• Thu. Apr 26th, 2007 @ 6:00pm - 8:30pm
• Young Professionals of Chicago
• Kasbeer Hall - 15th Floor
• Address: 25 E Pearson St
• Fee: $ 10 YPC members in advance ($ 15 non-members)

Are you tired of busting out 60-hour work weeks for someone else’s benefit? Perhaps you feel like your ideas are ignored and your enthusiasm rendered irrelevant by your company’s culture? Maybe you know that you have the insight and drive to be successful in your own business…if you only knew how to get started.

On April 26, YPC and Loyola University’s School of Business Administration invite you a seminar with three fascinating local entrepreneurs. Jim Oberweis, Seattle Sutton and Frank Sacks all launched businesses driven by passion and were rewarded with substantial profit. They will share their experiences and insights, and perhaps even offer the inspiration you need to take the entrepreneurial plunge!

YPC Members pay a discounted rate, but only with advance registration. Prepay below and Save!

Members Prepay Here for $10

Non-Members Prepay Here for $15

RSVP to professional@ypchicago.org by 4/24 to secure your spot at this great event.

• Wed. Apr 25th, 2007 @ 1:00pm - 5:30pm
• Technology Executives Club
• Union League Club
• Address: 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago
• Fee: $ 95 To $ 150
• Register online or call 847-837-3900

Data collected and analyzed but unused is wasted effort, unless put into action to change a business process. For business intelligence (BI) to be valued by senior management, it must be actionable. This seminar will address:

• How IT executives from Kraft Foods, R.R. Donnelley, CCC Information Services and others use result-oriented BI to change their companies
• Keynote Panel
• Emerging BI trends
• Key steps for making BI actionable
• Avoiding BI pitfalls
• Integrating BI and compliance efforts

Questions? Contact: Maria Tuthill, Mtuthill@technologyexecutivesclub.com

• Tue. Apr 24th, 2007 @ 7:00pm - 9:00pm
• The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum
• Daniel L. & Ada F. Rice Campus of Illinois Institute of Technology
• Address: 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton IL
• Fee: Free to members, $ 20.00 for non-members

Shared Experiences from the Trenches seems to be a topic of great interest to those who are launching their own ventures. All entrepreneurs have those ‘Aha!’ moments that change both their life and their business. This presentation will allow other entrepreneurs to learn from those experiences.

Ron Hirasawa

Ron Hirasawa is a marketing and strategy consultant, executive performance coach, and professor.

He predicted many significant marketing trends (e.g., growth of the U.S. salsa market, microbreweries, development of home entertainment & communications technologies). He has created successful new products, marketing and promotion programs for companies in the United States of America and Europe. He started several companies, including promotion & marketing consulting, a snack food company and a nutrition-based functional foods company.

Mr. Hirasawa has 30 years experience in General Management, Marketing, Sales, New Product Development, Advertising, and Promotion with corporations and agencies. He created General Products & Services Corporation which he used to structure the merger and acquisition of three companies reaching $ 100 million sales. He was President and founder of American Marketing Services Corporation, leading this marketing services company in strategic planning, promotion planning, and marketing communications assignments for Fortune 500 companies such as PepsiCo, Union Carbide, Frito-Lay, Durkee-French, General
Foods and Nutrasweet/Equal.

Prior to that, he directed marketing for the U.S. operations of Ragold Inc. (Velamints brand), a wholly owned subsidiary of the
German candy firm, Rachengoldwerk while working in account management for Don Tennant Advertising. He worked at Leo Burnett, servicing Ralston Purina, Velamints, Keebler and Union Carbide accounts for the agency. He has brand management and sales experience from S.C. Johnson and Procter & Gamble. He was New Products Manager for United Brands/John Morrell, with regional sales management responsibility.

Ron Hirasawa has written, casted, directed and edited TV commercials and print ads. He helped create an in-house TV production facility for the U.S. Army and S.C. Johnson. He created unique recipes and snack products for Ultima Foods. He has cooked and served his innovative Spanish Valencian-style paella recipe (using salsa) for thousands of Chicago consumers, including a private dinner for Mayor Richard M. Daley, Jr.

He is a professor at the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, where he received the Distinguished Faculty Award for 2005, presented to one faculty member annually for MBA teaching excellence.

Gary Shorter

As an Entrepreneur, Gary started the Mobile MoneySaver, Inc. in 2002. It was a marketing services company focused on improving the revenue management in the hospitality industry by optimizing capacity utilization. He helped restaurants more effectively fill their empty seats by offering synchronized promotions via cell phones and the Internet through a concierge service.

