Thursday's Truths - Women Entrepreneurs at Women's Forum 2010

Day one of the Women's Forum 2010 being held in Deauville, France features speakers including Jennifer Halliday, Global Director of Business Development, Zinio, LLC. and Vivmag, LLC.

One of the major themes running through this Event is how women are becoming increasingly involved in global entrepreneurial activities.

Here are a few findings that were presented in today's session:

- opportunity and necessity are the two primary reasons to get involved in entrepreneurial activities.
- Across the world, women in richer countries are starting an increasing number of businesses with high economic potential and in high-tech sectors.
- In countries with low levels of economic output (GDP), entrepreneurship offers a way out of poverty.

As I reported in an earlier blog, 20% of all entrepreneurs in China are women. Here in the US, Chinese-Americans like Shauna Mei are starting up successful ventures, and capitalizing on the educational and career opportunities that this country presented to them.

There are many exciting programs scheduled for tomorrow's (10/15/10) session including one by Jeanniey Mullen, Global Executive Vice President and CMO of Zinio, LLC and Vivmag, LLC,

Also on tap tomorrow is a session sponsored by Ernst & Young of an inaugural group of CEO Male Champions. The business leaders will come together to define – through specific and actionable dialogue – what it means to be a CEO Champion of women’s advancement and empowerment.

Enlightened men are increasingly becoming involved in previously exclusively all-female groups. I am privileged to have been named as one of the first "Guys Who Rock" by 85 Broads, a global and exclusive members-only network of over 22,000 women (and a handful of enlightened men!)

Monday's Motivational Makeover - More on Change and the Women's Forum 2010 this Week!

Over this past weekend I posted some information on an exciting event that is taking place October 14- 16 in Deauville, France.

It is the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, an annual event where powerful women, and a few enlightened men meet to discuss the economy, and the future of women in industry, government, and philanthropy. In addition, and perhaps most importantly in our increasingly virtual world, it is a chance to network "face-to-face" with each other.

This event is supported by an "A-list" of sponsors including Accenture, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Proctor & Gamble, Qualcomm, and Zinio.

There are numerous programs that take place over the course of the event, but I would like to share a few that I think will interest my viewers and members of my network in attendance:

Zinio and Qualcomm will have a presence there and have partnered together on a global “Change the Page” tour that coincides with the launch of a tremendous "revolution of digital reading" study performed by the Harrison Group. This study, titled "America’s Appetite for Digital Consumption", is a benchmark in the next wave of change ( http://www.changethepage.org/). Together, Zinio and Qualcomm are addressing the Reading Revolution and how the publishing and technology worlds are joining forces to address and evolve the way people read.

While this survey reveals that tablet based technologies and eReaders have widespread consumer appeal, this study reveals that “unlike other new technologies, this revolution is not about the technology itself, but rather, it is about the role that content plays in people’s lives.” Complete copies of the research can be purchased by contacting The Harrison Group.

Those of you who faithfully follow this blog may recall that I have written about Zinio in the past.

They provide a platform able to run on multiple devices, and a single solution to access a rapidly growing universe of content (including this Blog!). It's more than an application – they're a world-class digital products and services company that unites readers, what they read, and the many devices they read on. From design to distribution, their cross-platform suite of applications – UNITY™ – engages readers like never before on their iPads, iPhones, desktops, laptops and Android devices. For advertisers, they offer the chance to take advantage of a format that’s more engaging, with higher returns than any other digital platform.

In my opinion, Zinio delivers a new standard for digital publishing.

At the Women's Forum, Zinio and Qualcomm will be sponsoring the Writer’s Corner which takes place in the Discovery Hall. Within this area, Zinio and Qualcomm will show the evolution of reading from stone, to paper, to print to computer through a series of powerful imagery, ending with a sneak peak of the Mirasol Biomimicry Screen’s and Zinio interactive digital content.

A few interactive workshops that Zinio are participating in or conducting are listed below:

- Exclusive VIVmag focus study with Rising Talent group

Rising Talents aims to distinguish highly talented young women who will become influential figures in our economies and societies in the future. The initiative is an example of the values illustrated by the Women’s Forum since its creation. It was launched in 2007 under the impulse of Aude de Thuin, Founder and CEO, as a corporate and personal commitment to promoting women leaders and bringing the vision of rising generations to the Forum. Each year, 20 to 25 young women are invited to attend the Women’s Forum Global Meeting and join the Rising Talents network

This exclusive group will get to interact with VIVmag one-on-one on the iPad in order to generate key learnings from this savvy group on how women read interactive, dynamically designed digital magazines like VIVmag. The seven pillars of VIVmag will be showcased; beauty, style, healthy eating, fitness, travel, awareness and wellness and Rising Talent women will provide their feedback on the VIVmag experience – a luxury digital magazine

- Speaking Engagement by Qualcomm’s Cheryl Goodman, Director of Marketing, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc.

