I’m thrilled to announce that today marks the launch of a new Online Community for our members. We are announcing it at our conference Business Applications of Social Networking which is being streamed live on UStream.tv. Click on this link at about 8:45am PST to watch the event and send us your comments!

www.ustream.tv/channel/business-applications-of-social-networking

So, why are we launching this Community and what will it mean for our members? When I first joined the organization six months ago, one of the first things I wanted to do was to get to know who our members were. What I encountered was the typical directory of members that gives the name, rank and serial number but did not let me know the breadth of experience that the individual had or what her perspectives were on topics like politics, philanthropy or global issues.

Also, I received phone calls from members, like one I received yesterday from a CEO searching for a new CFO, asking how to find members with certain skill sets, who could speak on a particular topic at a major event, who could be nominated for an award, or who might be qualified for a Board seat.

I found I could turn to a select few people to network and look for referrals, spam all my members with endless emails or find a better application to enable the members to tap into each other’s networks and best practices.

I was lucky to be introduced to Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning by one of our members and found the Ning application to be the answer we were looking for. Members can log into our new Online Community at http://community.fweande.org and will be directed to fill out their profile and start collaborating! If you are a member, you will receive an email invitation to join the Community shortly.

It also lead to the idea of the Business Applications Conference. One of the first steps in launching a community is to find the application that fits the needs of the members, then educate them how to take advantage of it. It’s not about the technology, it’s about how to fit the application into your normal activities so that you can take full advantage of what it has to offer without feeling overwhelmed by having one more place to go to for connecting.

The program is a who’s who of experts in the field including Ross Mayfield, Founder and CEO of Socialtext; Jeremy Owyang, Senior Analyst, Social Media at Forrester Research; Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning; Robin Wolaner, CEO of TeeBeeDee, along with a great panel of both strategists and tactical gurus.

Google is the key sponsor and we greatly thank them for their support.

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Welcome to the inaugural post of the new Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives blog. As an organization that connects experienced women with unique points of view, what better way of creating a forum for dialogue than through the vehicle of social media.

Our organization is all about connecting experienced women leaders to peers, mentors and resources to deliver a deeper understanding of business in the context of a larger perspective. So, why are we not using technology as a means of supporting this powerful network?

I’ve found many CEOs and execs I know had a similar first impression of the concept of Social Networking: Who’s got time to post a profile and pictures up on Facebook, and get “poked” by close friends? Not me! Frankly, I prefer a more traditional type of relationship with people I’m close to. So how exactly would Social Networking apply to my professional career?

Yet through personal experience, I’ve recently discovered the term “Social Networking” to be something of a misnomer. It’s not strictly about entertainment or socializing with family and friends, but is about building a community, which has infinite application to building business networks. Social Networking is actually a mechanism by which professionals can better communicate, better share, and better collaborate. In fact, in this day and age, Social Networking is becoming as fundamental to how we do business as the internet itself. It is about how we use the technology at our disposal to strengthen business relationships, share ideas, and interface with potential sponsors, clients, members and customers.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve become a believer that there is something worthwhile going on here. In organizing our first-ever conference on Social Networking “Business Applications of Social Networking” on March 25, an enlightened member of my Advisory Board connected us to the keynote speaker via Facebook. In addition, I’ve been seeking a new Director of Marketing and Communications, and some of the best resumes I’ve received came in after I posted the job on LinkedIn. Definitely not a waste of my time!

Through exposure to Gina Bianchini at Ning, we’ve decided as an organization that creating a Social Networking site for our members is a crucial and exciting new avenue for our “forum.” Hopefully we can use these activities as another way of forging and sustaining deep and meaningful connections, and as a means of self-educating on the business benefits of Social Networking. Please join us March 25 to hear from the experts (that includes you) how Social Networking can benefit your business.

I look forward to your comments about your business experiences with Social Networking. Also, let us know what specific questions you’d like to have answered at the conference?

Last week, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives was proud to honor Heidi Roizen as our 2008 Achievement Award Winner. The Award was created in 1995 and Heidi was chosen as this year’s honoree as she exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship and represents women who have made a significant, positive and sustainable impact on their profession, their community and world.

