TEXAS WOMEN IN BUSINESS – AUSTIN HEADQUARTERS HISTORY
May 27, 2010
The famous (infamous) meeting at Chinatown to see if there was an interest in forming a group that met our needs as business women. At that point, there was not any. About 20 women attended. We decided that it was work evaluating seriously.
June 1, 2010
This was the original “nuts and bolts” meeting looking at what would need to be done to create a group. There were only about 5-7 who attended this meeting.
June 4, 2010
This was the first board meeting. During this meeting, we asked the question “If we were to create our dream organization, what would it look like?” There were about 18 amazing businesswomen in the room. This began the blueprint for TWIB. The name, Texas Women In Business, was chosen at this meeting.
June 9, 2010
The 2nd board meeting as spent completing the organization, including choosing the initial officers and board positions. In this meeting, the purposes, mission statement, and objectives were defined. Who would think that an organization blueprint could be created in 2 meetings? Don’t think that any of us knew how much work this would be…..ignorance is bliss.
June 17, 2010
The 3rd board meeting completed the game plan for TWIB, approved the final design of the TWIB logo and colors, approved the draft of the purposes, mission statement, objective. Discussed/planned the next steps.
June 22, 2010
Happy hour at Chinatown. The board decided that before we officially formed TWIB that we needed to see if there was really an interest. So, we held a happy hour in their bar area that held about 60 people. We had about 150 ladies show up so we were both inside and out. We hoped that the fire marshal would not show up. The comment after the event was, guess we are going to really do this.
July 14, 2010
TWIB board meeting. Approved the outline of the bylaws, planned the Aug. happy hour and Sept luncheon. Set meeting times. Beginning in Sept, luncheons were always the 3rd Friday of each month. Happy hours were to be the 2nd week of each month on either a Tuesday or Wednesday.
Note: eventually, the board decided that Thursday was the better day. The membership levels and cost of each with respective benefits were approved.
August 2, 2010
This was the first Executive Board meeting. The Executive Board consisted of all officers. We hoped to do enough work in this meeting to streamline the board meetings. Going forward, the Executive Board met prior to the Board meeting each month.
August 4, 2010
TWIB board meeting. Scheduling, finances, strategic planning, were discussed. Finalized the plans for the August happy hour.
August 12, 2010
TWIB August Happy Hour! This was our first official happy hour and the first opportunity to sell TWIB memberships. It was held at one of the Nyle Maxwell car dealerships. We had over 200 ladies attend. During Aug, we sold the first 50 memberships. Most were sold that night. We were amazed.
September 1, 2010
By this time, we had established that the board meetings would be the first Wed. of each month. We finished planning our first luncheon and membership drive. The board had about 18 members as this time.
September 17, 2010
TWIB’s first luncheon held at Chez Zee. We had about 120 businesswomen. Chez Zee could only hold 100. We moved to several locations before settling at Shoreline in downtown Austin. During this time, the luncheons had about 100-160 avg attendance. This was due entirely to the hard work of the entire board. Building TWIB took everyone’s best efforts. It was like a 2nd job.
October 30, 2010
Exec Board Retreat. Planning and trying to stay ahead of the growth took more time that we anticipated. This was a half day meeting. All info and recommendations were presented at the Nov board meeting.
December 6, 2010
About 5 of the board members met with the Governor’s Commission for Women executive director at their request. The governor had charged the Commission with supporting women over 50 in the workforce. They asked TWIB for ideas and help in completing this mission. Also, we needed to get a proposal to them to review before Christmas. We proposed a conference that addressed career development, re-inventing yourself, entering the workforce at a later point in live, etc. All of this needed to be delivered as cheaply as possible. TWIB rec’d the approval for the conference around the end of Jan, 2011.
Early February, 2011
Several steering committee meetings were held for the Beyond 50 Conference in May. TWIB partnered with Austin Community College along with the Governor’s Commission for Women for the conference.
February 24, 2011
This was the first general meeting for everybody involved with the Beyond 50 Conference. The various committees met almost weekly to get everything accomplished. The conference was scheduled for May 25, 2011. 2011 There were multiple other committees meeting during the entire year. Ambassadors met monthly since they greeted at all events. All other committees met regularly, too. This was a working group. It took everybody to build this.
May 20, 2011
Monthly luncheon 5 days before the conference. We learned not to do this again….
May 25, 2011
The Beyond 50 Conference. We had room for about 250 all day attendees. The auditorium held about 400 people. We had most of the Governor’s Commission for Women attending, along with other interested dignitaries. Anita Perry, TX First Lady, gave the keynote address. This is when we introduced speed-networking to our group. This has become a regular event for our conferences. The Gov. Commission for Women asked us to do this again in 2012. This time we were to include women leaving the military. We changed the name to NEXT from Beyond 50.
September 16, 2011
TWIB held our first birthday celebration luncheon. This morphed into an Award’s Luncheon, honoring women leaders in our community. In 2017, we tried an evening gala for this event. It was favorable rec’d.
April 2018
Began TWIB Lubbock with the initial meeting in April.
January 2019
Austin TWIB has monthly happy hours, luncheons, quarterly Smart Cookie meetings, and bi-weekly Coffee Connects. Plans are to begin TWIB Houston later this year.
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