“How To Series” of Webinars

Thanks to those involved in the “How To Series” of Webinars …          

What better way of paying tribute to the MBN members and friends who have helped structure and run the “How To Series” of Webinars than with the testimonials of team members?   Many thanks to Sandi Givens and Chris Martini for sharing their thoughts on the value of inclusive collaboration and community spirit with us here.

As the host of some of the webinars run by the Manningham Business Network with the support of the State Government of Victoria, I’ve had the pleasure of liaising with some of the local businesses in the Manningham area. All have been professional, easy to work with and extremely collaborative in their approach. This has played a significant part in the success of the project and I’ve no doubt been a great support to any businesses watching and learning from the webinars.

Sandi Givens, Owner & Facilitator, Psychological Safety Works (Trading name of Communicate with Courage Pty Ltd)

The year of 2020 and introduction to COVID19 certainly brought its challenges. A pandemic has taught businesses, business owners and organizations that it is only those who can innovate adapt and be flexible; that will thrive and survive in these conditions.

Manningham, Business Network is certainly a group and organization that exemplifies this.

My involvement with the Manningham Network extends back only three years but, in that time, I have really valued what the network offers the business community.  The core values of the group and mantra of Share Learn Grow, really set the group apart. Pre-pandemic, I really loved being a member and even took up a sponsorship role of the group. I quickly adopted the core values of the group and saw huge value in being an active participant in this community – both as a recipient of learning and also a contributor of information.

As we experienced the start of the pandemic, I was concerned about how the Manningham Business Network could continue it’s great work and role in our community – and even survive. But I was pleasantly surprised. As a group, it quickly pivoted, found new ways to continue to engage, offered genuine support and introduced ways for members to support each other.

I too stuck by this shift and was inspired to contribute as much as I could within Manningham Business Network. As difficult as things were for Melbourne based small business owners, I felt this was a very important behavior to adopt and participate in.

All the way through 2020 Manningham Business Network’s committee and members continued to innovate and work with its members and guests. By the close of the calendar year, the MBN Webinar concept was by far the most out-of-the-box idea to date. As I was introduced to the concept, I immediately identified with it and could see how the program would benefit the MBN and business community.

I loved the idea of experts providing high value, longer form learning content to assist fellow business owners in the recovery of COVID19. Opportunities for experts to become presenters and be known for their field of business was another great outcome of this program. And the part that really excited me; was that this comprehensive Webinar series would become yet another unique component of Manningham Business Network. It would further cement the core values of the group and attract new members.

Being a producer of Media and Video, this was all right up my alley, and I was thrilled to be invited in as a presenter to contribute to the series in 2021 but I was also invited to help build out some of the design and branding for the videos and presentation components. I then became a supplier for the program ongoing, in that I would edit and produce the Webinar Video episodes to a high standard, along with the designed branding – in preparation to deploy the Webinar episodes after the live presentations. I had worked with the team involved to design a workflow that would ensure that we could deliver high quality videos in a prompt timeline.

I felt that it was a great collaboration and another way to further showcase the local businesses involved’ expertise.

I’d like to further extend my gratitude to that State of Victoria government for their contribution, that helped realize the program but also a huge thank you to all involved as a team in bringing it to life. It was a large undertaking but because of a passionate and collaborative team; an amazing result was achieved.

Now that we have produced a comprehensive series of Webinar learning content, I believe this really has provided a positive for the Small Business community and highlighted the value of the Manningham Business Network.

Chris Martini, Business Owner and Media Producer,  Ottico Lab

Well done and cheers to all who played a part and participated in this venture.

MBN invites you to take advantage of the free business development resources this project has generated.

We acknowledge and thank the State Government of Victoria for their ongoing support of local businesses.