MY LINKEDIN GROUPS: As of February 2010 I run 6 LinkedIn groups. Since space limitations within my LI Profile prevent me from offering full descriptions, I decided to set up a page on my Web site to offer some additional information about each of my groups. And if any of them interest you - feel free to join in the fun by clicking on the appropriate links. Enjoy!:

A TASTE OF MONTREAL IN TORONTO: This was the first group I set up on LI, and is designed to serve as a networking forum for the thousands of former Montrealers now living in Toronto and surrounding regions of Southern Ontario. It's a fun way to work together, share some Montreal memories, renew old friendships and maybe even make some new ones. To learn more about us (especially if you are a former Montrealer now living in southern Ontario), I invite you to visit the following link:

A Taste of Montreal in Toronto | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

THE EQAO ONTARIO SECONDARY SCHOOLS LITERACY TEST GROUP: I started this one shortly after the completion of the April 2009 session at the Toronto Congress Centre. As noted elsewhere on my Web site, I first served as an Examination Scorer during the spring of 2002, and has done this every year since then (except for 2007, when he had another employment commitment which prevented him from attending). But I am just one of thousands of people have served as Scorers since 2002 - many of whom have done this work year after year. As one might expect, lots of friendships are made between the Scorers - but in many cases the only time we see each other during the year is at the sessions themselves. This group is primarily designed as one of many ways for Scorers and others who been involved with the sessions (such as group leaders) to help keep in touch with each other during the rest of the year. So that's why I thought it might be fun to create a LinkedIn group to facilitate these contacts. If you want to learn more, or even join us if you have been among the gang at the Congress Centre every spring, have a look at:

EQAO OSSLT Group | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

FRIENDS OF THE CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE (CFL): I am now in my early 50's (OK - I admit my age - nothing wrong there, right?), and ever since I can remember I have been a passionate fan of Canadian football. And like many football fans I especially enjoy following the Canadian Football League. From time to time, I would search LI to see if anyone had started a group catering to fans of the CFL, with no luck. So I finally decided that if I couldn't find such a group, I would start one, and over time invite other fans across the country to join in the fun. That happened in June 2009, just in time for the start of another football season that will culminate in November with the league's championship game, the Grey Cup. In setting up this group, let me also point out that I am really more a fan of the league than of any one city or franchise. That's I have connections to each of the 9 "traditional" CFL cities. I was born in Ottawa, grew up in a suburb of Montreal (St. Lambert), and before moving to Hamilton in 2002 I lived in Mississauga (just west of Toronto). So that covers the 4 eastern teams. But wait - there's more. Thanks to having relatives and friends across Canada, I have also visited all 5 of the western cities that make up the league. With that background, I feel that I am more than qualified to start just such a LinkedIn group. If you're a fan of Canadian football, and in particular, the Canadian Football League, I hope you will join us. To "kick off" your experiences, and especially if you want to join in the fun, please visit the following link:

Friends of the CFL | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

TIGERTOWN - HEAR THE ROAR!!: As noted in the previous entry, I am a passionate CFL fan. And since at one time or another I have either lived in or visited all 9 of the "traditional" CFL cities, I am really more a fan of the league than any one team in particular. Since 2002 I have lived in Hamilton, the home of the Hamilton Tiger Cats. One thing I learned almost immediately is that people in this town absolutely love their Tiger Cats. From the opening of training camp in late May or early June to the final whistle of the Grey Cup in November, Hamilton turns "black and gold". In fact, some might argue that people cheer for the Cats year-round, and that there are 2 seasons of the year in Hamilton: football season, and "getting ready for football" season. So this is the second of the "football" groups I started in June 2009, in this case because I couldn't find a Tiger Cats networking group on LinkedIn. So how about it, folks? Do you bleed "black and gold"? Are the Tiger-Cats part of your DNA? You don't have to live here in Hamilton to cheer for the team If you share this passion, no matter where you live across Canada and beyond, you can hear the roar of Tigertown by visiting:

Tigertown - Hear the Roar!! | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

THE OTTAWA ROUGH RIDERS - CANADIAN FOOTBALL THAT'S A CAPITAL EXPERIENCE: This is the third group that I started in June 2009 to help LI members who enjoy Canadian football have some fun and network with other fans across the country. I noted earlier that I was born in Ottawa. And it may surprise you to learn that even though I grew up in a suburb of Montreal, and have always been proud of my Quebecois heritage, I actually cheered for the Rough Riders during my formative years. OK,I suppose I should 'fess up and explain that it wasn't as hard as you might think for two main reasons. First, since I was born in the mid 1950's, my childhood and teenaged years coincided with the 1960's and 70's. A time when the Riders had some great teams led by players such as Ron Stewart, Bo Scott, Moe Racine, Margene Adkins, Whit Tucker and of course the legendary quarterback Russ Jackson. Through the 1960's, the Riders were guided by one of the best coaches in Canadian football history, Frank Clair. After they retired, players such as Condredge Holloway, Tom Clements and Tony Gabriel came to town and continued the winning Rider tradition, coached by former player George Brancato.

