I just got back from the TAG Entrepreneurial Forum’s 2006 kickoff. Thompson Technology’s Chief Development Officer and Atlanta networking guru, Ricky Steele, gave a fantastic presentation called Deeper into the Heart of Networking.

One of his major focal points was the importance of continuing your professional education, and leveraging that newly gained knowledge to enrich the lives and careers of those in your network. He also spoke in-depth about establishing likeability, which is critical when meeting new faces. Of course, all of this was interwoven with Ricky’s good ol’ fashioned brand of humor. Good stuff all around.

We had a great turnout! The large conference area at the offices of King & Spaulding were barely large enough to hold the raucous crowd of well over 100 frenzied Atlanta business executives. All kidding aside, it was good to see so many of Atlanta’s best and brightest out there, so bright and early in the morning. Among the faces in the crowd were:

• Alan Urech, Managing Partner of Stony River Capital Partners
• Charlie Paparelli of Paparelli Ventures
• Susan Knox, the CEO of Corporate Connections
• David Thompson and Glenn Crews of Thompson Technologies
• Craig Larson, CTO of VuBotics
• Jay Litton, Macrovision
• Mike Adkinson, Kevin Howarth, and Neil Coughlin of TechLINKS
• Michelle Moore, author and founder of HappinessHabit.com and SoundLikeAMillion.com

If you missed the presentation, you missed an opportunity to learn from a guy who has “been there and done that.” Stay tuned to this blog, as I’ll be sure to post any dates for repeat performances.

Cheers.