Event Blog

Almost 150 of San Diego’s business and community leaders gathered on the manufacturing floor of D&K Engineering’s office building http://www.dkengineering.com to escape the August heat and enjoy each others company for The WORLD TRADE CENTER San Diego’s WTCSD Membership Mixer.  Attendees enjoyed delicious food and drinks while listening to an informative presentation by D&K Engineering’s President, Alex Kunczynski, followed by a member appreciation gift raffle directed by Andy Kotner of WTCSD.  Lucky raffle winners walked away with prizes ranging from a Zune MP3 Player to overnight stays at the Bristol Hotel and the Sheraton Mission Valley to a Callaway Golf putter and other goodies. 

Gifts for the raffle were generously donated by the following companies:

Aztec Sports Properties
Balti Group Consulting
CBIZ/MHM
Callaway Golf
ChefWorks, Inc.
Cloud 9 SuperShuttle
Cyrano Designs
Global Mailing & Printing Equipment
Heat Factory
HSBC Bank
iChanneX
Julia Knoke
Northwestern Mutual Financial Network
Novus Commercial Finance
Panalpina, Inc.
Rosaline Jewelry (Dandelion Global)
Sheraton Mission Valley Hotel
Singapore Airlines
Solterra Bulbs
Stand Out International
The Bristol Hotel
WorldTrans, Inc.

Both WTCSD team members and all attendees thoroughly enjoyed the evening and look forward to the next membership mixer which will be announced soon.

To view more pictures please visit our new Facebook page!

By Allan J Crane

   
Alex Kunczynski, President,             Bruce Pinkston, Chief Administrative
D&K Engineering                             Officer, D&K Engineering  

   
Diane Law, D&K Engineering            Julia Knoke, Heat Factory
and Andy Kotner, WTCSD

   
Nancy Nicholson greets                   Andy Kotner and Dina Lieber,
WTCSD Member Joe Childrey          Novus Commercial Finance
& Al Davis

   
Buffet                                              Audrey Veitas; Nadia Pandes, COMMIT
                                                      and Michael Aguilar 

   
Andy Kotner; Chuck Saathoff,           Robert Tweed, Panalpina and Andy Kotner
WorldTrans Services; Paul Davis
& Tom Scrivner, Computing Insights

WTCSD Guests on the Factory
Floor of D&K Engineering

Set in one of San Diego’s most scenic areas, WTCSD Board Members feasted on fresh paella and sangria. Everyone enjoyed a perfect summer night at Bella Heule's beautiful La Mesa home thanks to Mike Bautch of FedEx who generously sponsored the party. Paella dishes, originating from an old family recipe from Spain, were prepared in front of the guests while they sipped on Spanish nectar and had an opportunity to get to know each other better. The local Spanish architecture was in keeping with the background music and the matching red-yellow outdoor setting with tiki torches. For a few hours the host had us believing we were on vacation in Southwestern Europe. ¡olé!

See for yourself! The photos tell the story best.

By Franziska Poppe

   
   
   
   

8/5/2010 – I recently attended our latest Cross Cultural Business Communications (CCBC) workshop, “Arab World,” featuring Dr. Shak Hanish a political science professor at National University. From his one-and-a-half hour presentation I learned more about the cultural nuances of Arabic Countries than I could have imagined.

As you already know, our American culture is very different from Arabic culture. That means that the business you do with Arabic businesses will also be very different from the way you do business with U.S. businesses.

I’ve listed 10 cultural specifics about the Arabic way of life that just may come in handy when trying to close the deal in the Arab World.

Well, there you have it, 10 facts that you need to know when doing business within the Arab World. Of course, these are only a few of the cultural specifics I’ve collected from this workshop and telling you all of them would make this blog into an encyclopedia. But if your thirst for foreign culture and foreign business etiquette is not satisfied, I guess you’ll just have to come to our next CCBC workshop, “Germany!”

See you then! 

-Min

July 22, 2010 – The latest session of the Asia Desk Business Series, “China Opportunities and Trends in 2010 and Beyond,” featured James Zimmerman, a leading business lawyer in Chinese Law, who discussed key points for establishing a business in China.

Do you know what to consider and how much time you will need to invest before you can truly start your business in China?

Mr. Zimmerman certainly had many answers for us and generously shared his knowledge about new Chinese laws, regulations and policies. 40+ attended the 1.5-hour session followed by Q&A. While listening to the speaker’s advice and experiences, the seminar attendees enjoyed a luncheon at the WTCSD facilities before heading back to work.

By Franziska Poppe

The first Annual Ignite Exports Conference hosted by the WORLD TRADE CENTER San Diego and co-chaired by Chuck Saathoff, WorldTrans Services, Inc, and Neil Lenok, The World Academy, brought together industry experts at the Estancia Hotel in La Jolla. The lively symposium on international trade and export was ignited by Hugh Constant. The Executive Vice President of the WTCSD cordially welcomed the conference attendees before introducing the sponsors as well as conference speakers.

