PROGRAM DETAILS

Effective October 1st, 2020

 

MONTHLY SESSIONS:

BDC Workshop

  • Workshop Day: 1st Tuesday of each month, starting 10/6/20
  • Workshop Time: 9:00a-11:00a or 1:00-3:00p (your choice, attend either)
  • Workshop Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86925549438
  • Make sure your BDC Workshop calendar entries are set as recurring for the 1st Tuesday!

Your BDC Peer Advisory Group – “TUE AM”

  • Peer Advisory Group Day: 3rd Tuesday of each month, starting 10/20/20
  • Peer Advisory Group Time: 9:00a-11:00a
  • Peer Advisory Group Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/120765900
  • Make sure your BDC Peer Advisory Group calendar entry is set as recurring for the 3rd Tuesday!

BDC Office Hours (Bonus Q&A with Erin – entirely optional)

  • Office Hours Day: 2nd & 4th Friday of each month, starting 10/9/20 and 10/23/20
  • Office Hours Time: 10:00a-11:00a
  • Office Hours Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/820266514
  • Make sure your BDC Office Hours calendar entry is set as recurring for the 2nd & 4th Friday! (no office hours on Thanksgiving Weekend or Christmas)

 

MEMBER ROSTER:

ATTENDANCE ACCOUNTABILITY AGREEMENT:

About Tardiness:

  • If you’ll be late, notify your group using Group.Me
  • Tardiness will be charged at a rate of $5/minute with a maximum penalty of $50

About Missing a Session:

  • If you’ll be missing a session, notify your group using Group.Me
  • On your 3rd absence (after your two excused absences are used for emergencies or unavoidable conflicts) a fee of $250 will be charged for the missed session
  • Provide a written update to your entire group via email within 24 hours if you miss / are going to miss a session

About Leaving Early:

  • If you need to leave early, notify your group using Group.Me
  • A $50 penalty will be incurred if leaving up to 15 minutes before we officially wrap up (i.e. leaving during issue processing)

Again, these penalties only apply to your 2-hour BDC Peer Advisory Group that’s held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. With the session only 2 hours, please do everything in your power to ensure you show up on time, consistently, and stay the entire session, both for your benefit and for the benefit of your fellow members.

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CORE PROGRAM

New rotation: 

To give you greater choice while also allowing you to go deeper and more valuably with your peer advisory group, we’re reorganizing monthly sessions to the following format:

BDC Workshop, held on the first Tuesday of each month for 2 hours, featuring workshop-related content and connectivity with other BDC members outside your group

BDC Peer Advisory Group, held on the third week of each month for 2 hours and featuring the same support, connection, and knowledge-sharing with your peer advisory group that you know and love…only deeper.

 

BDC Workshop

Where we used to build-in content-specific training to your small group sessions, we’re now breaking this out into its own thing, with more choice and benefits.

More choice: These sessions, held on the first Tuesday of each month, can be attended in either the morning (9:00a-11:00a) or afternoon (1:00-3:00p)…whichever works best for your schedule (OR if neither work, you can access the recording and take yourself through the workshop in your own time). This allows for increased choice for our members in different timezones, and with varied client, work and family commitments.

More exposure: This format also finally gives us a regular platform for the much-requested cross-group exposure. That’s right…you’ll be able to interact and knowledge-share with Black Dress Circle members outside your core group for even more expansive learning and connectivity.

More variety: These workshop sessions will be 2 hours total, with a combination of delivered content / training, roundtable discussion among all attendees, working together in breakout pods, and time for Q&A (almost like an “office hours” – if you have a question, you can bring it to this session). Some months the workshop will be led by me, and other months experts will be delivering the live training.


BDC Peer Advisory Group: 

Since you are getting increased flexibility with BDC Workshop attendance each month by being able to choose your session (morning or afternoon) or even simply watch via recording, we are requiring that at minimum, you fully re-commit to attending your 2-hour peer advisory group session each month, with a maximum of two absences per year to allow for emergencies or unavoidable conflicts.

Peer advisory groups work best when all members are consistently present, attentive, committed, and sharing on a deep level about what’s keeping them up at night rather than on routine matters, and this is a key piece of our culture that is going to be reinstated.

We’re committed to creating a powerful and extraordinarily valuable peer group experience that solves your business issues and develops you into better decision makers and stronger problem solvers—and showing up for the good of yourself, your business, and your fellow group members is the most critical part of making that happen.


Access to EJ: 

Nothing changes with your access to me…you continue to get my knowledge, experience, support, and problem solving help at no cost for “on the fly” issues (up to 30 minutes). Any issues that require more than 30 minutes of private 1:1 assistance will continue to be billed separately from your membership fee.


