NEWS FLASH!!

Service Before You Sell

Questions in a Hat

Dinner/Speaker Meeting

Social Networking

Linkages

 Hi LIX Members,

First of all, we'd like to thank all the women who participated in our discussion about LIX at the last coffee meeting. The feedback that you gave us and the ideas that you shared will help LIX continue to develop into a strong business, social and educational network that meets the needs of lesbians in the Ottawa area. What follows is a 'Coles Notes' for those of you who missed the meeting.

However, the best news is that as a result of our discussion, Wendy explored the possibility of LIX having a web site and has secured us space and a domain name! We now own 'girlswanttoknow.com'.....Yippeeee! The LIX web site is coming soon! We will start simple (on-line version of the newsletter, archives of old newsletters, etc.) and look towards building links to web sites and advertising for LIX member businesses down the road. Wendy (thank you delightful, fabulous...not to mention gorgeous, woman!) has generously donated her web talents to LIX.

NEWS FLASH!!! I JUST GOT CONFIRMATION THAT LIBBY DAVIES, OUT AND PROUD LESBIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR VANCOUVER EAST WILL BE THE GUEST SPEAKER AT OUR FIRST DINNER/SPEAKER MEETING! DETAILS TO FOLLOW IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS!

Now back to your feedback from our discussion meeting:

a. Things you like about the coffee meetings: the location at Bridgehead; the friendly atmosphere; the socializing; the fact that there are new faces at each meeting; the opportunity to get exposure for, and to find out about, lesbian businesses; and the opportunity to find out what's going on in the LGBT community.

b. Ideas you had for the coffee meetings/other events you're interested in:

1. "Service before you sell" - where women share tips & ideas with the group. As a follow-up to this great idea, we will be asking members who are doing a Five Minute Infomercial if they can give three free 'tips' as part of their presentation.

2. "Questions in a hat" - where we collect questions from you, we toss them all in a hat, and then we spend some time at the coffee meetings drawing questions and seeing if there are women in the room who can answer them. Eg. Is it better to lease a car or buy? How do I beat a parking ticket? How do I find the therapist who's right for me? So send me your questions and/or bring them to the next coffee meeting so we can get started.

3. Dinner/Speaker Meeting - we are checking out a venue and guest speaker for the first of our 'cheap and cheerful' dinner meetings. We're looking at a May or June date. If any of you know of restaurant/cafe owners who would be interested in holding a small private function for us (or places that have a separate room from the main part of the restaurant) please contact Marie at info@girlswantoknow.com.

4. Social Networking - where women who want to organize a specific event or interest group (like a book club, a hiking group, a singles' dinner, a movie night, etc.) put together a little blurb including a description and contact information and we print it in the newsletter and announce it at the coffee meetings. If there's an activity or an interest group that you'd like to organize, please contact Marie at info@girlswanttoknow.com

5. Linking with other women's groups - where we connect with other groups as well as advertising their events. We plan to invite members of other groups to come and talk at future coffee meetings. If you know of a group that may be interested, let us know.

c. Increasing our membership: our membership is increasing all on its own and quickly! Twenty women came out to the March coffee meeting and our email distribution list has grown from about a dozen people in December to 59 women today. Nonetheless you gave us some great ideas for increasing LIX membership. Wendy, our newsletter beautification gal, is going to create a handbill that we can use at events like the Lesbian & Gay Expo and our Proud Chicks Dance Party. Kerry got us a FREE ad in CapXtra this month. We ask each of you to consider asking ONE friend to join LIX. We are also going to set aside a table at the Proud Chicks Dance Party where we can display LIX newsletters and handbills and where you are invited to display your business cards/flyers/posters/pamphlets.

d. What if we outgrow Bridgehead? That would be fabulous! A number of suggestions were made at the meeting and we followed up on them. Here are the results: The Roasted Cherry is no longer under the same management and it seems to have morphed into a Lebanese (no not lesbian, unfortunately) restaurant. The boardroom is available at Chapters but it's too small for us. So for now, we're going to stay put...there's still a wee bit more room in our current space.

e. What about creating a business directory? None of us on the steering committee have the interest or the time to work on a business directory especially when Index is available already in the community as well as the Galleria section of Capital Xtra. If any of you want to take on this project, let us know.

So thanks again LIX members! Our group is growing stronger as a result of your support and feedback. LIX belongs to all of us...and we all deserve congratulations!