During his recent visit to Australia, BNI founder Dr Ivan Misner highlighted the difference between leadership and management. In his presentation on Masters of Success he talked about the task of cutting a path through a forest and whether he was a manager or a leader.

And it caused me to think about the forthcoming change of Leadership Teams in our chapters and ponder the question "Do we have leaders in our BNI Chapters?"

In Ivan’s example it was easy to see how some people confuse the two. In fact in business generally people often confuse the person who is managing the business as the leader. And in many cases they are. However, it does not follow that a manager is a leader. And so it is in BNI – those who manage their chapters may not be leaders or see themselves as leaders.

If you look at the business world generally you will notice that many of the most successful companies, both large and small, have a leader at the helm. Someone with a vision of where the company is going and can go! They also have the ability to enlist the support of the rest of the team to adopt the vision so that everyone is heading in the same direction.

The regular 6 monthly changeover of President, Vice President, Treasurer, etc is preceded (in September and March) by seminars that we call Leadership Team training. And they are called that for a very good reason. They will include some goal setting – translate this as "vision setting"!

We want those who accept a role on the Leadership Team to be more than just managers. And I am sure the rest of their chapter members are also looking for them to be more than managers. They both want and need leaders to guide the chapter through the following 6 month term.

So when you next attend a Leadership Team seminar give some thought as to what role you will be personifying in your chapter – Manager or Leader. Your chapter members are looking for you to have a vision that can assist them both in their chapter activities as well as in their business.

BNI Australia was very excited for Dr. Ivan Misner to be present for the 'official opening' of the new national office at Level 2, 386 Logan Road, Stones Corner (Bank of Queensland building).

It is a wonderful testament to the amazing growth that BNI has experienced in the last few years that new space and premises were needed.

BNI's Founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, has recently concluded an exciting whirlwind tour of BNI Australia.  This tour encompassed seven major cities in 12 days.

Dr. Misner's Australian Tour 2006 was packed full with informational BNI events and exciting travel experiences.  It was non-stop BNI -- as he visited seven major cities in Australia.  This memorable trip entailed nine airline flights, 17 driver pickups and even one helicopter flight!

Dr. Misner's Australian Tour 2006 was packed full with informational BNI events and exciting travel experiences.  It was non-stop BNI -- as he visited seven major cities in Australia.  This memorable trip entailed nine airline flights, 17 driver pickups and even one helicopter flight!

Beginning in the Gold Coast Region, Dr. Misner travelled together with Geoff Kirkwood, the National Director for BNI Australia.  Together they visited the city of Brisbane and met with enthusiastic members and directors for several different events there.  Hundreds of people turned out to hear Ivan speak!  In addition, Brisbane was very excited for Ivan to be present for the "official opening" of their new headquarters office.

BNI's Executive Directors were excited to have BNI's Founder attend their director training session in Sydney. A successful "Ask the Founder" dinner was held that night also in Sydney. Tony Benner, Executive Director for BNI Sydney Inner West, said that Ivan's presentation was "inspiring" and that he "Motivated us in this Region to work even harder!"Then it was off again!  A quick flight brought them to their next destination in Coffs Harbor, New South Wales.  This area hosted a large "Big Breakfast" event which was every well attended.

More than 135 people were present in the city of Canberra, where Dr. Misner did a presentation in the beautiful and historic "Old Parliament House."   He was also interviewed by the City News for an on-line article about BNI.  Click the "City News" Link below to read this article Now!

The next stop on the tour was the city of Melbourne for more PR events, an "Ask the Founder" Dinner and also a "Big Breakfast" event with more than 340 people present. Melbourne's largest newspaper, The Age, also featured Dr. Misner's visit in an article for their on-line paper.

The final stop was the city of Hobart in Tasmania.  BNI Tasmania held an event with over 100 people!  Geoff Kirkwood, the National Director for BNI Australia, said that it was wonderful to host Ivan's visit and that he was "very well received here in Australia."  He also enjoyed the time they spent traveling together and said it was a "rare privilege" to share so much time in a one-on-one setting.  

Congratulations and well done to the Aussies for Hosting this Wonderful Tour! 

Article written by: Bunny Mirrilees Editor, BNI SuccessNet US

Dr Misner's visit began in Coffs Harbour by enjoying a "cruise" around the city and harbour in a 1947 Ford Coup "Hotrod".

It's 6.30am, it's wet and cold, but that doesn't deter BNI Members. There is already a crowd gathered at Pelican Beach Resort in Coffs Harbour, ready to hear from the Founder. 
 

117 members and guests listened intently, sometimes serous faces other times raucous laughter. Dr Misner has us in the palm of his hand.
 
Passion is the word of the morning - many comments were made to us from members about Ivan's passion for his business and that message came through in his presentation as well. We all need to have passion for what we are doing.
 
With attendance from every chapter in the region, some members had a VERY early start driving up to 3 1/2 hours to the breakfast - talk about passion and commitment.
 
The morning finished with Ivan being taken "Donald Trump" style by helicopter to the airport to meet his flight back to Sydney. 
 
Article written by: Russ Holland, Executive Director

Over 300 BNI members and guests gathered at Sydney Olympic Park on a foggy morning to hear the Master of Networking, Dr Ivan Misner.  And the people who drove from Hornsby to Wollongong and the Blue Mountains, were not disappointed.

Another enthusiastic attendee was Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who has a special interest in Australian small businesses.

Article written by: Tony Benner, Executive Director
 

 

Conceptually, most people understand the idea of referrals.

