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Local Voices

2014 Business Women's Forum (BWF) Seeking Sponsors for 500+ Conference

“At this time,” stated Jane Pinho, 2014 Business Women’s Forum (BWF) Chairperson, “we are welcoming all levels of sponsorship of the 32nd annual Business Women’s Forum (BWF), Connecticut’s longest-running annual non-profit conference for business women. The full-day event will be held Friday, October 10th, and we anticipate over 500 business people from across New England will attend. Our keynote luncheon address will be given by Barbara Corcoran, a much-celebrated “Shark” on ABC-TV’s very popular “Shark Tank”. Our morning motivational speaker will be the CEO of The Joy Project, Amanda Gore.”                                       

“The Power of Self: Leading the Way” is the innovative theme of the 2014 Business Women’s Forum that will be held at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington from 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to the two keynote speakers, the BWF will feature six professional development workshops, all-day networking, breakfast, lunch, and a closing reception. A program of the Greater Waterbury Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the BWF is celebrating 32 years of notable success. The thriving BWF is led by female executives dedicated to the professional and personal growth of working women in Connecticut. In addition to being sponsored each year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the BWF is supported by numerous Connecticut-based companies.                                 

“For 32 successful years,” stated Lynn Ward, president and CEO of the Waterbury Regional Chamber, and a BFW director, “the mission of the BWF has been to raise funds for a scholarship fund for female Post University students to pursue business educations. The BWF’s continual commitment is to the equality of opportunity and advancement for women in business. Over the past 31 years, the BWF has generated more than $135,000 toward those scholarships.

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Sponsors of the BWF are afforded a very distinct opportunity to showcase their products or services to a very powerful market, 500 female consumers in Connecticut. The BWF is a proven opportunity for companies to increase visibility of their products or services. In addition to distinguishing their company, BWF sponsors promote themselves as a company dedicated to creating opportunities for women who represent an enormous segment of the Connecticut marketplace.”

The seven 2014 BWF sponsorship levels range from Presenting Partner at $20,000, Premier Partner at $15,000, Star Partners at $10,000, Forum Partners at $5,000, Reception Host at $2,500, Workshop Hosts at $1,500/workshop, and Benefactors at $500. “This broad range of sponsorships,” Pinho noted, “attracts many companies because they can choose which portion of the full-day BWF event would garner positive ROI for their marketing dollars. This is a targeted marketing opportunity to reach over 500 business women in one day, plus the multitude of pre-event marketing ambitions that began in April of this year to promote this extraordinary event.

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Every year we rely on companies throughout Connecticut to support our ambition to bring a highly-informative, dynamic full day of business development workshops, accomplished motivational speakers, professional business trainers, and powerful networking opportunities to hundreds of career women statewide. We offer six levels of sponsorship opportunities, and we strive to promote all our sponsors to the anticipated attendees for several months before, and during, the event.”

Ward added, “Since its inception, the BWF has provided an unprecedented number of attendees with access to phenomenal speakers, networking opportunities, and diverse business skill training during the course of a full day of activities. For 31 years, the BWF has featured such prominent, high-profile keynote speakers as supermodel Kathy Ireland, Elizabeth Vargas, Paula Abdul, Robin Roberts, Goldie Hawn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Suze Orman, Jane Seymour, Chris Madden, Ann Curry, Jack Ford, and Faith Popcorn.                     

For more than three decades, BWF events have helped business women enhance their small to medium-sized companies, and their personal careers. BWF sponsorship provides businesses with opportunities to highlight their products or services to this very powerful marketplace of savvy business women. Experience has proven that businesses prosper from their BWF sponsorships by marketing to this powerful demographic market.”

2014 BWF sponsors are assured they will receive access and connections to an educated, and lucrative, demographic of business leaders and managers. Sponsors are offered direct sales and sampling opportunities to a group of professional consumers and household decision-makers. Sponsors receive numerous pre-event, and event day, opportunities to raise awareness of their brand with to the anticipated 500+ attendees, and to network with the attendees during the full-day event.

Companies interested in sponsorships are invited to visit the 2014 BWF website, www.2014BWF.com, and contact Lynn Ward or Courtney Ligi at the Waterbury Regional Chamber at 203-757-0701, or via email to lward@waterburychamber.com or cligi@waterburychamber.com.
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