Contracts are one of the most effective tools in setting clear expectations and minimizing risk in business relationships. In this program, we will tackle the important components of consulting agreements and independent contractor relationships including descriptions of services, fee structures, termination provisions, limitations on liability, and the “boilerplate” terms. We will also touch briefly on issues and concerns when working with, or for, other consultants, as well as bright-line rules for differentiating long-term contractors from de facto employees. You will walk away from this program with a deeper understanding of how to read, craft, and negotiate the various aspects of a consulting agreement to protect your business and yourself.

You can learn more and register online.

The coaching conversation is ideally suited for helping our clients increase their emotional intelligence. You will hear about the elements of emotional intelligence (EI); we will demystify working with the emotions of our clients and explore why emotional content is vital to the success of the coach/client alliance. Finally, we will practice two ways to uncover emotions during a coaching dialogue to increase our clients’ self awareness.

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Network, sip and dine nosh while you see our area’s direct marketers present their coolest direct marketing projects in three minutes or less. The big idea with this event is sharing information—so we’re asking direct marketing professionals from agencies and companies to submit their coolest direct marketing project to the group in three minutes or less. It can be an email campaign, paper mail, on-line advertising campaign — or even a newspaper campaign that prompted a direct response. The group will cast ballots to vote for their favorite campaigns—but really, this is simply about seeing what’s going on in our regional DM world and for you to show it off to your peers.

You can find out more and register online.

Who could be better than Rich Barton to discuss how to build hugely successful businesses by giving power to the people?

Come join us as Neil Patel interviews Rich Barton and they discuss:

1. Biggest professional mistakes Rich has made and recovered from.
2. Thinking big when you’re starting small. Why it’s so critical to have a Big Hairy Audacious Goal?
3. Power to the people. How the internet is a platform for revolutions, in a long line of revolutions such as automobile, telephone, PC, and the mobile phone. Giving power to the little guy is a safe bet that has paid off and will pay off.
4. People. Who should you choose to work with for what purpose?
5. The Seattle area tech eco-system versus that of the Bay Area. What are the similarities and what are the differences? Which one is better for what purposes?
6. What are the critical differences in building a company for the long haul versus one predominantly for the short term?

Find out more and register online.

Spring First Look Forum

Tuesday, April 24th Arctic Club Hotel 700 3rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98104 Program: 3:00PM – 5:30 PM

Venue:  Arctic Club Hotel, 700 3rd Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104

Program: 3:00PM – 5:30 PM

Presenting Companies:

Booktrope Publishing (Katherine Sears), Reinventing the way books are created – Team Publishing. DealScoopr (Nitesh Goyal), Making travel friendly. ekt, LLC (Randy Neely), A product that prevents the loss of master keys at commercial properties. Greenfab (Johnny Hartsfield), Green, Healthy, Affordable Prefab Homes. High 5 Pies (Dani Cone), It’s Vintage. It’s Modern. It’s Delicious. IDDiOO.com (Cynthia Holcomb), Shopping Made Personal. KineMotion Health (Alistair Hirst), Improving patient outcomes through technology. Leaves, Inc. (Michael O’Donnell), Your Life Story Lives Here. Ligo (Alexandra Filutowski), a legal “SalesForce meets Facebook” SAAS for personal injury lawyers. MyOVS (TJ Merrill), provides solutions that allow customers to maximize their investment in enterprise software. Raveld (Michael Wasser), Clear & Concise Cloud Costs. Social Avatar (Johnathan Buell), Gives you the ability to customize your online persona based on your daily lives and activities!

First Look Forum: this exclusive, bi-annual, invite-only investor showcase is the culmination of an in-depth coaching program that features 12 never-seen-before, early-stage growth-oriented startups from every segment of innovation in the Pacific Northwest. In a fast-paced afternoon, the investor audience votes to select five finalists, who in turn pitch to a panel of the region’s top VC’s. This standing-room only event is attended by representatives of over 20 venture and investment firms and angel groups…all there to hear pitches from entrepreneurs presenting to the investment community for the very first time! Attendance at this unique event averages over 100, and the only service providers in the room are the event sponsors. Spring 2012 FLF Judges include Mark Ashida of OVP, Bill Bryant of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Jan Hendrickson of Denny Hill Capital

Timeline: 3/19: Top 12 announced 3/19 – 3/30: Second round of coaching 4/10 – 4/11: Individual pitch coaching from Pivotal Presentations 4/19: Dress rehearsal with the screening committee 4/24: First Look Forum

To attend: As we prepare for the event, the investor audience is by invitation only. If interested, please email:  drossi@nwen.org

Who will be there? The following firms and organizations have previously participated as either coaches or judges! Founder’s Co-Op, Divergent Ventures, Voyager Capital, Glass5 LLC, Denny Hill Capital, Ignition Partners, Alliance of Angels, Revenue Loan, Montlake Capital, Integra Ventures, Madrona Venture Group,Maveron, Trilogy Partners, Olympic Venture Partners, Puget Sound Venture Club, WRF Capital, Seraph Capital, Benaroya Capital and more.

First Look Forum Coaches, Judges, and Pitch Doctors:

Hyer Bercaw Jack Breese Bryan Brewer, Business Plans Northwest Bill Bryant, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Jeff Canin, Canin Advisors David D’Souza, Moprise Vision Chris DeVore, Founder’s Co-Op Kevin Doren, Divergent Ventures Ken Glass, Glass5 LLC Geoff Entress, Founder’s Co-Op David Islett, Concordia Coffee John Jerome, Jerome and Associates Dan Kranzler Nick Malden T.A. McCann, Gist Connie Miller, Pivotal Presentations Jonathan Min-Wook Shirish Nadkarni, Zoomingo Villette Nolon, Seraph Capital Joe O’Neill, Tiger Mountain LLC Christopher Richins, Space Angels Network Vin Ricci, Foster Pepper Gary Ritner, Puget Sound Venture Club Julie Sandler, Madrona Venture Group Bharat Shyam Jim Temple, Atlas Accelerator Russ Weed, Graham & Dunn Wunderman Group