But getting and giving a referral isn't so simple.
Pretend you are in a room of 30 people, and you ask everyone to take out their keys. You look around and find who has the most keys on their ring. You then take that key ring. You say to the roomful of people:

"There are 30 people in this room. Would you agree that there are more keys than people?"
After everyone agrees, you pick up one key from the key ring you borrowed and ask, "Can anybody tell me what door this key can open?"
When almost everyone shakes their head, you say, "The only person who can give me the right answer is hopefully the person I borrowed the keys from."

This simple story demonstrates that referrals are really about opening doors for one another. Your job as a member is to tell us which doors you would like us to open for you; our job is to look at our keys and see if we have the right key to open that door.

Article written by Tony Benner, Executive Director.

There are many attributes that you could list about what it takes to be a good member. But at the end of the day it really all boils down to just two things; ATTITUDE and ATTENDANCE.

If you really want to benefit from the BNI concept then first of all you have to have a great attitude. But, it doesn’t matter how good your attitude is if your weekly attendance isn’t that flash. Well there’s one bloke I know who not only has a great attitude but his attendance has been pretty darn good.

In fact he has been a member now in our largest chapter (BNI River View) for 13 months...and he hasn’t missed a meeting!!! No substitutes just 100% personal attendance! Now that’s givers gain!

Jon Compton has served as VP in this time and as part of the team grew the chapter to 50 members.

Article written by: Russ Holland, Executive Director

When Kathleen McGowan attended her first BNI Meeting no one would have ever expected what lay ahead.

At this year’s Meet the Founder Breakfast in Brisbane Kathleen was presented with a special award by Dr Ivan Misner recognizing her amazing achievement of passing 322 referrals over a 12 month period.   That’s an incredible average of 6 referrals every meeting although one week Kathleen passed 31 referrals!

Kathleen epitomizes the “Givers Gain” philosophy taking an active role in her BNI Platinum Chapter, as well as being an Assistant Director for the Brisbane North/West region.

From all the members who have been recipients, Thank You Kathleen!

Article written by: Kerry Emery, Operations Manager BNI Brisbane

Our newest chapter in the NSW North Coast Region has just been born. And it’s a boy...well it’s decidedly male at least, but that is changing. Forster/Tuncurry is located just a few hours north of Sydney and has a population of 24,000.

With a core group of 20 it was a strong start. But things really began to flourish at the Kick Off day with 95 business people attending the event.

A great response was received from the business community in attendance with the chapter chartering at 31. Congratulations to The Lakes Chapter.

Article written by: Russ Holland, Executive Director

During the months of January to March this year BNI Director for Brisbane North/West Brett Emery decided to do something a little different.  His promotion was that if your chapter approved 5 new members and you were one of the sponsors of a new member you would go in the draw for a 7 Night Cruise for 2 people aboard the P & O Pacific Sky.

The promotion was an outstanding success with one chapter increasing membership by 8 members and the majority of chapters significantly increasing their membership numbers. 18 entries qualified for the draw with several members qualifying more than once by sponsoring more than 1 member into their Chapter.  A special function of qualifiers was held on the 23rd May, 2006.

And the winner is Yvonne Bonnici from BNI Aurora Chapter.  Congratulations Yvonne!   Yvonne and her partner Brett have already booked their holiday and are looking forward to having a bit of downtime from their very busy schedule although Yvonne has promised at least 1 referral for each and every member of her chapter!

Article written by: Kerry Emery, Operations Manager BNI Brisbane

For the last three years Barbara and Mark Knackstedt, Executive Directors of the ACT/NSW Tablelands region have run a membership drive.

The members themselves chose the prize for the first drive, and they chose to reward the entire winning chapter with a dinner including partners with a vision to cement friendships and build trust.

The second year it was decided to promote the BNI system as part of the membership drive.  Chapters would earn points for doing Dance Cards, getting their photo’s up on the Trade Directory, bringing Visitors, etc.  This worked extremely well –  even chapters with only a few new members still benefited because of the effort they put into the system which strengthened their knowledge of each other’s businesses.  All the chapters had a jump in the number and quality of referrals after the competition ended.

In honour of Dr. Misner’s visit, there were two prizes this year.  As before there will be a three course gourmet feast  for all the members and guests of the winning chapter. The new prize was a trophy – The Founder’s Cup – which was presented by Dr. Ivan Misner to the winning chapter at the Founder’s Cup Breakfast held at Old Parliament House on July 6 2006.

 “Double your numbers, you triple your referrals” -  Dr. Misner also says that the stronger the chapter the greater the quality and quantity of the referrals passed.  So what constitutes a strong chapter?  First on the list according to Dr. Misner is Dance Cards. One of the best results of the Founder’s Cup competition is how well it promoted Dance Cards. All six chapters in the region substantially increased their Dance Cards during the three months of the competition.

The end result of the membership drive - lots of new members . . . well done!

BNI is pleased to announce the official launch of BNI chapters in two new countries in Asia!

Congratulations to BNI Thailand and BNI
Sri Lanka!  The chapter kickoffs in these new countries represent many months of hard work and dedication -- and we welcome these two Asian countries to the BNI Family

The first World Conference for BNI members was held in Kuala Lumpur late last month and was attended by 350 networkers from around the globe.

National Director Geoff Kirkwood and Executive Director Sydney Inner West, Tony Benner, were two of the Australians who made presentations to delegates.

Pictured are Jim Vass (BNI Olympic City Chapter) and Richard Poi (Assistant Director, Inner West Sydney) with Dr Ivan Misner.

Other Australians present at the Conference were Elzette Bester from Essendon Chapter, Melbourne, Les Courcha from Derwent Chapter, Tasmania and Michael Mekhitarian from Parramatta Chapter, NSW.

All delegates were highly impressed by the hospitality shown by the Malaysians and they look forward to a larger Australian contingent for the next World Conference.