The other main reason, sad to say, was because of Montreal's CFL team, the Alouettes, In many ways the 1960's were very kind to my hometown. A gleaming new subway system (the Metro) opened in October 1966, just in time to transport millions of visitors to the jewel in the crown, Expo 67, the grand world exposition designed to help celebrate Canada's centennial. The St. Lawrence Seaway helped turn the city into a global seaport. The city's hockey team, Les Canadiens, won the Stanley Cup nearly every season. But somehow the Alouettes got left behind, and in fact had some terrible years in the 1960's. In summation, cheering for my native city's team (Ottawa) was much easier than my hometown (Montreal)! So in honour of the great Ottawa football tradition that indeed lasted from 1876 until the team folded in 1996, here's a LinkedIn group for Rider fans everywhere. In addition to the proud supporters of the fabled "red and black" football warriors - we also welcome those of you who cheered for the Renegades (the successor team to the Riders that played in Ottawa from 2002 to 2006), as well as those who are working to bring the Riders back to Ottawa as part of a proposed new CFL team for the Capital. No matter the reason, you can score the winning touchdown at:

The Ottawa Rough Riders - Canadian Football That's A Capital Experience | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

THE HAMILTON BULLDOGS - FANTASTIC!: If you read my earlier note introducing my LinkedIn group for the team, the Hamilton Tiger Cats are part of the fabric of Canada's Steeltown. People in this town really do bleed "black and gold", especially during the football season when the fans gather at Ivor Wynne Stadium to cheer on their heroes. But if you think the Cats are the only sports team in town, think again. From October to April (and even further into the spring if the team is in the playoffs!), many Hamilton sports fans also bleed "red, white, and blue". Or maybe I should say "bleu, blanc, rouge". That's because Hamilton is also home to the Bulldogs - a professional hockey team that plays in the American Hockey League, and serves as the primary farm team for the Montreal Canadiens. So this LinkedIn group is aimed at Bulldog fans. Not just those like me who live in Hamilton, but anywhere. If you want to put the puck in the net and score the winning goal, take a look at:

Bulldogs - FANtastic | Visit WWW.GREGCBROWN.COM | My LinkedIn Invitations policy |Greg's Mega Marketplace - Online Shopping At Its Best!!

A BRIEF DISCLAIMER STATEMENT: Please note that all information on this page is accurate as of July 2009, and may be subject to change without notice at any time. Please note that with each of these groups I waived the right to approve invitations, if only because it's easier to administer. But in exchange I do ask that you only join one of these groups if you are genuinely interested in them. In the case of the "Taste of Montreal in Toronto", I would ask that you only join us if you really are a former Montrealer who lives in southern Ontario. To those who wish to join the EQAO group, as a condition of membership, I ask that you please abide by the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreeement that all Scorers are asked to agree to each year as a condtion of employment.

In the case of the 4 "sports" groups, each of them has been set up as an online meeting place for fans of the league and/or sports teams represented, but without the prior knowledge and consent of the organizations in question. Instead, I have designed these groups for the enjoyment of all who choose to join them. I do not have any business or professional association with any of these organizations.

The contents and opinions expressed within any of these groups are those of the individual making them, and do not necessarily represent those of yours truly, LinkedIn or any of the organizations, sports teams or leagues represented therein.

Any images used here or on any of my LinkedIn group pages have been used in accordance with non-commercial copyright laws as noted online and as I understand them. If anyone representing EQAO, the CFL, the Hamilton Bulldogs, Tiger Cats or the Ottawa Rough Riders believe that I am in violation of said laws by using these images, my apologies, and I ask that these organizations supply alternate images to be used which have their approval.

MY LINKEDIN INVITATIONS POLICY: I realize that many of you reading this page are not part of my LinkedIn network, which as of June 2010 numbers about 1700 people. If you wish to invite me to join your network, please read the following brief statement before sending me an invitation. If you follow these simple requests, you will improve your chances of my accepting your invitation:

Please do not send me the "generic" invitations that so many people use on LI. You know the ones. They say things like "I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn". Or "Since you are a person I trust...". While I understand that the LinkedIn designers probably put those in the system to help simplify the invitation process, I really dislike them. To me, sending that kind of invitation shows me you really don't care much about me, or that you don't take this seriously. So please don't waste my time and yours by doing that.

