One of the most effective ways to get the most of your certification is to attend the national WIB 2006 Conference in Miami Beach on June 26 - 29. 

This month it is our great pleasure to present an exclusive interview with the President of WBENC, Susan Bari who will provide insight on how to make the most of the Conference.

Susan Phillips Bari, President of WBENC, is our special guest and joins us to share some important information about the 2006 Women in Business: Sharing the Vision Conference and Business Fair which will take place in Miami, Florida June 26th through the 29th.

Hello Susan, what can you tell us about the conference?

Thank you, Nancy, for giving us the opportunity to spread the word about our wonderful conference, Women in Business 2006: Sharing theVision - From Contacts to Contracts.

This year's Conference is going to be even more exciting than last year's. At the end of each conference we try to understand how we can make it better for the next year. How can we raise the bar and make it even more exciting for people to come? And as you promised, Nancy, South Beach, Florida, is a fabulous location for a conference.

And this year the Conference is being expanded from three days to four days. On Monday, the first day of the Conference, we are dedicating the entire day to Women's Business Enterprises. It is our first annual National Forum meeting and it is an opportunity for existing Forum members and women business owners from around the country who would just like to learn a little bit more about becoming more engaged and more involved. It is an opportunity for them to meet one another to hear fabulous speakers, to participate in exquisite training, absolutely wonderful training, and then cap the day off with business-to-business networking at the fabulous Casa Casarina.

Q. Who will be attending the conference and what can they expect to accomplish?

The Conference is absolutely the largest and most effective conference in the country for both women business owners looking to do business with Corporate America, and those corporate representatives involved in supplier diversity, procurement and supply chain management.

This is where the contacts happen that lead to contracts all year long!

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the most pressing issues that are facing WBEs today?

One of the two most important issues facing WBEs today is the compression of the supply chain where fewer opportunities are available for prime contracts with women owned businesses. So the Conference and the contacts that you make through WBENC are a wonderful opportunity not only to meet a corporation that may have been your prime contractor or your target prime in the past, but today who can also introduce you to their suppliers who are looking for women own businesses to meet their own supplier diversity goals.

It is just a great opportunity to meet everyone you need to know and everyone you have been trying to meet all year long. This is where you need to bring your business. You don't leave your business behind you. This is the most effective, efficient way to make the contacts you need to keep your business successful.

The other major business issue facing women business owners today is outsourcing and the globalization of the supply chain. Once again we're going to be focusing on this at the Conference with a workshop on globalization as well as workshops on supply chain management, marketing and other issues that can help you grow your company.

Q. You told us about day one of the Conference. Can you give us some information about the other days?

Certainly. On the second day we have an Executive Women's Roundtable where we will meet with the senior women in five of our largest corporate supporters who will talk about the challenges that they have faced in their careers to achieve the success that they have in Corporate America, and to make the sort of analogies between their challenges and those faced by women heading up growing women-owned companies.

That is followed by a Plenary Session that is a view from the top. It's the way that senior executives from Corporate America see the landscape over the next couple of years for procurement opportunities.

That evening we have a networking reception and silent auction where you have the opportunity to bid on having power meetings with some of the most influential supplier diversity executives, chief procurement officers, and leaders in the corporate supplier diversity arena.

The next day is the very exciting Business Fair. We expect to have more than 300 exhibiting companies at the Miami Beach Convention Center . That day is also interspersed with meals that feature keynote speakers like Patricia Harrison, President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Janice Bryant Hulroy (SPELLING?), the CEO of Act One, and a reception at Bongo's, the restaurant in Miami owned by Gloria Estefan.

And Thursday, we have workshops as I mentioned earlier. Keynoting that day is Edie Weiner, a highly noted futurist and author. There will be special sessions in the afternoon and then a Tribute to Partners Reception closing out the Conference in the evening.

All in all, it's going to be very, very exciting, with lots of opportunities to meet people, lots of opportunity to market your business and lots of opportunities to learn more about how to grow your company.

Q. Susan, thank you so much for all this information. I can speak for all of WBENC when I say, "See you in Miami Beach " on June 26th.  If you need more information about the Conference, please visit the WBENC website at www.wbenc.org . Click on the bottom right, on the Contacts to Contracts logo. You will find information on how to register as an attendee, how you can become an exhibitor, or how you can sponsor the conference, and much more.