As business networking is always on the minds of all the entrepreneurs and other people who don’t own a business and are employed with some employer, the significance is mostly misunderstood. Most of the time people go to a business event, meet a lot of people there, have conversations with them, collect lots of business cards and come back. After coming back from these events mostly it happens to be of no use. When next day they see those business cards and try to get those people back to mind, they fail. They try to think of those people they had conversations with but no excellent results come out of their minds. They are unable to remember their names and their businesses.

Nobody wants to be forgotten and definitely you also don’t want this. It is good to give your business cards to other people but it is of no use if people don’t have you in their minds for future help.

So you should follow some guidelines to be memorable and stand out in a meeting.

Be unique and idiosyncratic. Wear something unusual and beautiful which will make you unique as well and help you stand out from rest of the crowd. This will not be the reason of identification but something which makes you distinctive will help others to remember you. Don’t be an outlier but also don’t merge and mix with the rest of mass.

You should be completely attentive and present physically and mentally as well. Be wholly busy and attentive of the people you interact with. Make an eye contact, listen carefully, reply quickly, etc. but you don’t need to put effort on all this because if you are really present it will happen automatically.

Show your interest and ask questions which need enough explanation by the next person. Questions should be who, how, why and of this kind which does not just need an answer in yes or no. you can ask a business person that how he started his business, where did he get the idea from, what hurdles he faced, how he recovered from failures, what do you like most about your business etc. The questions should be specific according to the situation and person. Questions should be arisen in response to the ongoing conversation. Show your full interest in the person and his business in this way.

Advertise yourself precisely. Don’t give long explanations and descriptions of yourself and your organization and services or products. The reason is that people don’t tend to remember long introductions. So be precise and emphasize and highlight your keywords which you want to be remembered. Mostly people n to remember your name, company, product or service and the location you are operating. So try to highlight and emphasize these names for others to remember it.

Try to contribute something good to the conversation. First listen carefully to other people and then adding something valuable will make them remember.

I’m a recent Hurricane Rita evacuee and survived the evacuation and the ensuing hurricane. Running from a hurricane isn’t something I’ve ever had to do before, nor is it something I’d ever like to do again. However, as a solo business owner, I’m quite thankful that I have a virtual business. The fact that I’m virtual and can operate from anywhere that there’s electricity and phone service was of great help to me in this disaster and helped me reopen my business a scant 4 days after the landfall of Hurricane Rita.

As a solopreneur, what can you do to make your business disaster-proof? It seems that we have an increasing number of hurricanes making landfall in the coastal states, and add to that an increased number of other types of natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, mud slides, ice storms, blizzards, etc. makes me think that there is no ideal location in which to operate a business. Now accepting that natural disasters are here to stay, here’s what I learned from my hurricane evacuation that helped me get my business back up and running quickly:

1. Know the location of your vital papers. You should be able to quickly put into a folder the following for you and your family: your marriage license, birth certificate, social security card, driver’s license or state ID card, car title/mortgage info and insurance contact info, house deed/mortgage info and insurance contact info, employee ID card, and apartment lease or copy of a utility bill. In a disaster, you’ll be asked to prove where you live and that you are who you claim you are, especially when applying for disaster assistance.

2. Have an online backup of all of your computer data. I back up my computer in two ways–to an external portable hard drive as well as to an online backup service. I use both because my files are my livelihood — I would be dead in the water without them — so I want to leave absolutely no room to lose my data. For my external backup, I use a 30 GB portable drive made by Iomega, www.iomega.com, and for my online backup, I have 10 GB of space that I pay for at XDrive, www.xdrive.com.

3. Create an file with vital contact information. I copied a file with all of my usernames and passcodes for websites, bank accounts, etc. to my USB flash drive (a key chain-like device with 512 MB or 1 GB of memory — I use one from Lexar, www.lexar.com) as well as the physical and email addresses and all phone numbers of friends, clients and family members — anyone I needed to contact during the evacuation period. You’ll also want to take along your children’s school contact info to be able to check on the current operating status of your child’s school, as well as local media website info. My lifeline in getting current information about my home city was through the websites of Beaumont’s newspapers and television and radio stations. If you keep your contact info in Outlook and have a Yahoo account, Yahoo offers a synchronization feature in which you can synchronize all of your info in Outlook to your Yahoo account. Find out more here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/intsync. All you need to access your info in Yahoo is a computer and to know your username and password.

4. Know the primary office/computer equipment that will be required to get your business up and running. I had operated with a minimal amount of my office equipment recently due to my being a house sitter for a friend for 2 months. So, upon receiving the mandatory evacuation order, I knew in relatively short order that to run my business, I needed my desktop PC, flat panel monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, speakers, modem and associated cords, backup portable external hard drive, office telephone and associated cords, laptop computer, printer, box of software, and scanner. It sounds like a great deal of equipment, but I packed it all into 2 boxes from UHaul (1 small and 1 medium box). I knew I could work for at least 2 months comfortably with just this equipment.

5. Primary paper files for your clients/business. I have 2 sets of files — ones for the immediate short-term that I use frequently and my lateral file drawer files that are primarily reference files. I grabbed the contents of the two drawers of my 2-drawer file cabinet (which hold my immediate short-term files), all of which fit into one small UHaul box.

6. A backup telephone plan. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do for phone service for my business, as all of my clients are scattered across the US and in Canada. Just to be safe, I upgraded my cell phone plan, and had a prepaid calling card (purchased an AT&T calling card at Sam’s, www.samsclub.com) at my disposal if I needed it. As luck would have it, my hotel offered an unlimited Internet access/long distance plan for an additional $1.88 per day, so I happily signed up for that, saving myself a fortune in phone calls and Internet service fees.

