Meeting Minutes from FOCM Networking Meeting of October 15, 2013
Tuesday night, October 15, the RTP, NC Chapter of FOCM met at Serena’s in Durham. The weather was nice so we sat outside.
Not that a member gets points for being first to arrive or last to leave but its kinda fun to note that, so as to have accurate meeting minutes, of course. While it is unlikely that the events recorded herein will ever appear in the Library of Congress, we can pretend that we are important.
At this meeting, the first to arrive was Gayle Grandinetti. The last to leave were myself (as required by the organization’s SOP’s), Nick Macaulay and Vince Hoefling. The attendees were:
Gayle Grandinetti
Mike Burrows
Lisa Campbell
Mike Markowitz
Sherran Brewer
Katherine Cloninger
Joseph Barna
Tom McPhatter
Wendy Revenaugh
Carrie Gallagher
Vince Hoefling
Mark Mickunas
Nick Macaulay
The companies these people work for include: GSK, Aptiv, Lenovo, Catalent, PPD, Aerotek, TKL Research, Frontage Labs, UCB and Patheon.
It was great to have Lisa Campbell attend. Tomorrow, 10/21, she will have her labor induced and sometime that day we will welcome a new FOCM member. Best wishes to Lisa and her soon-to-be-born daughter.
The following people were first time attendees and received their FOCM membership cards in the traditional and formal presentation of the membership card: Sherran Brewer, Tom McPhatter, Carrie Gallagher and Joseph Barna.
For those who have not witnessed the formal presentation of the membership card, it goes something like this: the card presenter holds the card in his left hand, the card recipient receives the card in his/her left hand and the two grip each other’s right hands in a handshake while the card presenter says, “Welcome to the organization.” As you can well imagine, there is rarely a dry eye among the participants and witnesses.
May I suggest that the induction ceremony be amended somewhat? Seeing as any newcomers to FOCM are doing so because of their great thirst for networking, they should be encouraged to quench that thirst at high volume and high speed in conjunction with the card exchange.
I like it. Perhaps because of my affinity for tequila, perhaps consumption of that spirit should be part of it.