Host Family Runs Seminar Session on “Networking and the Elevator Pitch”
On Friday, September 11th, host family Al Petras and Janet Ferone led the 2017–2018 cohort in an engaging session on the elevator pitch and networking in general.
Al Petras is a former Senior Vice President at Bank of America and a BU alumnus. He has run this workshop for the past two years, and last year he also led a session on Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) for financial institutions. He further arranged for the 2016–2017 Fellows and coordinators to spend an evening watching BU Men’s Ice Hockey from a special suite in Agganis Arena.
Janet Ferone is a former administrator for the Boston Public Schools and President of Boston NOW, the Boston chapter of the National Organization for Women. This year, Al and Janet have joined our team of host families, and they are hosting Ms. Erika Nárez Melgoza.
Al provided a cross-cultural introduction to the concept of the elevator pitch and offered a variety of useful perspectives and tips. After some discussion, the Fellows prepared and then individually delivered their elevator pitches and received group feedback.
Following Al’s session, Janet led a session on networking tips. She drew from both her own experience in leading an NGO and advocating for the Boston Public Schools, and also from a popular new book written by her colleague and friend Robbie Samuels, entitled Croissants vs. Bagels: Strategic, Effective and Inclusive Networking at Conferences.