CNSV member Mike Silverman will discuss the process of changing his business model from a one-person consultancy to a consulting group. The Silicon Valley Business Journal just named Mike's firm as the 9th fastest growing private company in the Bay Area. How can you get more potential clients to visit your website? Learn how from CNSV member Nancy Blachman, whose Google Guide website now gets over half of its visitors directly from Google searches. A tutorial on intellectual property and patents will be presented. This will include a discussion of the legal and technical requirements for filing and obtaining a patent in the United States and internationally, and some discussion of inventor rights, and the possible obligations to assign inventions to employers as employees and as consultants. You are invited to come and hear stories of lessons learned from fellow consultants, and to share your own experiences. We will also award Emeritus Membership status to Bobbie Cronquist and Bill Rousseau, and will recognize the work done by Debra Willrett in creating the new website. Note that this event will be held at House of Sichuan in Cupertino. Come learn about how you can expand your consulting business by working with the SBA to gain access to high-tech small businesses. Peter Salmon will give a broad-ranging presentation covering Invention, Patents, SBIR Grants and his new flip chip connector technology. Peter's talk will be of interest to a broad range of technologists, as well as to those interested in the art of creation. Gerd will provide an introduction to the marketing and sales cycles, and then will present proven techniques which can be used to win sales projects in a competitive market without sacrificing price. Join a discussion about the new CNSV website including the design decisions involved and the technology behind the site. You've got a website, but are you doing a good job of marketing yourself and your business? Why should you bother? Unless you are so busy with work that you never need to attract new clients, you may be missing your best opportunity to convince companies to engage you as a consultant. Would you like to know how the rich save money on taxes (legally)? Some of their strategies may apply to you. Come and hear John Peplowski -- and maybe you can apply some of his wisdom to your own financial situation. John is an experienced speaker on wealth accumulation during our working, that is consulting, years.