Instead, personalize the invitation. At HAPPEN, we always tell our members that when you are unemployed, your professional expertise doesn't matter. You may be an engineer, a finance person or a computer programmer. But when you are unemployed, you're now in sales and marketing. You have to "sell" yourself to a prospective employer. It's the same thing here. If you are inviting me, I want you to "sell" yourself to me. As part of your invitation, tell me about yourself, and why you want me to be part of your LI network. How do you think I can help you, and what benefits are there for you if I join your network. Next, let's try the "flip side". How can you help me gain maximum benefit from this relationship. What the benefits for me if I accept your invitation?

In summation, this is just like any other relationship. You get out of something what you put into it. I just mentioned what we teach our HAPPEN members about the importance of "selling" yourself, which then leads into the whole concept of "personal branding". That's only one example. Here's a second example for those of you reading this who are married or have a similar "arrangement" with that special someone in your life. I'll bet that when you were dating, you both wanted to make each other feel special. Like they were the most important person in your life. And it works the same with any other relationship, even if it's just a friendship, a business relationship or similar thing. Show the other person you care and that you want them to be a part of your life. If you can make all that clear to me as part of your LI invitation, there's a pretty good chance that I will accept it.

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO INVITE ME TO JOIN YOUR LI NETWORK? I suggest you access my Profile, and then use the "Add Greg to Your Network" prompt on the right hand side of the page. This will allow you to customize your invitation as I suggest.

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE "LION" CONCEPT: There's one more element of my invitations policy that I would like to share with all of you before we close this off. One of the most hotly debated issues on LinkedIn is the "LION" concept. As in "LinkedIn Open Networking". It's something that I have some real issues with. I know that many people on LI promote themselves as "LIONS", and ask for invitations. They encourage and promote it. They tell us that they will accept all invitations with no questions asked. While I fully respect those who practice the "LION" concept, I am not one of them.

My primary reason for this position is because I believe that "LIONS" are doing this only to build up their numbers. They feel that the more people in their network, the better. But if you are a "LION", and you have something like 3500 people in your network, then I seriously question if you want to really cultivate a personal or business relationship with the people you invite or whose invitations you accept. For sake of argument, let's say you really do have 3500 people in your LinkedIn network. Do you really take a personal interest in and really help every single one of those 3500 people? I don't see how you can - especially when I'll bet that you have never actually met the vast majority of those people. Or have any kind of relationship with them. It's just a name to you, but you really don't know them beyond that. Sorry folks, but for these and other reasons I respectfully disagree with the "LION" concept.

My position may surprise some of you, given that I work part-time for HAPPEN and that all of us within the organization strongly believe in the power of networking. You might think that I would want to "grow" my network and encourage as many people as possible to join it. I noted above that I currrently have ca. 1700 people in my LinkedIn network. But if I accepted every single invitation that I receive, I would probably have more like 17,000 instead.

So why don't I accept every invitation? It's because I believe in quality rather than quantity. The vast majority of those 1700 people in my network are men and women that I know very well, either via a personal friendship, or because we have worked together online and thus developed an "Internet friendship" even though we have never actually met face to face. In many cases, they are fellow HAPPEN members. They may be recruiters, speakers or others that I have formed a business relationship with because of our common association with HAPPEN. Some are family and friends. Others are former colleagues from my various workplaces. I have also reached out to others in the recruiting and staffing industries across North America, not only to spread the word about HAPPEN, but also to cultivate networking opportunities where we can all help each other. Regardless of who that person is, and how well I know them, I invited them to join my network with a personal message that told them that I cared about them and really valued their contributions. I "sold" them on the value of working together, and they very graciously accepted. I sincerely value and appreciate every single member of my network, and I will always go the extra mile to help them. Or to put this another way I would much rather have 1700 people that I really care about and that I can really help and encourage, instead of 17,000 where I have only met a handful of them in person, or have little or no prior contact with them. As I just noted above, it's all about quality rather than quantity.

So with all due respect to those of you who send me invitations, if I don't know you, then I also don't know what you can bring to the table. Since I haven't developed a personal or business relationship with you, it's difficult for me to understand what benefit I can bring to you, or you to me. So if you're Sanjay in New Delhi, Doreen in Los Angles, Nigel in London, Louise in Sydney, or Suzanne in New York, please don't take it personally if I choose not to accept your invitation. It's simply that I need to be convinced that connecting with you is in my best interest and yours. But I will concede that if you use the guidelines I noted above, and really "sell" me on the benefits of our partnering together, I just might decide to join you. My apologies to those who disagree with me, and thanks for understanding.

Thanks for your time and attention - I wish everyone reading this the very best of everything that life has to offer!

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