Title Sponsors: County of San Diego, Port of San Diego

Gold Sponsor: FedEx

Silver Sponsor: SDSU (CIBER)

Bronze Sponsors: The World Academy, WorldTrans Services, SDBJ

Ignite Your Network Mixer Sponsor: CMTC

Listing of Speaker Bios

Topics by Industry Experts Included:

National Export Initiative

Developing a Strategic Export Approach

Identifying New Markets

Assessing New Markets

Making More Astute Market Entry Decisions

Identifying Pros and Cons, Competition, Proximity Issues and Barriers

Market Entry Options – Tradeshows, Branding, etc.

Cross Cultural Selling Issues

Utilizing Commercial and Government Resources

Consultative Selling Techniques/Identifying Agents/Distributors

Creating Competitive Advantages Through Export Credit

Sales, Operations & Finance Working Together

Addressing Corruption Issues in Export Sales

How Landed Cost Affects Competitive Pricing

Freight, Taxes, Duty, Demurrage, Bonded Warehouses

Legal Aspects of European Partnership Agreements

WESRAC Grant Opportunity

Building a Powerful Export Network

Rudiments of Export Control & Corruption Requirements

Success Stories

The conference concluded with an active Q&A session allowing guests to profit from the subject matter expertise of all speakers.

Attendees enjoyed themselves at the Ignite Your Network Mixer while mingling and sampling hors d’oeuvres and beverages. The evening was highlighted by the presentation of the Bill Ivans Award.

By Franziska Poppe

Over 100 leading business professionals from local industries gathered at the beautiful home of Jenna King and Rob Albert to network and enjoy a sunny day out by their pool in Olivenhain. The event was hosted by Rob Albert, President of Evergreen Research, a San Diego based company that manufactures insect repellant products that are environmentally safe, non-toxic, and exceptionally effective. www.ermproducts.com The guests enjoyed delicious Brandt Beef’s “baby beef Wellingtons”, BBQ ribs, and beef loin sliders -- just to name a few of the extraordinary treats. One of the evening’s highlights was the entertaining gift raffle directed by Andy Kotner, Director of Business Development, to show appreciation for WTCSD members.

Gifts for the raffle were generously donated by the following Members:

Evergreen Research
ITW Space Bag
Callaway Golf
The University Club atop Symphony Towers
EXECTEAM
The Bristol Hotel
Sheraton Mission Valley Hotel
Wateridge Insurance Services (Carol Corporales)
Panalpina
Correduria Publica No. 23
Cloud 9 SuperShuttle

   
Jenna King, Zimmer Dental and         Registration
Rob Albert, Evergreen Research

   
Michael Burton, ITW Space Bag;      Chuck Saathoff, WorldTrans Services
Denise Borland and Lucy Gomez,     and Ron Popham, Port of San Diego
Sheraton Mission Valley Hotel

   
Reb Risty, WTCSD and                    Martha Caille, Zimmer Dental;
Rob Albert, Evergreen Research        Kurt Bueche,

                                                      Hugh Constant, WTCSD 

   
Mike Doerr, Air2Air Corp;                  Nancy Nicholson, WTCSD (IRO)
Andy Kotner, WTCSD;                     and Tracey Pelletier, ODP
Kurt Bueche and Rob Albert,
Evergreen Research

By Courtney Schlisserman

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Orders for durable goods rose in April for the fourth time in five months, pointing to strength in U.S. manufacturing at the start of the second quarter.

The 2.9 percent increase in bookings for goods meant to last at least three years was the biggest in three months and followed little change in March, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. Orders excluding transportation unexpectedly fell coming off a revised March gain that was the biggest in almost five years.

Click to read the full article

The WTC San Diego was very excited that the new WTC Lima (Peru) CEO, Victor Visval, visited our center to learn about our operations, strategic planning process, trade services, events, membership and internship programs. Victor spent two full days with every WTCSD team member, presented to the WTCSD board on his vision and mission for his new WTC, and also visited the Port of San Diego to learn about their operations.

We were delighted by his visit which was suggested to him by the World Trade Centers Association headquarters. When he asked them which WTC was the best to visit for best practices in trade services in the USA, they said “The WTC San Diego, of course”! How cool is that?

We wish Victor great success in his new endeavor and look forward to visiting the WTC Lima when it becomes the BEST WTC in Latin America!

By Franziska Poppe

Participants enjoyed a full day at the World Expo held in Shanghai. 

World Trade Center Association Pavilion hosts San Diego

Making friend with World Expo attendees

China Pavilion car of the future that will create fuel by photosythesis

To view more photos...

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