By Gil Zeimer, BNI Embarcadero Member, BNI Ambassador & Freelance Copywriter

We had them at “Wilkommen.”

From the moment Herr Richard Reinholdt started singing “Wilkommen”, the audience of 90 members, visitors, and guests on October 28th was enraptured. One visitor said, “I’m ready to drink the Kool-Aid now!”

Our Visitor’s Day to celebrate BNI Embarcadero’s 13th anniversary was an overwhelming success. Ed Craine, SF Regional Director, praised our efforts. I want to put the spotlight on President Seth Tajbakhsh who did a great job as Master of Ceremonies and recognized our marketing team for a job well done. Multiple BNI members of other chapters were amazed at how entertaining our presentation was.

Only time will tell how many new members we’ll get out of this Visitor Day. But I’m so proud to be part of an organization where each member so freely shared his and her successes over the years during the Testimonials and Referrals part of our meeting. Those word-of-mouth advertising messages were so heartfelt that I couldn’t have written them better myself.

Again, here’s a recap of Seth’s email thanking everyone:

Wow! What a meeting. I want to thank everyone who was involved in organizing the meeting today. Both Gil and I received many compliments from members and visitors today. Special thanks goes to (in no particular order):

* Gil Zeimer who was the mastermind behind this meeting with his lyrics for the songs
* Richard Reinholdt, Dan Joraanstad, and Kathy Olberts for singing and keeping us entertained
* Ezra Palmer-Persen for doing a great job spinning and keeping the energy consistent with background music, even as visitors entered the room at 6:30am!
* Gabriel Gasca for producing a great marketing video
* The Visitor Host team for getting people in, paid and situated smoothly
* Bradley Charbonneau for helping with the Evite, website, and posting the new video to our site on 10/29
* Jenny Appel for coordinating with the restaurant
* Mischa Purcell for providing us with his A/V equipment
* Additional helpers (lots of you guys) for showing up early to help with setup
* Marty Wall for his cartoon on the Evite
* Andy Foster for printing the T-shirts with our new logo on them
* Lauren Deane for designing the signage and handouts
* Kevin Casey – BNI Embarcadero history
* Ed Craine – BNI presentation

I want to salute each of you members for becoming BNI Ambassadors for our chapter’s continued growth and success by giving such great testimonials to entice visitors to join. Gil said he gave out at least eight applications today, so we’ll see who joins in the coming weeks and months.

We are, as advertised, The Best Damn Chapter. Anywhere!

PS: Two applications went to BNI members of a chapter in Marin who now want to transfer to BNI Embarcadero. Others went to guests who had been invited by members of our chapter.

PPS: Ezra Palmer-Persen emailed this: Thanks to you guys for letting me participate. Your chapter is totally great. It was a fabulous event! I can only imagine that all the visitors wanted to join.

This article first appeared in the BNI Embarcadero November Newsletter.