The gloomy, dreary, cold, icy conditions in the morning adversely impacted our first Café Montmartre event in 2011 which had a less than average turnout.  I think many folks worked from home due to the bad weather and so when 4 or 5 pm rolled around, it was more difficult to get ready for an event, than to stay at home in the warm!  Still, we did have a solid 30+ attend, the “dependable”, folks such as Donna, Art, Brian, Dean, Nanci, Jeff, John, Avery and several more who committed to be there.  Plus some newbies too referred to by Madhu (2 first timers – well done), Marco Erazo, Fred Harrison’s NortonNet and Janet Carlton.  Thank you all for inviting others.  We had many topics of conversation during the evening.  The value of BNI and the return on investment after a year; the Greek Orthodox Church in Ashburn holding its 3rd Annual fundraiser (1/28 to 1/30) and one of our members wife is preparing fantastic Greek food (and it is free); connecting a newbie drummer with Spellbound; John Hinkle and his Fox TV Channel 5 15 minutes of fame, plus another member’s singing in a quartet band.  For 30 people or so we had a lot of noise, making the Spotlight Spot interruption difficult to grab everyone’s attention.  Checkout the photos http://www.it4dc.com/it4dc.php?page=pics.php on the website & see what a fabulous time we had as well as the many "newbies" who attended. Additional thanks to Alyson the bartender who served us well and the Café Montmartre’s management team for their hospitality & the wonderful hot appetizers (quiche, chicken, ham & cheese petite sandwiches etc) provided to us.  Our next event will be back at Da Domenico’s, Tyson’s Corner, VA on Tuesday, February 8th. If there is one event you should show up at, this is the one!  We will have 80+ attendees, so please invite folks who you believe will benefit and enjoy our group so we can continue to drive a big turnout at Tyson’s at our new home and begin 2011 in style, making this year even more successful than 2010! Thank you all for your continued support.

Dip Chandra