Gary was the sales and marketing executive at two dot.com start-up companies that failed to receive funding during the Internet boom years and were later absorbed into larger and better-funded ventures.

Gary was a Sr. Marketing Specialist at IBM for over 10-years where he successfully sold multi-million dollar technology solutions to Fortune-1000 companies throughout the Midwest. He was recognized as Salesman of The Year in 1992 for exceeding 250% of sales quota in the Pennant Systems Division of IBM.

Today, he lives in the western suburbs with his bride-n-joy Donna and daughter Jennifer, a senior at Elmhurst College.

Chris Kalmus

Chris is CEO of LiveText Inc.
livetext.com

Directions to the Wheaton Meeting: The campus is just North of Butterfield Road (Rt 56) and a half-mile East of Naperville road. You can take East West Toll road (I88) West to Naperville Road exit. Go North on Naperville Road to Butterfield Road (Rt56) and turn right or East. Turn left or North at the first stoplight and it is a short distance on your right.

Questions? Contact: mef [at] jerryRmitchellandassoc.com

• Mon. Apr 23rd, 2007 (Not actually an event, but a deadline)
• Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
• Address: Statewide Program
• Fee: Free
• Fill out Application by April 23

INNOVATE Illinois, a six-month program administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, was created to recognize innovative, high-growth, small businesses throughout Illinois. The goal of INNOVATE Illinois is to provide revenue-generating businesses throughout Illinois with the assistance and resources to help them take their innovations further and grow their businesses. Components of the program include mentoring, growth plans, peer-to-peer networking, sales and capital opportunities, and $10,000 grant.

Questions? Contact: Jason Jacobsohn, 312-494-6712, jasonj@chicagolandec.org

• Wed. Apr 18th, 2007 @ 8:00am - 11:00am
• Depaul CEC
• Address: DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson, Room 8012
• Fee: $ 45 Registration Fee ($ 35 for DEN Members)
• RSVP website

Are you concerned about cash flows? Worried about making payroll? Confused by your financial statements? Come to this GROW seminar for help.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you do not come from a financial background. Therefore, your business finances can be intimidating, perplexing, and worrisome. But effective financial management is the key to continued success, and a challenge that must be overcome for long-term sustainabilityâ�¦even if you have a CPA. Whether it is lines of credit, breakeven points, accounts receivable, or balance sheets, you must know the fundamentals so you can focus on growing your company.

This seminar gives you a chance to learn from others who have done it: experienced entrepreneurs who effectively manage their finances and professionals who specialize in this area. In layman terms, they will discuss strategies to do the following:

* Improve your cash flows
* Keep expenses under control
* Work with your accountant as a financial consultant
* Use software & financial statements to help manage the business
* Measure performance and the success of company

If the finances of your business are a challenge you continue to face, this seminar will give you the foundation skills you need to take them on!

• Wed. Apr 11th, 2007 @ 6:00am - 8:00am
• Chicago Central ColdFusion and Flex Group
• International Academy of Design and Technology
• Address: One North State Street between Madison & Washington
• Fee: FREE
• For security reasons, you MUST rsvp on our web site and bring an ID

Amazon’s Mike Culver is coming to Chicago to educate us about some of the amazing developments over at the retail giant that are available to us all! Need a dedicated Linux box for just a few minutes? No Problem! Need to store tons of files for dirt cheap? No Problem! Need a million bucks? Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask (g-d knows they can afford it).

The PHP group had a similar talk in Oct ‘06 that I attended. It was great! Mike is a very interesting person to learn from and I’d encourage you to consider attending. - JAW, Editor

Questions? Contact: Igor Ilyinsky manager {at} cccfug dot org

• Tue. Apr 10th, 2007 @ 9:00am - 11:00am
• Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center
• Address: Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, 200 E. Randolph Street, Suite 2200
• Fee: $ 20 for Chamber Members, $ 30 for Non-Members
• Sign Up Online, Required by 12pm on 4/9, No Walk-Ins Allowed

Join us for a special panel discussion with experts from some of Chicago’s leading banking institutions. This seminar will be an excellent opportunity for business owners to learn about debt financing and how it can help them to grow their business. In addition, business owners will leave the seminar with a better understanding of how to approach a bank for financing.

