Keeping Up to Date

 I put in some time as a volunteer at the Chamber of Commerce's Home and Health Expo this weekend. It's a fun event with vendor booths in the categories of Home Improvement, Healthcare and Family. People poured in at opening time on Saturday, eager to fill their free sponsored pink shopping bags with other free goodies from the booths. The local dance studio brought students to entertain the visitors and the police K9s put on a demonstration. It was a wholesome family event and one that takes place each year. The $2 entrance fee goes towards the Chamber scholarship program.

As an Ambassador with the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce, I was happy to help out. But for me, the best part is all the people I see while working!  I enjoy hanging out with my fellow ambassador volunteers, and getting to meet some of their family members who stop by. I see people I know from networking, former workmates and former customers. It's aways fun to see people out of context!  The put-together business owner I know from networking can look quite different on a Saturday out with the family! 

One of the best ways I know to put names and faces together is a pictorial directory. Do you remember the old church directories? They seem to have dropped out of favor now, but I can often identify a family portrait from the '80s and '90s (usually with a plain blue backdrop) as a church directory portrait.  Olan Mills was the studio of choice, at least here in the Midwest. They produced the directories cheaply or for free and made their money with high pressure print sales. I remember one Pastor having "words" with the company over their sales techniques! The modern equivalent is the online gallery.  I keep the Kenosha Women's Network web site up to date, including the Member Gallery. The majority of members have a headshot on the gallery, along with their contact information. When I see a member outside of KWN, I often visualize their photo to help me remember their name. 

As a photographer who takes headshots, I am a big fan of keeping your headshot up to date. As the saying goes, "people do business with those they know, like and trust", and recognition is facilitated by a good headshot. When you think about it, there are all kinds of places to use a headshot, including business cards, websites and business-related social media. If you want to give a professional impression, that selfie taken at the family barbecue after a few beers is not going to cut it!

At last count, there were 24 out of 63 KWN members without headshots in the gallery. I know that there are a few who refuse to post a picture for a variety of reasons but, in most cases, it's just that they don't have a picture of themselves that they like. I will try to remedy that on Friday, at the next KWN meeting, when I will offer quick, complementary portraits with a single background and minimal editing. It's not my full headshot experience, with changes of clothes and a variety of backdrops so I call these "mug shots" rather than Headshots. We will see how many take me up on the offer-last year I got around 10 takers. A couple more, faced with the ordeal of a portrait, suddenly remembered that they already had a headshot we could use! Either way, it's about connecting and showing our KWN pride!