making the Erie region a better place and providing our members with opportunities that would not be available otherwise. We rely on the commitment and dedication of our leaders to help improve the organization and I appreciate all of the work that the current and former leaders have done to ensure that there is a young professionals organization in Erie.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of the steering committee, please send me an e-mail.

yep! Summer Events - Kickball and More

Although the weather might not fully indicate that summer has arrived, we are in the final stages of planning several yep! events for the summer.

On August 22nd, yep! will host our sixth annual Kickball Tournament. If you have not played Kickball since grade school - the tournament is a great way to have fun and help yep! raise funds for two local charities.(Erie Arts Museum Youth Art Fund and KaleidAScope) The event will take place on August 22nd at the Harborcreek Community Park and will start at 8:00 AM. Each team - of 12 to 16 players - will play in a minimum of three games during the tournament. In the past, teams have developed creative names and outfits to show their spirit and determination to win the title of kickball champions.

Registration is $40.00 per person ($35.00 for yep! members) and can be completed online at www.yepkickball.org. The cost includes breakfast, lunch, and an afterparty Downtown once the tournament is completed. If you have any addtional questions, please e-mail Steve Reichard or visit www.yepkickball.org. Sponsorships are still available for corporations and organizations that would like to participate.

Yep! is also coordinating volunteers to staff the Children's Area during Discover Presque Isle. Volunteers are asked to work one hour (or more) shifts during the July 25th and 26th event. (From 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM) For more information on how you can help, contact Molly Reichard.

Finally, we are hosting a First Time Home Buyer seminar on July 20th. The event will be held at BrewErie at 6:00 PM and is open to yep! members and the general public. Local housing experts will discuss the impact of the first time home buyer credit and other strategies to purchase a home.

RSVPs are required and can be made by completing the form located here.

We are working on several events for the Fall and 2010 and I will post more information about them as it becomes availalable.

See you at the next event!

First 100 Days

Over the next few days, we are going to hear a lot about the first 100 days of the new Obama presidency. Although I am a few weeks late, (since the 2009 yep! Leadership Team started January 1st) I would like to take a few minutes to update everyone on our progress since the beginning of the year. (118 days to be exact)

In my first post to this blog, I outlined some of our goals for 2009. Using that list as a benchmark, we have made substantial progress since the beginning of the year.

Successes
1. Generation E Leadership awards was held on April 24th and over 300 individuals attended. Even during a recession, the local community embraced the event and it was an overwhelming success.
2. New Events. Our goal was to increase the frequency and diversity of yep! events. We held a financial planning seminar and will be launching the yep! Dinner Series next week. In addition, the Membership Meeting, HR Seminar, and a Summer Adventure are planned for May and June.
3. Generate member value. A preferred vendor / membership card will be distributed to the membership in May. We also have created events that are discounted for members and employed new communications techniques to reach a larger audience.
4. Growing membership base. The list of paid yep! members is increasng and we are working to continue that trend for the remainder of the year. (Thanks to everyone who has joined or renewed their membership this year)

Items we are working on
1. Finalizing some internal structure. The longevity of the organization will depend on our ability to manage transitions between leadership teams. We are in the process of creating additional policies and procedures to ensure that the organization can provide for the membership.
2. New partnerships. The leadership has been working on a few new partnerships and collaborative projects to help fulfill some needs of the organization. One is between the Non-Profit Partnership - Earthforce - and yep! to develop green teams to make a greater inpact in the local community. More information can be found here.

Thanks to our leadership team and our members for the work that they do to make the organization what it is today.

yep! @ You Lead

Since yep!'s inception, we have worked to become more active in the local and statewide communities by working to create a better environment for young professionals to thrive in Pennsylvania. In the past, our Civic Engagement Committee has worked on the local level to organize political debates and forums to educate our members - and the community at large - about issues that impact our age demographic.

yep! -like many young professionals organizations from across the Commonwealth - can help politicians connect to younger voters in many different ways. In addition, each organization can provide the perspective of their membership to help create better legislation and overall impact in Pennsylvania.

