Contact Us:
YPIowa
904 Walnut Street
Suite 100
Des Moines, IA  50309
(515) 235-0569
www.ypiowa.com
info@ypiowa.com

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Nominations for Leadership Iowa 2008-09 Now Being Accepted!  

Nominate a high school student to attend Business Horizons

New Web Site Launched

The Young Professionals of Iowa (YPIowa) website has recently been redesigned to provide a resource for young professionals across Iowa .  With more than 60 local YPOs being created throughout the state, click on the Links section to find groups located in your area.

Another unique feature to the site includes the Why Iowa?! testimonials of those of us who have decided to live, work and play in Iowa.  Please share these with your friends living outside of the state.  Please consider providing your story - send an email to info@ypiowa.com

Visit the Events section to view events that are taking place across the state.

If you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, please click here to receive future issues.  

2007 Conference A Success

Young professionals from far reaches of the state of Iowa convened October 26 in Sioux City for the Young Professionals of Iowa fourth annual conference, titled "Lead Today". More than 225 members from YP organizations hailing from Des Moines, Ames, Davenport, Dubuque, Keokuk, and other locations sent members to the conference-- some catching the specially-chartered I-80 bus, traveling through Davenport, Iowa City, and Des Moines -- and took advantage of the annual opportunity to network with peers.

According to an article in the Sioux City Journal, a major conference sponsor, the group was focused on building leadership skills, fostering community involvement and collaborating to find ways to keep other young professionals living and working in the state.

Five Sioux City business leaders, Mike Bennett (Terra Industries), Regina Roth (BPI Inc.), Dave Bernstein (State Steel) and Bob Burnett (Badger Holdings) gathered on a luncheon panel, and explored ways to make smaller communities attractive to younger professionals.

In subsequent sessions, a consistent theme emerged: Some of the factors that drive a stay/go decision by young workers include wage levels (Iowa’s average wages lag 9 percent below the rest of the region, and 12 percent below the nation); entertainment options; plentiful career opportunities, and a pro-business climate.

Attendees took part in roundtable discussions, shared leadership success stories, and had plenty of opportunity to network with each other.

Hosted by the Siouxland Young Professionals organization, Sioux City Growth Organization, the all-day event was aimed to equip the incoming generation to lead, and to give them a state-wide perspective when they do so.

"As YPs are being asked to step into higher management positions at younger ages, it's important they are receiving the leadership training needed to be successful," said Anderson in a Sioux City Journal report. "Plus, at this conference, they will get to network with other YPs who want to be involved and grow Iowa.”

Other sponsors of the event included Wells' Blue Bunny, the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City, and others. YP Iowa’s mission is to connect and engage young professionals in Iowa to take responsibility for the growth of their community and state. The ABI Foundation also plays a large role in YP programming through its support and leadership of the Leadership Iowa and Business Horizons programs.

2008 YPIowa Conference to be held in Muscatine: 10/10/2008

YPIowa Board Nominations Due December 7th

Four positions are available for the 2008 YPIowa Board of Directors.  Three year terms with quarterly meetings in different areas of the state.  Click here to print off the application form.

Save the Date!

The 2^nd Annual YP Day at the Capital will be held March 11, 2008.

This is a great opportunity to share YPs impact on our communities in Iowa with the legislators in the state.  Other events are being planned for the date in Des Moines .

Impact Council Bluffs Structuring

Do you know a young professional in Council Bluffs ?  As Impact Council Bluffs looks to become a structured organization, they are looking for leaders who want to get more involved in Council Bluffs .  If you know of anyone, please forward their contact information to Jordan Turner at jeturner@up.com. 

ABI Solutions Tour
You are invited!

The lack of effective safety programs costs Iowa companies millions of dollars every year. Managing risk is imperative to reducing losses and controlling costs.

Join the Association of Business and Industry at our 2007 Safety and Risk Management Solutions Tour where you’ll hear from peer Iowa companies on how they have made positive changes in their safety programs, reducing losses and saving their companies money.  In addition, you’ll learn about inexpensive ways to implement safety and risk management programs in your company.  Click on the locations below to register.  It is FREE to attend.  

Dec. 6^th Storm Lake
Dec. 11^th Cedar Rapids
Dec. 12^th  Des Moines

Getting Your Website Off the Ground

A web site will play a critical role in creating interest in your organization and organizing and engaging your members.  When a visitor enters your website you have less than two seconds to connect with them visually and attract them enough that they are willing to commit and stay. 

Here Are Five Things You Need to Do to Get Started:

1. Reserve a domain.  If you do not already have a domain name, find one and reserve it.  Make the domain something that visitors will easily remember and relate to your organization. 
2. Assign someone to write content.  Creating good website content is vital to the success of your site.  When writing copy for your website, you want to be sure that it is captivating and will engage your visitors.  It is important when writing website content to make sure you choose your words carefully, because you want your content to appear readable to your audience.  Using short sentences and simple words can easily help you to achieve this goal by making your website seem friendly and open. 
3. Create Accountability.  Assign someone within your organization with the responsibility of updating your website content on a set schedule.  Having a set person handling the responsibility of updating it will help to ensure that it actually happens.  However, be wary of having someone build the site for you as a freebie project.  People will not maintain the same level of enthusiasm they had in the beginning of the project, and it will generally move to the bottom of their priority list since they are not being paid. 
4. Create an Attractive Design.  Picture yourself driving through a neighborhood that has one-story, ranch style houses lining the street, when you come up on a mansion that is three-stories tall and half-a-block long, you stop and take notice.  You want your website to be that mansion that stands out.  In order to get your audience to stop and notice your website you need to make sure your design is unique and compelling enough to do so.  Before you begin designing your website you need to stop and decide what you want to communicate to visitors when they first enter your site.  Keep an open mind and always remember what the one vision you want visitors to your website to take away with them is.
5. Make Your Website Engaging.  They have come; now give them a reason to stay.  Web users are generally passive when first coming to a website, but it is your job to intrigue them.  They will spend a longer amount of time on your site if they are looking at more information.  Therefore, do not make your website boring.  Grab your visitors’ attention from the very beginning.  Remember, people are visiting your website because they want to learn if your organization is a worthy investment of their time and money; CLOSE THE DEAL!

Ready to get started?  Global Reach has the tools and experience to help you administer your group and manage your website easily and effectively.  We can create a custom website design for you or set you up with one of our templates.  See a reference project we completed for Young Professionals of Ames at www.ypames.com, or contact me, Dale Bentlage , at (515) 288-0224 or e-mail me at dale@globalreach.com.

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