Topics of Discussion

• Mon. Apr 9th, 2007 @ 6:00pm - 8:00pm
• The Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum
• Illinois Institute of Technology
• Address: 565 W. Adams, Chicago
• Fee: Free to members, $ 20.00 for non-members

In an ongoing effort to provide our members with the tools they need to successfully develop their businesses, we are presenting another educational presentation, entitled: “Shared Experiences from the Trenches and Things That Worked for Me” Session 2

Sometimes it’s a principle; sometimes it’s a quote/advice from a mentor, friend, or book. We’ve asked three very experienced entrepreneurs, to share with us their favorite lessons they’ve learned that have helped them succeed, or even just survive.

One thing all three of these entrepreneurs know is that to be a success, you must be passionate about your work. Half-hearted enthusiasm will not sustain you during the many challenges that will lie ahead. Your passion must translate into a labor of love. For your developing business to succeed, you must focus all your energies and attention on your company, and accept the demands and sacrifices it will place on your personal life.

The April 9th event will feature:

Michele Honomichl is founder and CEO of Celergo, LLC

Celergo (www.celergo.com) manages local and expatriate payrolls for multinational corporations in the oil, financial services, real estate, technology, and various other industries. Celergo currently supports over 65 clients with payrolls in more than 60 countries, including many Fortune and Inc 500 companies.

In 1999, Michele started her entrepreneurial career with an expatriate technology company, GPSLink. She was the chief architect of the technology and raised capital from a strategic partner for this venture. As the needs of international corporations changed in the early 2000’s Michele realized there was greater potential in providing payroll services to multinational companies. With a new technology capability of supporting complex payroll consolidation, Michele launched Celergo in late 2003. Today, Celergo has 24 people based in offices in Deerfield, IL, and London, UK.

Greg Padovani is Founder and President President One to One Communications www.penscommunications.com

Greg is one of the pioneers of One-to-One communications. While at Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago, he listened to patients. He learned firsthand that people wanted information that is relevant, brief and useful. With this insight, in 1993 he implemented the first individualized newsletter.

Realizing that there was a customer need and a client demand for this type of communication, Greg founded PENS Communications Systems (PCS) in 1998. PCS combined unique new software with print production technologies allowing clients to deliver true One-to-One communications to their patients while tracking results using their own billing data. All this was delivered using a business model that delivered high value services at acceptable costs and profits.

A.J. Singh has been the President and CEO of Modularis

(www.modularis.com) since he founded it in 1999. Modularis is a Chicago-based software and services provider to Independent Software Vendors worldwide. At Modularis, A.J. has been the driving force behind Accelerator, Modularis’ cutting-edge software automation toolset and framework for the Microsoft .NET platform. Through his efforts and those of his close-knit team, Modularis has been chosen to provide the core technology for several large-scale, mission-critical software applications sold in the public safety and telecommunications sectors.One example of their international clients is TATA India.

Before founding Modularis, A.J. worked as a software architect for Whittman-Hart, and Computer-Integrated-Manufacturing manager for Motorola.

He obtained a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A.J. has over twelve years of experience in software architecture, design, and engineering.

The Midwest Entrepreneurs’s Forum (MEF) promotes and strengthens the process of starting and growing companies by providing services, which educate and inform entrepreneurs. MEF meets the second Monday of each month (except July, and August ) at the Downtown Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, 565 W. Adams Street, Chicago, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. A suburban meeting is held the last Tuesday of each month (except July and August) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Daniel L. and Ada F. Rice Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL (directions listed).

Each MEF meeting normally features a case presentation/panel discussion that spotlights a single company in a critical stage of development. MEF membership is $ 60 per year or $ 20.00 to attend a single meeting to see if membership is something you think would benefit you. If you decide you want to become a member bring your receipt for $ 20.00 within 30 days to the next meeting and you will only be required to pay an additional $ 40.00 to become a member for the year. Year is from your payment to the next year. Students with a valid ID pay $ 5.00. IIT students with a valid id get in free.

Questions? Contact: mef@ jerryRmitchellandassoc.com

• Fri. Apr 6th, 2007 @ 10:00am - Sat. Feb 7th, 2007 @ 5:00pm
• Visit the official website
• Chicago, exact location to be announced
• Registration

In this inquisitive spirit, The University of Illinois at Chicago’s CS Department, the Linux User’s Group at UIC, and the Association for Computer Machinery at UIC would like to invite you to come join us April 6-7 to Flourish!: a two-day conference reflecting on the impact of FLOSS on our future.

We are extending this open invitation to academia, to industry members, and to the community, so that together we can explore FLOSS and how it influences our daily lives, both present and future.

Featured Speakers Include:
Chris Dibona of Google Corporation
Peter T. Brown of the Free Software Foundation

Don’t forget to register to avoid the $10 entrance fee.