A few days ago I received a e-mail from Erin Molchany at PUMP - Pittsburgh Urban Magnate Project - about an initiative she is working on with Pennsylvania State Senator Rob Wonderling.

The initiative is called You Lead and to quote their press release is " a statewide effort to engage citizens age 21 – 34 in policy with the goal of the program to make Pennsylvania a premier state for young adults to live, work, and start a business. By providing a forum that welcomes discussion about issues and public policy throughout the state, and by working together with individuals from all regions, young people will be empowered to advance a legislative agenda that brings a fresh perspectives and creative solutions to Pennsylvania’s challenge of attracting and retaining new generations of residents and business owners.

On November 19, 2008, YouLead hosted a conference in Harrisburg with young people, entrepreneurs, educators, and legislators to discuss the issues important to Pennsylvania’s youth. The result was a number of proposals centered around three areas: Entrepreneurship; Education; and Empowerment. This winter, we have been working on legislation to address these issues, along with organizing a statewide young person’s network, and developing a platform for the younger adult population of the state to have their voice heard in Harrisburg."

I will be traveling to Harrisburg next for the kickoff of the YouLead initiative and look forward to working with the yep! leadership team to help us make a larger impact.

yep! WQLN Interview

yep! was featured on the March 1st edition of We Question and Learn. Thanks to Tom Pyz and WQLN for conducting the interview.

Click here to listen to the interview

About the program:

We Question and Learn" is dedicated to being a community interest program devoting an entire hour to interviews with Erie's prominent leaders, business people, educators, focusing in on business and technology as well as interviews with community development leaders.

Video killed the radio star

WPSE-AM 1450 interviewed Rebecca Styn and I about the 2009 Generation E Leadership Awards that will be held on April 24th at the Bayfront Convention Center.

The clip recently aired and can be heard by clicking here.

Thanks to Ron Slomski and his staff for helping us get the word out about yep! and Generation E.

Opportunities in the Erie Region

An added bonus of being yep! President is that you learn a lot more about all of the organizations in the community. I have had the privilege of meeting with several groups since January and have found that many of them are looking for young professionals to get more involved. In addition, many local employers contact us on a regular basis when they are looking to fill job openings.

yep! advertises these opportunities on our website and also via our monthly newsletter that is sent to our members. Be sure to check our opportunities page for the latest volunteer and job positions that are available in the region. We also added a Indeed.com search box on the site to help you locate positions that are posted on local and national job boards.

yep! in the News

I apologize for not posting sooner - this month has flown by. In the last month yep! has hosted several new events and we have been in the news fairly frequently.

On February 17th, about thirty people attended the first Professional and Leadership Development Committee event - Dollars and Sense - at the Erie Technology Incubator. A panel of local experts talked to attendees about banking, litigation, insurance, taxes, and financial planning. The committee is working to hold similar events each quarter throughout 2009. Thanks to Phil Gallagher - and our panelists - for organizing the successful event. WJET featured the event the day before and the day of the event as well.

Yesterday we held a press conference to announce the 2009 recipients of the Generation E Awards. Started five years ago, Generation E recognizes individuals that are making a difference in our community. Rebecca Styn - Generation E Chair - and the entire organizing committee have been working over the last few months to make the 5th Anniversary of the event the most successful in its history. For the first time, yep! will be going green with Generation E. The new logo, materials using recycled paper, and even the awards made out of recycled metal - will encompass an overall green theme that yep! is embracing. Yep! will also award a Green Award to a company or organization during the event and we are accepting nominations at www.generationeawards.com. The press conference - including interviews with Rebecca and I - were featured on several news outlets.

WICU

WJET

Last but not least - yep! will be featured this weekend on We Question We Learn on 91.3 FM. The hour program will feature a thirty minute interview about yep!. Once the program airs, it will be available for download in MP3 format and I will post it here. For more information about the program, check out the WQLN website.

