February's event at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town was a very lively affair.  Thank you to the talented, gracious staff of the Hilton for the outstanding service provided to our members.  The cocktail hour featured passed hors d'oeuvres; dinner started with an elegant mixed salad of mango, raspberry, tomato, spinach and cucumber, followed by a sorbet cleanser, and a main course of potato encrusted sea bass.  The room was elegantly dressed in white and gold, and each guest was treated sweetly to a miniature snifter of after dinner mints.

Members and guests rated the evening as a highly successful networking event, citing the great atmosphere, the interesting mix of attendees, the conversations sparked by the program's topic, and the new assigned table seating, designed as a way to keep all attendees in circulation.

The evening featured Tiffany Bacon, Account Executive with Rosenthal Partners of Bethesda, who updated us about what sets today's 27 - 42 year old women apart from their predecessors.  She stressed that today's women are highly informed and highly distrustful, and that today's women expect transparency in their relationships and transactions.  She also stressed that reaching today's women requires a mix of traditional trust-building elements, along with fresh proactive efforts, especially those that capture the imagination.  Because today's women are so tech-savvy, they are alert to trends, and are themselves spreaders of trends.  Before, "different" might have been isolating.  Today, "different" can be liberating.  She suggested posting a "different" video clip on YouTube to gain viral exposure.