I attended the CREW Network Women’s Winter Leadership Summit in Tampa along with Cleveland members Joanie Zimmer, Lori Crow, Diane Strojin, Amanda Lauer (not pictured) and Tammy Dorfeld (not pictured). The Spring Summit offered amazing educational workshops along with a global overview of CREW Network. The event also helped strengthen our CREW Cleveland connections.
Following a CREW Network Speed Networking session, the Winter Leadership Summit opened with Wendy Mann, CEO of CREW Network providing a welcome and formal introduction of the national board. She talked about being a “Pathfinder” and going ahead and discovering a path for others. We also discussed how to leverage our CRE portfolio to make more money. Wendy provided the following statistics related to CREW Network:
- Founded in 1988-89
- 12,000 members currently
- 77 chapters in the US
- 96% of the membership is women and 4% men
Some takeaways from Thursday morning session are:
- There are no magic beans. Invest in yourself.
- You belong to CREW, one chapter.
- Everyone can grow and thrive in business, personally and leadership development.
Wendy Mann also facilitated a breakout session for first time attendees in which I attended. This session allowed us to network with other new attendees from across the CREW Network footprint. We discussed best practices and creative programming and/or strategies with other chapters, such as:
- Using name tags to differentiate between members and guests at events
- Matching mentees with mentors
- Using gift cards as a reward for membership drives
- Offering young associates for free
- Small group mentorship
- Having an ambassador position for new board members
- Connecting on LinkedIn and offering to do introductions for new members
- Coffee with CREW
- Providing guestlists at events
- Using the word “drawings” versus “raffles”
- Members being allowed to tell what their business does and what they want to receive from membership as well as what they can give.
Friday’s Leadership session was conducted by Kimberley Parsons. We discussed the following:
- We teach people how to treat us.
- What do I need to say “no” to?
- Be all in. What you put in is what you get out.
- Go for it.
- Surround yourself by amazing and support structure
- Rely on each other
There were also table discussions on numerous leadership topics. The conference concluded with lunch on Friday along with two amazing speakers, Jan Castor, Mayor of Tampa and Danni Gallagher, VP, CVS Health.
CREW Cleveland was also representing down in Tampa by having both Lori Crow (current President) and Diane Strojin (Past President 2021) presenting at the summit!