Thanks to the yep! leadership team for all of their work on these events. More information will be posted here - on Facebook - or the yep! Website - as we finalize our plans.

The view from your desk

I recently was watching the movie Dead Poets Society and remembered that I watched the movie over ten years ago in my Honors English class at Mercyhurst Prep. In the movie, Professor John Keating has his students stand on his desk. His rationale for this activity was because "we must remind ourselves to constantly look at things in a different way."

Why do I mention this story?

I think that part of yep!'s overall mission is to look at Erie in a different way. Are the policies of the past and present the best for our future? Or do we need to look at things from a different perspective?

We have made tremendous progress in the last few years and many people are looking to yep! to help shape the region's future. yep! is not a poltical organization - nor should it be. However, what decisions or developments can we - or more importantly - should we be involved with?

yep!'s mission is to make Erie a better place to live, work, and play. In order fulfill our mission, we (as an organization) need to determine the best route to make our mission become reality. Feel free to post your ideas here or send me an e-mail.

It's all about you.

For the last few years, the yep! leadership team has worked to develop an organization that would be sustainable and last for years to come. The creation of a formal Board of Directors, a set of bylaws, and the instiution of membership dues were all part of an overall strategy to build a stronger organization.

In a little over 18 months, yep! has surpassed the 250 member mark. When dues were implemented in June of 2007, we had no idea if anyone would be willing to pay $30.00 to be part of yep!. Thankfully the support from our members has been strong and we are grateful to everyone that has become more involved in our growth and development.

As we start 2009, one of my main goals is to increase the overall value of being a paid yep! member. The yep! value proposition needs to be clear and will certainly be different for each member. For some, they see the value in the relationships that have been created and strengthened through their association with yep!. Others might point to the access that they now have to connect with community leaders and their ability to more easily find events that interest them.

The leadership team has started to devlelop a list of new programming ideas that we are starting to explore for 2009. Therefore, as my blog post title suggests - 2009 is all about you - and we need your help to create events that you are intersted in.

Some ideas are listed in the poll on this page and are detailed below. But what events or initiatives do you want to see in 2009? You can let us know by completing the poll on this page of by filling out the yep! membership survey.

2009 yep! Events and Initiatives

Scheduled

• yep! Ski Trip (February 7th, 2009)
• Generation E Leadership Awards (April 24th, 2009)
• Monthly Happy Hours
• Kickball Tournament
• yep! Membership / Preferred Vendor Card (February / March 2009)

New Events (In Development)

• Financial Planning Seminar (February 2009)
• Human Resources Seminar
• yep! Annual Meeting (April / May 2009)
• yep! President's Cup (Team / Individual Competition)
• yep! Brig Niagara Day Sail
• yep! Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction
• yep! New Year's Eve
• yep! Trivia Night
• yep! Non-Profit Board Night

If you want to be part of the planning and development of these - or have an idea for an event - send me an e-mail or leave a post on this page.

2009 yep! Goals and Objectives

As a member of yep! for several years, I have witnessed the tremendous growth that the organization has experienced. Many of our members have commented that they would like to learn more about what the organization is working on and what opportunities exist to become more involved in yep!.

One of my main goals as President is to increase the adoption of technology so we can reach a wider audience. With a limited budget and time (since the entire organization is comprised of volunteers), technology will enable us to increase our value to our members and impact in the community. This blog, our Facebook group, and other Web 2.0 technologies will help us broaden our lines of communication.

The strategy of this blog will be to accomplish a few different things.

1. Provide updates about upcoming yep! events and programs.
   
2. Create a constant feedback loop for our members and the community to engage our leadership team.
3. Comment on events in the community that impact our age demographic.

A responsibility of each incoming yep! President is to compose a "state of yep!" letter at the beginning of their term. Sort of our version of the State of the Union speech - but on a slightly smaller scale.

You can read the complete letter by clicking here.

Thank you in advance for reading and please comment if you have any ideas or suggestions.