People in Connection is a great way to share business ideas and for members to network and connect. I know most of the members in the Niagara and St Catharines areas yet do not have much time to attend and of the Hamilton or Burlington events because of time constraints and distances involved. This has led me to thinking about ways to get to know other members.

Of course the new social pages here are important in this regard. I do encourage members to take a look at all the members on this site and connect with others who can assist in their business development. This is where having a complete biography and photograph can assist any member (and to be honest there are still too many default icons on the member pages).

Yet your online network only goes so far, which is one of the reasons why members should always seek to attend their local meetings - it provides you an opportunity to introduce yourself and your business through your 60 second infomercial. What a great way for everyone at the meeting to get to know you.

This then leads me to one further thought, the need for a full day PIC Convention. Part of this day could be a networking event where we can introduce ourselves to each other through a couple of small table networking session, but in addition we could hear from key-note several speakers on topics of relevance to building our small businesses.

One consequence of holding a PIC Convention is that it will publicise the group and the benefits that it can provide the small business community in both the Halton and Niagara Regions of Southern Ontario.

In this regard I am willing to give a keynote address on the topic of "Building Internet Publicity" but I an sure we have other members who can give inspirational speeches on a variety of subjects. My thinking here is that an event one Saturday during April of May would of great benefit for the whole group.

Please provide your thoughts about this idea. What would you be willing to do to make such an event a success?