There was such great energy in the room and it was almost impossible to get people seated and quiet in order to begin the program which is a great problem to have. Several attendees commented on the quality of people who attended along with the depth of conversations that were being held. A tribute to our transformation as we continue to grow by adding more accomplished women leaders from the Bay area into our community to add their thought leadership and influence into our mix. The San Francisco Chronicle covered the event.

Heidi herself was the crowning moment of the evening. She speaks with such open-ness, truth and with a great sense of humor leaving you feeling inspired and empowered by her story. Suzanne Shaw, Emmy award winning journalist, was our Master of Ceremonies for the evening and she did a “masterful” job of managing the conversation with Heidi.

Some of the highlights of their conversation included the value of building relationships vs “networking” - approaching a contact with genuine interest in who they are vs. what they can offer you is the best way of developing those deep relationships that lead to business and personal opportunities in many future years. Heidi has personal relationships with people such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet that were developed before “they were famous.”

Bill took the time to participate in a wonderful video celebration of Heidi’s life and career that began the evening (directed by JuneBug Films because of her long time personal relationship with him.

Heidi has also embarked on a new venture ,”Skinny Songs “, based on a passion she has for helping women feel positively motivated to want to lose weight. She is now a lyricist (which her daughter thinks is more cool than being a venture capitalist) and developed her new entrepreneurial venture by knowing her own strengths and reaching out to other professionals who complemented her skill set in order to create something truly unique in the marketplace.

Her fearlessness comes from her ability to create her own definition of success and not worry so much about society’s definition or about what other people think. She mentioned that her first role was CEO of T/Maker and since then her titles have actually diminished in stature. Her definition of success revolves around following her passion and having balance in her life which makes some of those moments of “should I have said that” seem much less important.

Her closing remarks brought a cheer from the audience as we all felt the relevance to ourselves. She mentions that Shirley Maclaine (and feel what you will about Shirley - the message is what’s so great) has a quote on her website that states that in our twenties, we worry about what people are saying about us; in our forties we don’t care what people are saying about us and in our sixties, we realize that no one was saying anything about us.

FWE&E is thrilled to have honored Heidi as this year’s Achievement Award Winner and we look forward to continuing our relationship with her and seeing her continue on her path forward with Skinny Songs and beyond! compare fish oil to cla naprosyn health risks multiple births clomid

I have to admit that a year ago this was my mantra whenever anyone brought up using the proliferation of Social Networking tools that have entered the market. All those invitations on LinkedIn from people I barely knew clogging my inbox. Then we moved to “friends” contacting me on Facebook who I had met only briefly. Then the “tweets” on Twitter from people sharing how they were having coffee with a friend at 10:00am on a Tuesday.

When you are bombarded with all these “distractions” it becomes an annoyance. And then, it takes just one positive experience for the penny to drop. I have to say that now I am now a convert. And, one of the biggest changes I’ve made is how I choose to use these tools versus feeling that I “have” to live on Facebook or respond to everything that comes my way. I have found that what works for me is creating Intention around what I want to accomplish and then finding the right/best tool for that.

As you can tell by the infrequency of my blog, I tend to write when I feel I have something to say. Not exactly what the pundits tell you is the most effective ways of using a blog but it works for me and I’ve stopped feeling guilty about it.

With Linked In, I’ve been able to connect some amazing people who would not have had the chance to meet each other had I not made the connection for them. New job opportunities and funding sources for business were the outcome. Here are some great (brief) tips from Guy Kawasaki on how to make Linked In work more effectively for you. None of them take a lot of time.

On Facebook, through an Advisory Board member, we connected with a great speaker for a conference last year. And, I was contacted by two high school buddies in Canada which, though not business related, did enrich my life to be able to reconnect.

I’m just now starting to use Twitter (you can follow me at fweeceo

) and have found these great resources provided by Nilofer Mercant at Rubicon Consulting who is using Twitter to help people find her business.

As the McKinsey Centered Leadership article points out, women are not great connectors and we need to do a better job of building those weak ties provided by these Social Networking tools.

Still feel you don’t have time or don’t know enough? Just think of one question you have that could be resolved by having a dialogue with others, pick one of the tools out there and give it a try! It’s like learning a new sport, it doesn’t feel like “fun” until you develop a bit of skill at it and you can’t do that without practice.

What’s worked for you in building your skill with Social Networking?