If you haven't been up there recently, IMC’s new website rolled out late last year, and it has continued to receive rave reviews. We have completed the initial testing, have improved the marketing copy, and are fully functioning with great new features over the old site.

Let me tell you about some of the great things that we've seen and incorporated into the site.

· First, the IMC USA website continues to be ranked in the top five sites for management consulting / consultants by Google.

· Second, the new website is highly interactive and provides a community for our consultants through communities of practice, improved profiles, and a host of other features through use of Web 2.0 technologies.

· Third, member profiles have been expanded significantly. In addition to having their information searchable by potential clients, members can have individual blogs, upload photos and videos, participate in communities of practice, and other great features.

· Fourth, chapter websites are nested under the IMC website – there are pages already created which can be customized (see Pacific Northwest’s for a great example). There are a lot of advantages for this – it raises chapter website Google ranking, reduces or eliminates chapter costs for maintaining their own website, and with its calendaring and e-commerce functionality, allows registration for chapter events and eliminates most fees for event registration.

· Fifth, Knowledge Resources. This will include back issues of C2M, sample documents, and other things of interest / help to members. I expect that to be up and running within 2 months.

· Last, the "Find a Consultant" functionality has been greatly improved. In fact, as a result of the increased publicity IMC has been getting in the news, we have received an increased number of requests for consultants – since the beginning of April, we have received at least 10 requests, and many of these have specifically requested a CMC.

To be sure to take advantage of the Find a Consultant opportunities, be sure to both register to receive e-mails for the Find a Consultant portion of the website, and have an updated profile.

Here’s why. Many of the Find a Consultant requests are coming directly through the National Office via phone call, and Greg Maciog searches through member profiles to find a potential match for the client. If your profile has not been updated, you may miss out on that perfect opportunity.

Speaking of Mark, my thanks to him and his team which include Ben Griner (PNW), Steve Lipka (NE), Richard Longview (HOU), Chris Lambrecht (GA), and Greg Maciog (National Office) for their great work on the website – it is greatly appreciated.