Roundtable Overview

What is a Roundtable
Your Roundtable Membership Includes
What Roundtable Do You Belong In
Roundtable Training Sessions
Members Feedback

What is a Roundtable?

CFFB Roundtables offer specific training on essential business skills and family business infrastructure, plus invaluable peer interaction and personal mentoring, all in a confidential forum. These Roundtables are highly rated by members and have become a "must join" opportunity, exclusive to CFFB members.

Sharing Wisdom - Building Friendships

Based on the concept that: all who sit at a roundtable contribute equally and learn from one another, the Roundtables at CFFB offer members the opportunity for specific training on essential business skills and family systems. Members share, in a confidential environment:

• experiences
• explore new ideas
• offer peer support
• develop friendships
• receive individual mentoring

Trained moderators, comprehensive agendas and clear rules of conduct ensure each meeting provides the greatest return on investment.

Each monthly meeting includes a presentation by a Roundtable member followed by a teaching component, which will focus on key management and/or ownership skills, systems and processes.

Your Roundtable Membership Includes:

• Getting Started group training session
• Individual moderator training and entrepreneur development
• Roundtable Best Practice Guide and custom Self Discovery workbooks
• One-on-one access to family business experts through Roundtable Receptions
• Second intake session - a second opportunity every year to add new members to a Roundtable group
• Exclusive access to resources such as guest speaker referral lists, topic ideas and sample agendas
• Annual Roundtable Check Up from CFFB Executive Director
• Ongoing administrative support

One-time only initiation fee: $600

What Roundtable Do You Belong In:

Leading Generation
Next Generation
Significant Other Group Key Non-Family Employee Group Advisor Group

Leading Generation

Owners/CEOs or the most senior-ranked family business members belong to the Leading Generation Roundtable.
Groups meet monthly to discuss and help one another resolve critical family business problems, explore opportunities, share business and family experiences and act as a sounding board to each other. Groups are small and emphasize total confidentiality.
"My experience in a Leading Generation Roundtable had been very positive. I have met some great people who are open to sharing their experiences and concerns. My group has been a great support system." Carol Zettel, Trillium Metal Stamping
"Our group consists of sincere business persons who talk openly and are concerned about their business and will discuss family interaction, which I find helpful." Dave Snyder, Snyder Metal Fabricating Ltd.

Interested in joining? Complete a registration form online.

Next Generation

A key to successful transition is successor development and this Roundtable is a proven learning environment for the "next generation." From peer-to-peer support to individual mentoring, the successors learn essential business skills that work with the legacy of the leading generation in order to achieve their greatest potential. This group meets monthly.
"My experience with the Next Generation Roundtable has been great! An opportunity to network with peers, ability to brainstorm on issues related to family business and some good leadership resources have been provided. Overall, these meetings have kept me focused and on track to making succession planning succeed in my family." Robin Near, T. Weber Company Limited

"If you are looking to openly discuss business issues amongst your peers, I feel the Roundtable groups are an excellent forum for doing so." Chad Strassburger, TwinCorp Inc.

"Business is becoming more and more competitive and it's great to have a tight knit group to share experiences with." Mark Bingeman, Bingemans

"We offer feedback to each other about family business and personal issues. Essentially we have become a group of friends who meets once a month to talk about our lives." Joel Melloul, Melloul - Blamey Construction Inc.

"Next Generation Roundtables offer successors the opportunity to be with individuals who are experiencing the same things." Scott Burn, Greatario Engineered Storage Systems

"I am surprised how comfortable people feel about sharing their concerns to the group. We have frank and honest discussions that are relevant to working with family members." Nathan Hallman, Aberdeen Homes Limited

Interested in joining? Complete a registration form online.

Significant Others

Significant Other Group: In a family business, spouses and significant others may not be part of the formal decision-making team, or employed within the organization, but they are faced with many family business issues. This Roundtable shares information and insight to balance family and business in a positive, confidential forum.

Interested in joining? Complete a registration form online.

Key Non-Family Employee Group

Working within a family business environment presents its own challenges for the non-family employee. Lear, share and gain invaluable insight on now to make your career in a family business meaningful and enjoyable.

Interested in joining? Complete a registration form online.

Advisor Group

This exclusive Roundtable is the ultimate in networking and learning. Family businesses present unique challenges to professional advisors - in this confidential forum, issues and successes are shared with other family business advisors. Increase your value to your clients by being part of a Roundtable.
*This Roundtable is open to CFFB Advisors and our Corporate Partner representatives.

Interested in joining? Complete a registration form online.

Roundtable Training Sessions

Initial Training (for current and new members) An interactive session providing participants with additional experience in conducting and participating in a Roundtable group. Each section of a successful Roundtable meeting will be reviewed and discussed so the rationale and philosophy behind each section is understood.
Approx. 3 hours

Moderator Training (for two elected moderators or outside facilitator)
An interactive session covering basic facilitation/moderation skills plus focusing on the specific needs of the individuals in attendance.
Approx. 3 hours

Join a Roundtable TODAY!

Members Feedback:

In February 2005, Roundtable Members were asked to provide feedback regarding their Roundtable experience in order to assist the Roundtable Committee in providing the continued value and resources required to benefit groups in the future. We thought you might be interested to see the results, and discover what Roundtable Members are saying:

Q: What was your main objective for joining a Roundtable?

• Network in the community of family business owners and to learn more about the community that I live in.
• Gain experience and knowledge about family businesses, mainly as an on going support tool.
• To get to the core of first generation issues with succession.
• To expand my business knowledge through talking with members.
• To have the opportunity to meet with a group of 7-10 other family business members to discuss business issues (management and ownership) and receive / provide valuable feedback to help resolve those issues.
• To father some best practices to assist in my business.
• To join a group of people that share similar situations, problems, and to brainstorm and talk about these issues in a safe and confidential setting.
• Meet with other second-generation family business people to discuss problems/success in business/life.
• To ease my trembling mind with regards to my kids taking over the business.
• Assist in refining my skills, help relate and be involved with a support group.
• Use as a mentoring program and discuss family business issues with peers.

Q: Describe your overall Roundtable experience:

• The Roundtable experience has been excellent. It was great to meet people of like situations who can share some of their ideas.
• We offer feedback to each other for business and personal issues. Essentially we are no longer a Roundtable, we are a group of friends who get together once a month to talk very openly about the issues in our lives.
• I have defiantly received value from participating. I believe I have been given sufficient opportunities to present my issues of concern and I have contributed values to other member's issues. We have come to trust each other deeply in a short period of time.
• Very positive. Have met some great people, open to sharing experience and concerns. Great support system - to be able to talk openly.
• It is nice to share experiences with people in the same circumstances as myself. The friendships I have made is an added bonus. What a great group of people.
• Very helpful. It's a safe setting where you can talk about ideas or problems that you may not be able to with anyone in your family. Fun setting, it's nice to relate to others in similar situations and see that we have many of the same issues and problems with work and family.
• Have met and made contact with individuals with similar circumstances and experiences in a family business environment. Completed exercises to identify personal communication and managerial tendencies to identify how I interact with others.
• Excellent! After 2 years they are good friends first, business associates later. Great way to share your day-to-day family business experiences with others who have been there!
• Pleased with group dynamics, people bring relevant issues to discuss. Format of meeting monthly gives me a chance to discuss business issues away from 'business.' Very enjoyable.
• I have listened to some incredible stories of founding family businesses and its effect on some families.