Information is fundamentally changing. A single animated movie now contains more data than entire libraries. There is one final frontier in this digital revolution, however, and it is perhaps the most important: print. No single moment in history has seen so much information move from one format to another with such significant implications. Print content now stands to enter new realms of use in arenas like education, social welfare, industry and entertainment. This is not only a technological revolution, but a revolution in intrinsic human reading behavior. The implications of this migration are empowering for those driving the revolution and daunting for those who lag on the adoption curve. In this session, participants will hear from women leading and enabling this reading revolution. Cheryl Goodman, hails from Qualcomm, a global leader in next generation wireless solutions and who’s mirasol display technology aims to preserve what makes print great. The compliment to Qualcomm’s hardware and wireless solutions are software platform solutions, is Zinio, the global leader in digital content distribution.

- The Future of Publishing

Cheryl Goodman and Pierre Geslot of ORANGE will address the Future of Publishing and Technology (I'll provide more info in a follow-up post later this week!)

As you can see, Change is happening in every aspect of our lives, and these programs describe the "cutting edge" of the technology that is helping drive it.

I will have another update on this event as the week progresses and some feedback from my viewers fortunate to experience this important women's event "live", so that you can experience all the energy and excitement "virtually".

Celebrities, Philanthropies & Charities - Women's Forum for The Economy & Society 2010

This week, the 6th edition of The Women's Global Forum Meeting will begin on October 14 and conclude on October 16. This year's theme is "Change - make it happen".

The Women’s Forum Meetings aim to bring together leaders from all over the world – women and men – representing the business world, the government, academic circles, culture, etc. in order to give new perspectives to key issues in our present and our future; to create a powerful, global network in order to strengthen the influence of women throughout the world; to draw up innovative and concrete action plans to encourage women’s contribution to society and promote diversity in the business world.

I am honored to have several of my network.attending this event, which is billed as the women's equivalent of the World Economic Forum which takes place annually at Davos, Switzerland.

Among them are Jeanniey Mullen and Jennifer Halliday of the Zinio organization. They are event partners along with their one-of-a-kind, all digital magazine for women - Vivmag. They are participating in several of the programs during the event, and I am hoping to bring you some of their insight as they progress.

TGIF - Short Week. Time to catch up on reading!

For many of us here in the US, the Holiday this past Monday brought with it a bonus- a shortened work week!

Realistically, though, most of us are "on-the-clock" 25/7/365 thanks to some remarkable technology. That leaves us very little time for reading- magazines, books, newspapers (what's that?).

Now honestly, how many of us are in the position of sifting through piles of old magazines. And those of us with International and Globe trotting lifestyles just never seem to be in the same place as our hard-copy, at the same time!

As I mentioned around this time last year, my friends at Zinio, are transforming the way the aforementioned media are published (all digital, eco-friendly) and distributed. Jeanniey Mullen, CMO of Zinio is an avid blogger and tweets at @empg. If you would like to have more information on the Zinio reader for iPhone or iPad, I suggest you contact her. In addition to being a whiz at marketing, she is one of the nicest people I know!

Since the debut of the iPad (now internationally available), I have seen less briefcases, laptop cases, and books/magazines in airports, offices, hotels, etc. Everything you need is right at your fingertips.

I have seen a concept for an exclusive e-lifestyle portal for use by clients at a Private Wealth Bank. Every client (the majority are female) will get an iPad, complete with an e-concierge interface called e-VIE, after it's creator and muse, Evie Evangelou, a frequent guest blogger in our "lifestyle lifter's" post.

I hope they take my suggestion and make a subscription to Vivmag- an exclusive all-digital magazine just for women- part of the package!.

Until then, remember to believe, achieve, receive. SDG, JBHIV

Lifestyle Lifters - Of Service & Sizzle!

Last Saturday I pre-empted my usual Wealthy Women's Lifestyle post to announce the creation of a social network that is a companion to the Wealthy Women's Resource Guide blogsite. We went "live" last Thursday with womenlighte.ning.com and the response to invitations to join has been overwhelming!

Today, though I 'd like to place into the spotlight an organization here in New Canaan, CT that has got it all right - the Young Women's League. Through the leadership of it's current President, Tina Feldman, this organization has grown both in membership and outreach. In addition to raising money for local causes, YWL participates in several programs such as newcanaantravelplanner.org, which offers discount travel services comparable to other websites such as orbitz. A portion of each trip arrangement is donated to the Giving Fund, which is then funneled into local charities. They are also working with I.b.l.a.s.t, another business that benefits local stores and non-profits alike, to generate additional funds.

Those of you who already have access to womenlighte.ning.com can click on the "Group Events" tab to learn more about both of these organizations and perhaps get involved.

The other item you might find interesting in womenlightening is a link to a really great video I found on vivmag.com on how to cook with Agave Juice. If you have never tasted this nectar, you must try this recipe! BTW - I found a subscription to zinio.com (vivmagazine's parent co) is available at our local library for those of you who want to check out the new age of digital publishing. The chairman of Zinio is David Gilmour, who founded Fiji Water, and other commercial ventures. Very few know that profits from Fiji Water products were donated to good cause. David is an example of what wealth can do in the hands of a kind and generous steward.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Until next post, continue to believe, achieve, receive. SDG - JBH