They say you can't judge a book by it's cover. We say you can know an organization by those who cover it with excellence. Volunteers are not cheap labor, they are the emotional tone of your enterprise and the heartbeat that circulates enthusiasm and passion. Today one of our best volunteers graced my home after spending two-hours editing our expat expo guide. Her name is Edith and I better use spell check and pay attention to my punctuation in this post. (sic)
Edith is a globally minded Lyonnaise. Many think that Lyon is cold and remote. I say they have not meet Edith, or others like her. She is very French in her passion for aesthetic perfection in words. I love this about her.
Her name is very English, From the Anglo-Saxon eád-gyth, with 'eád' meaning 'good, prosperity, fortune, inheritance' and 'gyth' meaning 'battle' or 'strife'. Another possible meaning is 'warrior for the good'. Eadgyth was the name of the daughter of King Edgar (see Edgar). She is considered by some to be a saint.
She is our official translator and editor, a saint of words, merci!
The LYON à la CARTE team presented the 2009 event at the Chambre de Commerce Pl de la Bourse
Lyon sur le point de devenir la ville française la plus ouverte aux Expats The International Expat Expo
Plus de 1000 expatriés sont attendus au salon Lyon à la carte, samedi 17.10.09 - Hilton Cité Internationale
Lyon ne cesse de s’ouvrir à l’international et se classe comme l'une des premières régions en France, attirant 50 000 entreprises et familles internationales dans le Grand Lyon.
Lyon à la Carte® s’est associée à Only Lyon et plusieurs partenaires afin de fournir aux expatriés, nouveaux ou établis, des informations, services et opportunités de contacts pour faciliter leur intégration dans leur vie active et leur nouveau cadre de vie.
Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter mardi 22 septembre 2009 à une conférence de presse pour rencontrer 5 personnalités de 5 continents (Asie, Afrique, Australie, Amérique et Europe) qui vous raconteront brièvement pourquoi ils ont choisi Lyon pour vivre et travailler.
Ils seront entourés par Monsieur Gérard Herrbach, Secrétaire Général du Corps Consulaire de Lyon et par Monsieur Jacques de CHILLY, Directeur Exécutif de l’Aderly.
Writing and organizing as there is plenty to do to prepare for the upcoming international expat expo on Saturday 17 October at the Hilton Cité internationale. Getting the word out is the most important and the original founder of LYON à la CARTE, Brenda, left us a pretty damn good outline of the key publicity benchmarks. She's an Ogilvy & Mather alumni and the current team is loaded with diverse talent.
We've got a new LYON à la CARTE friend, Carol, from Basic French, an awesome lady with a big heart, eye for style and design, and a good business sense. She has been a rock of support and invigorating ideas! A classy woman and a class act with two fabulous daughters and dogs Daisey and Clementine!
Which brings me to our international volunteer coordinators who have worked and lived on all 5 continents. In the USA we say 6 continents as North and South America to our way of global thinking are two separate continents. I'll profile them soon as the spirit of the event is expats networking and sharing not only their information, services and organizations, but their personal stories and friendship.
Settling in is not only unpacking boxes and figuring out how stuff gets done in your new place, but making human connections, because as corny as it sounds, Barbra Streisand's signature song is dead on right, People need people! I wonder if we can get her to come to Lyon!?
The publicity materials (flyers, posters, VIP invitations and expo director book) have been designed by éxeco. I like the color and energy in the design with the various symbols of relocation and cultural adaptation. It looks fun and lively like our event.
This year our expo focus is on delivering the information people asked for after last year's expat expo debut. They asked for not only info for the newcomer, but also for the extended stay expat.
The expo will occupy all of the Hilton this year on two levels. We will devote three rooms on the 2nd level of the Hilton to workshops about banking, driving, urban mobility, tourism, regional food-wine paring, the international bac and expert legal advice from two of the best law firms in Lyon, Deloitte Taj and FIDAL. Online registration will be important to secure your place in the workshop of your choice. It will be operational in a few days.
Now I'll kick back and have a little taste of Lyon on what is going to be a lovely night.
Today we had an important meeting with lawyers about intellectual capital. In this day and age of global think with a click, it was a meeting of real interest, not so much to prevent sharing, but in doing it responsibly as we all give and take from each other in this life.
There is nothing new under the sun, so how much of what you think up is original, really original?
The business world use to think of capital as the value of what a company is worth monetarily. When Thomas A. Stewart published his book: Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations, thinking changed to consider value in what is normally hidden within an individual and an organization. His more recent book, The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organization, is fascinating, practical and another eye-opener to all the value an individual and an organization has stored within them.
One of the hidden and intangible assets for creating value is your intellectual capital: your knowledge, strategy, service, brand name, copyrights, customers, or followers if you blog or tweet.
The old adage "knowledge is power" is essentially true. Each has the power to think and to do. Each facing the unseen hopefully guided by a set of principles. To create an enduring legacy one must think twice and become aware and not rely on habit.
The experts say that capital, labor and raw materials are no longer the key resources. What's in your mind and your social network are essential. And how the information flows, is organized and is set in motion throughout what you do as an individual and as an organization is capital.
LYON à la CARTE is a place for the international expatriate community to network. It was created last year by five expatriates who knew firsthand the challenges of living, working and feeling at home in a new place far from their country of origin.
We began last year with an international expat expo and it was a big success. More than 800 adults from 47 different countries attended.
We listened to out visitors, exhibitors and sponsors and have created more workshops about practical life for the newcomer and some things for the the more long-term expat. It is not just about expatriates, but French repatriates. In fact, re-adjusting to your native land is more difficult than adjusting as a newcomer and it takes more time. We have a simple goal, to bring people together...
One of our big surprises this year, even in these tricky economic times our event sold out before July and sponsors returned and new ones came on board. We are thankful and encouraged because it is a LOT of work.
This year our really big project is creating our new dynamic interactive website. Our current one is a static brochure of the expat expo. Our new one will be very practical, useful, fun, and a platform to connect the international community.
People who write for us may already have their own blogs. One of my favorite Lyon blogs is C'est la vie by Kari Masson. As of today we have 11 writers from Lyon who have come from every continent on the globe to live in this charming and sometimes frustrating city. There's no place like home, but then again no matter where you live ya take the bitter with the sweet.
We are a group of international expatriates from every continent who are living in Lyon. Our goal is simple; to share information, services and social networks so that Lyon feels like home.
