In memoriam - Joyce Birkeland

I am so sad that we have lost friend, Joyce Birkeland, to cancer within the past week.  She was a beautiful, generous and warm-hearted person that was gracious with every person with whom she came in contact.  Joyce and her husband, Paul, have been good friends with whom we have travelled to Napa Valley and had planned a trip together to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival this summer before she became so ill.

Her funeral service was in the elegant St. Thomas Church in Medina on the hottest day in Seattle’s history and the chapel was packed with so many friends and relatives of the Birkeland family that a few were left standing.  Following the service, we joined the celebration of her life at Newcastle Golf Club where Paul had brought his entire collection of wine magnums to pour to share with their friends.  He and Joyce had intended to have a party and do that together and since she left us too soon for that event to occur, he decided to use them in her honor.  

The celebration was sad and joyous simultaneously.  There were many friends who shared fun stories of Joyce and Paul and their children both at the microphone and individually throughout the afternoon and evening.  Many winemakers were there in honor of Paul and Joyce’s long-time association with the wine industry as avid collectors and consumers.  It was fun to talk with ZINO Society Advisory Board members and renowned vintners, Tom and Anne Marie Hedges, of Hedges Family Cellars and Greg and Stacy Lill of DeLille Cellars and O Wines.  Also there honoring Joyce were ZINO Society Wine Professional members, Eric Dunham of Dunham Cellars and Kathleen and Tom Schafer of àMaurice .

One of the special memories of the afternoon was at sunset when the sky was pink and a solitary bagpiper played “Amazing Grace”.  There was a hardly a dry eye in the crowd of Joyce’s friends and family as soon as that rasping, haunting melody began.

Joyce and Paul have been dedicated members of ZINO Society. The photo above is from just last winter when Paul and Joyce hosted a ZINO Society Christmas Ships party at their beautiful waterfront home.  Paul always has fun new ideas to suggest for future get-togethers and Joyce was always there with her beautiful smile and sunny temperament.  Beautiful “Joy C B” as Paul often called her, will be missed greatly by all of us who knew her!

 

And the winner is . . . Zero Crossing!

Yesterday, I was interviewed by Patti Payne of the Puget Sound Business Journal.  She was interested in hearing more about ZINO Marketplace, our recent ZINO Society consumer and product investment forum where 12 entrepreneurs pitched their companies to a room of accredited investors and business professionals.  As I mentioned in my blog a few days ago, Zero Crossing was the winner of the investment fund with its consumer product, the N-Tune, which is a simple and silent way to tune guitars.  Watch her column this Friday, July 24, 2009 for information about Sam Sudore, CEO, and his company, Zero Crossing.

Great ZINO Society Roundtable Meeting at Harbor Club

Yesterday at the ZINO Society Roundtable meeting held at the Seattle Harbor Club, around 55 people were there to applaud the ZINO Marketplace Investment Fund check presented to fund winner, Wayne Newitt of Zero Crossing.  Wayne is the Vice President-Product Management and accepted the award in CEO Sam Sudore’s place as Sam was on his way to a big guitar manufacturer’s conference.  The other two finalists were Oh! Shoes and Point Inside, both very worthy contenders.  The ZINO Marketplace fund finalists had a difficult time making a decision because each of the three companies were such viable contenders.

 

Other ZINOpreneur presenters yesterday at the meeting included David Scott of Marketfish, Frank Redmond of Redmond Experimental Corporation, Gary Trauner of Mulligan Stew and Peter Chang of Jobaba.  Fascinating presentations by all.

 

 

 

ZINO Zilliionaire Investment Forum 2009 Planning Begins!

Today we had a team meeting to begin planning our upcoming ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum which is scheduled September 17, 2009 at the new Four Seasons Hotel.  We decided to add a “second voice” to help promote the event that focuses on what is currently going on in our world.  The phrase that we chose is “Invest in Innovation!  Kick start the economy.”  We are considering some new twists to make the forum even more interesting and attractive to investors and entrepreneurs.  More on that later as we make decisions.  Once again, we plan to put together an investment fund of at least $100,000 that will be awarded to both technology and non-tech entrepreneurs for best investment opportunities.  That will bring the total investment funds distributed at ZZIF events to $500,000.  I am impressed that we have been able to offer guaranteed funding at each of our ZZIF events since inception. 

 

I am very pleased that Robin Moore, previously a part of the WAMU team, has joined ZINO Society as the Marketing and Sales Director.  She brings a great deal of marketing experience with her and has immediately integrated into the ZINO team.  Welcome Robin!  In the photo above, Robin is in the middle flanked by Mary Holmes, VP-Business Development, on the left and McKenzie Midboe, Events and Administrative Coordinator, on the right.  Mary and Robin will especially be working on increasing our sponsorship partners for ZZIF, managing the marketing plan and overseeing the Puget Sound Business Journal insert that features all the presenting entrepreneurs.  McKenzie will be handling the event details of this very complicated day that includes over 30 presenting entrepreneurs, an audience of around 200 people with multiple snack and lunch breaks followed by a wine and awards reception.

 

A call to entrepreneurs has gone out and the deadline for ZZIF applications is July 31^st.  It is always so fascinating to see the companies that apply to present.  Once we get through the preliminary screening round, I look forward to our upcoming in-person screening meetings which will occur in mid-August.  We are in the process of recruiting our most important screeners and coaches now.  I will tell you more about this process in an upcoming blog.

 

Meanwhile, I hope you will put the date on your calendar so you can be there with us for our BIG event of the year!

 

Social Media in action!

You are reading my inaugural blog.  Yesterday, after participating in a great ZINO Business Insights series session, “Social Media for Executives” located in the lofty offices of Davis Wright Tremaine and facilitated by Blaine Millett and Clay Loges, partners in a social media consulting business entitled Customer Experience Inc., I have gathered my courage to plunge into the blog world!  Yes, ZINO Society has been posting a weekly blog for the past year or more, but this is MY own blog, which seems both more comfortable, but also challenging to find topics to share which may be of interest to you.

 

One of the factoids I found fascinating that was shared yesterday is that people believe 12% of what they hear or see as a result of an advertisement or “pushed” communication, whereas they believe 78% of what they hear or see through people whom they have developed a relationship with and trust.  Here’s to building relationships!