SpeakerBox Around Town: SECAF, WWPR and TiE-DC

 Event fatigue? No way! I felt like I was all over the beltway last week, in Arlington, Tysons Corner and Washington, DC attending events hosted by premiere associations. Thought I'd share a couple of highlights from three packed crowds:

TiE-DC welcomed Aneesh Chopra to the Top of The Town on Tuesday night, the 3rd of November. Wow, what a view! Both inside and out. TiE-DC has really hit its stride this year, thanks to hard work from President DP Venkatesh and President-elect Amir Hudda. 

It wouldn't be fitting to begin the night without Aneesh starting his remarks by reminiscing of the early TiE-DC, when it was known as the Indian CEO Council. "Those early events jumpstarted his career," he exclaimed, as he was able to rub shoulders with the technology elite of the late 1990s and take his career to the next level through the relationships he gained.

The next day brought me to the 20th Annual Washington Women in PR Woman of the Year Awards Luncheon, and I saw many friends among the crowd, and met some great new ones too. The keynote address was delivered by Dana Bash, correspondent from CNN, who even released some skinny on the Congressmen and women she covers on a daily basis. 

Congratulations to Sarah Temple, Senior Vice President of Social Marketing at Ogilve Public Relations Worldwide for winning this year's award! Your red dress campaign is terrific.


I then spent Thursday morning, November 5th, with SECAF, which is the Small and Emerging Contractor Advisory Forum boasting 200+ company members and one of the fastest growing associations in the region.  Over 100 people came to hear three Small Business Office Liaisons from the intelligence communities of NGA, NSA and DIA speak about how to do business with intelligence agencies. 

Referring to themselves as the "three musketeers" since they often travel together to evangelize what it's like to work with intelligence agencies, Sherry Baldwin, Director of Small Business Programs for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Sandra Broadnax, Director of Small Business Programs for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), and Pamela Porter, Small Business Advocate and Director for the National Security Agency (NSA), all talked about how accessible their agencies are to small businesses, and what a great time it is to be a small business selling to government.  

A sign that SECAF is super hot: the event sold out after one email went out to the membership, and swiftly managed to secure a 100 person waiting list. Might have to move the venue next time?

Full disclosure: TiE-DC is a client of SpeakerBox and I serve on the board of SECAF, so I'm a little biased (and a lot proud) of the value these groups deliver to members.

- Elizabeth Shea