7. A backup Internet access plan. Since power restoration to my home was estimated at 2-8 weeks, I had to find temporary lodgings. I looked for a hotel that offered high speed Internet access and was able to use their system for my Internet access. However, once I found the hotel, I also called the tech support of my DSL ISP and found the local dial-up numbers for the area in which the hotel is located. I never had to use the dial-up service, but it was good info to have. If you have cable or DSL Internet service, now is the time to discover alternate Internet access plans to be able to get online should your DSL or cable access be out-of-service. You should also know how to access your email online through your ISP if you don’t have access to your computer. If your ISP doesn’t offer a version of webmail, you can use this service free-of-charge, www.mail2web.com.

8. Adequate office supplies for a month. I threw in pens, pencils, post-it notes, a calculator, stamps, envelopes, tape, stapler, paper clips, note pads, etc. that would last me at least a month while I was out of my office. I used a portable plastic file case in which to carry these items.

9. Outline of your office procedures to help you operate independently or be able to delegate tasks. I carry much of my info in my head to run my office, or have what I need stored in various files across my computer. What makes more sense for the future is to document all of my office procedures, as well as computer and client info, so that everything I need is in one document. I can then upload this doc to my Yahoo account, my backup files, or carry it with my on my USB flash drive. My colleague, Jean Hanson, has designed a great template that asks you to note and record everything someone would need to know to get your business back up and running. It’s the Home Office Procedures Manual, available for purchase here: http://tinyurl.com/bagxs

10. Digital camera to record the event and/or record damages to personal property. I wish I’d had a digital camera to record all that I witnessed during my evacuation from Hurricane Rita. My sister took tons of pics, but I would’ve loved to have had the same opportunity. More importantly, however, is the need for a digital camera to record damage to your home and property. In a wide-spread disaster, it can be at least a month before your insurance adjuster will be able to assess damages to your property. In the meantime, however, you need to start repairs, like placing a tarp on your roof, boarding up broken windows, removing downed trees from your house or yard, or cleaning your refrigerator of spoiled food. In many cases, your insurance will cover the repairs or food replacement, but you need to carefully document the “before” scenario in order to receive compensation for your loss.

Don’t let a natural disaster destroy your business. Take some time now to prepare your disaster-readiness plan, and get back into business as soon as you can!

Luxury and elegance accompanying business eases the tensed mood at conferences or meetings. This combination of pleasure with work is offered by 5 star business hotels in India. Usually, business meeting and conferences turn out to be very tiring and these hotels offer services for rejuvenation. Whether the business personnel want to enjoy a swim or willing to sweat out at squash, business hotels definitely prove their worth. Relaxation is very necessary after working for long hours and leisure activities help to regain the lost energy. Even, the staff of hotels knows that what’s latest in the market and keeps incorporating them in their services.

A five star business hotel would have excellent and plush interiors, choicest of delicacies, world-class facilities and best hospitality. Just imagine of being welcomed by the staff with complimentary champagne, fruit basket, cookies, decoration in the room, business assistance and tempting peaceful atmosphere. This is self explanatory about the level of hospitality at 5 star business hotels. These business hotels also organize business lunch or dinners and events, along with conferences or meetings. Every single comfort of the business personnel or delegates is taken care of. Keeping in reputation with the hotel, the administration takes care of everything required to enlighten the meeting or a business event.

Hotels are a place to indulge-in and pamper oneself. After going through a hectic work schedule, leisure activities at five star hotels India tends to regain the energy. There are various such hotels in India that value customer as their personal guests. Taj group of hotels, ITC Welcome group, Leela Palace and hotels, Ista hotel, Jaypee group of hotels, Le Meridian hotel, Maurya Sheraton, Ashoka hotel, Centaur hotel and JW Marriott are some of the top-notch hotels that have set high standards. These hotels have exceptionally well designed interiors, offering delightful view of traditional and contemporary touch.

Apart from leisure activities, 5 star business hotels also arrange city sightseeing tours for the business people. This enables them to know about the place that they have come to attend their meeting or event. At all times, the reception staff also assists the business professionals with secretarial services. It helps the people to manage their meetings and appointment diaries.  After all, it becomes difficult to handle multiple meet8ings happening in a day. Some of you might think that the cost of services at such hotels would cost a life, which is largely not correct. Moreover, luxury and indulging facilities of these hotels will tempt you to shed few thousands from the pocket, at least once.

The just recovering global financial crisis goes a long way to prove that companies need to assess and re-evaluate their risk management tactics, abilities and systems. Companies should realize that there are no short-cuts when it comes to business risk management success. Today, mitigating risk in business operations absolutely is fundamental.

Preparing a risk management program help ensure your company is able to address current and future challenges that come with running a business, natural catastrophes and economic fluctuations. This also helps your business to identify competencies and also business opportunities.

Business risk management assists both big and small businesses to know their risk appetite and find mitigation strategies. Business management teams have to fulfill their mandate of ensuring that their departments put in place risk management policies that identify, address and mitigate risks.

The best approach is by thinking ahead, being innovative and consulting from experts on risk treatment and assessment. This way the management will have strategies that improve multiple risk response decisions, cross business risks, seizing business opportunities and improving capital deployment strategies.

Another tactic to mitigate risk would be the transfer of the peril to another entity. This is the most common approach and requires the involvement of another business entity that will guarantee the continuity of your business upon the occurrence of an event that threatens the continuity or success of your business. A good example is getting services from insurance companies.

Enter into contracts with other companies that are more experienced in areas related to your business, this is also called outsourcing. Transferring risk guarantees your business will survive even in harsh business conditions.