Leadership Opportunities: 

To support our shift to building better leaders and providing a more member-driven experience, we’re installing two Chairpersons in each group – an Accountability Chair and a Connectivity Chair.

These are leadership positions designed to strengthen you as a leader…two people will work more closely with me and with those in these roles in other groups to raise the bar on the experience of peer-to-peer accountability, dynamic communication, session protocol, and quality social experiences that enhance the overall group cohesion, camaraderie, and value.


The Erin Joy App – Coming soon!: 

I’m SO excited to announce this new offering to my inner circle! This will be your “Mission Control” as well as a place where you’ll get access to regular, flexible, self-directed learning and resources, all easily accessible and organized in one place. In this “one-stop shop” you’ll have things like:

  • Erin “in your pocket”, with on-the fly thoughts and encouragements, app-exclusive content, and standby favorites like Mindset Mondays, all easily accessible and organized in one place
  • Recordings of all BDC Workshops (BDC peer advisory groups will not be recorded)
  • Quick access to worksheets and resources in one central location
  • Event listings ranging from free to paid to client-only
  • Free VIP access to future paid content including mini-courses
  • All your BDC Peer Advisory Group details (day, time, zoom link, etc.)
  • Access to contact info for all our active clients and members
  • Featured “Members Spotlight” for BDC members only: There has always been a fine line to tread between creating a supportive space to help develop your business, and helping you promote your business. To support getting your name out there, all BDC members will be listed in our app as “Featured Members” so you and your business can get more exposure and connectivity in the Black Dress Circle Community, including with app users who are not yet in a peer advisory group. As always, please remember that while you’re welcome to do business with Black Dress Circle members in other groups, we prohibit doing business with members in your group.
  • And more to come!

CONNECTIVITY

Community has always been a really core part of what this membership is all about, and as I’ve already mentioned, we have several initiatives to increase connectivity and enhance the peer learning experience.

Connectivity Chair: With the help of our new Connectivity Chairs, we’ll be holding regular meetups (both in-person / socially distanced and virtual) as designed by each group’s Connectivity Chair.

Group Chat:With the help of our new Connectivity Chairs, we’ll be having quality conversations with your peer advisory group in between your group sessions, using the group chat platform Group.Me. Eventually we’ll also be implementing topic-specific threads among all interested Black Dress Circle members (you can opt-in to the topics that interest you), such as marketing, human resources/employee management, operations, mindset, entrepreneurial self-care, and more.

Sharing:BDC is the place where you can talk with peers who truly understand what you’re actually facing. I want to re-emphasize once again that we’re creating the conditions to share on an even deeper level than we have been…so discussion will be less about routine matters, and more about the significant experiences you’re having and challenges you’re facing, what you think and feel about them, and how you’re handling them.

Show Us Your Face: To further support and enhance emotional intimacy, which is one of the cornerstones of an effective peer group, starting in September we are requiring cameras on during your BDC Peer Advisory Group session. To ensure confidentiality and connectivity, we’re asking that you always take this session in one private, stationary location.

Update Us: We’ll be doing deeper member updates that are less “routine” driven and more “keeping-you-up-at-night” driven, with a hard stop at 3 minutes. We’ll be emailing you reminders with the update drill attached…starting in September, we’re asking you to thoughtfully and thoroughly complete your update drill worksheet prior to the session.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Of all of these improvements, the one that’s really going to move the needle in terms of shifting the culture and therefore the value is member-driven accountability, which is a critical cornerstone to delivering the magic of a peer advisory group. Because of the commitment you have made to your fellow members, we want to be sure you show up and share yourself.

Accountability Chair: With the help of our new Accountability Chairs, attendance and punctuality expectations will be managed and enforced in line with previously-set group agreements.

Member-Driven Accountability: As part of our shift to member-driven accountability, your peer advisory group will together be outlining and agreeing to the following expectations:

  • Expectations are that members will appear on time and commit to attending all peer advisory group sessions, with a maximum of two absences per year to allow for emergencies.
  • Each group will create your own penalties for tardy arrival and missed sessions, with this discussion process beginning in September and the new accountability measures being implemented in October.
  • These measures will then be enforced and managed by the Accountability Chair.
  • As part of this more member-driven culture, when a member determines she absolutely has to miss a session, she informs YOU and the rest of the group, rather than me.

Optional Accountability Pods: By popular demand, these pods of 3+ people will be available for all group members and managed by the Accountability Chair and the Connectivity Chair for your group. You will keep in touch with your pod pals on a regular basis to keep each other on track with moral support and encouragements (there’s nothing like having others “see” you and believe in you to keep you taking action). These pods will be implemented by late October, and you’ll receive an email asking if you’d like to take part.

Parking Lot: We’ll be keeping notes of “parking lot” topics for updates the following month to drive up accountability between sessions on the items you said you were going to impact.