Nicole of Startup Production was privileged to chair a local women’s networking group’s 5th Annual Chocolate Soiree event. This event is a membership and sponsorship drive which provides an opportunity to showcase all the group has accomplished over the year and how members and sponsors can benefit by joining us. We were excited to announce our guest speaker, Kentucky Secretary of State, Alison Lundergan Grimes.
The venue for our event was the Appalachian College Association in Richmond KY, which was newly constructed and offered state-of-the-art in AV equipment so we could have our slideshow looping throughout the night that featured our events, programs, years’ accomplishments and our event sponsors. Our caterers were M&D Catering & Rolling Bistro and Cakes by Ellie, LLC which provided the night’s theme food, Chocolate, in several dishes, desserts and finger foods.
The agenda for the night included an hour of networking and enjoying the refreshments, then the program started with the president of the group reading the mission statement and the welcoming the guests.
Melodie Lincavage, the vice-president, introduced and read a short introduction of each of our Gold Sponsors, and thanked each Silver and Bronze sponsor by name. Then the president presented all that the group accomplished in 2015 with community outreach, community events, scholarship winners, our growth and our programs and events. Soon after, the Secretary of State arrived and was introduced via video stream by Rita Smart, KY House Representative of District 81.
Secretary Grimes roused the crowds with inspiring women of KY to get involved in their communities and leadership roles. She also talked about the KY One Stop Business Portal, as well as her support of small business entrepreneurs. Then the president presented Alison with a stuffed tote filled with gifts from our members.
After her presentation, Nicole, Communications Chair and owner of Startup Production, presented the benefits of Membership and Sponsorship and what makes the networking group unique among other networking groups. Then Secretary Grimes was kind enough to stay amidst her busy schedule to take pictures with the group and individually with our guests and members. The night ended with our door prizes giveaway where most of our guests walked away with a donated giveaway from our members’ businesses. The night was a success with new members applications received and an abundance of great feedback after. We could not have done it without our sponsors, our volunteers and our committee.
