The Independent Business Women's Circle (IBWC) of Womanspace, a "social network" of entrepreneurial women, has announced that they will begin hosting evening meetings in January, in addition to their usual monthly lunchtime meeting.

The first evening interactive workshop, to be held on Monday, Jan. 28, 7-9 p.m., will be led by Glenn Mattson, vice president and partner, TEM Associates, Inc. in Plainview. The topic is "Take Your Business to the Next Level."

TEM Associates is an award-winning sales training and consulting firm specializing in sales and management productivity and effectiveness. The firm, with locations on LI, Connecticut and NYC, conducts public and private workshops, corporate programs, and one-on-one strategic sessions for business owners. Mr. Mattson works hand-in-hand with salespeople, managers and business owners who want to attain an increase in their business through proper sales training, which evolves into lasting change.

Since being launched April 1999 by Robin Gorman Newman, publicist, speaker, author, How to Meet a Mensch in New York and founder, LoveCoach.com, the IBWC has become an important nonprofit organization uniquely serving the personal and professional needs of businesswomen on Long Island and in Queens.

"When I founded the IBWC nearly three years ago, the objective was to offer entrepreneurial women an inspiring productive reason to take a break in their workday and venture out during lunchtime to meet other like-minded women," explains Ms. Gorman Newman. "Now as we have grown, we have received interest in evening meetings as well, so we are attempting to accommodate that demand. While most of our members are self-employed, there are those who work for companies and would like to connect with a dynamic group of enterprising women in diverse fields. We offer that opportunity.

"The IBWC is different than other networking groups for women. We meet in an intimate living-room style setting, and camaraderie is encouraged as much as networking. Our philosophy is that it is truly through both relationship-building and information/resource-sharing that we can all grow, take risks, launch successful businesses, cultivate new clients and careers and enrich our personal and professional lives," says Gorman Newman.

Evening meetings will be held the last Monday of each month starting promptly at 7 p.m. Some meetings will feature speakers, and others will strictly promote networking/socializing among members and prospective members. The location is the same as the afternoon meetings.

IBWC lunchtime meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Womanspace, 3 St. Paul Place (off Grace Avenue) in Great Neck.

Annual membership is $60. The cost per meeting is $15 for non-members, and free to members. Members also have the added opportunity to host appropriate events at Womanspace for a reasonable fee. To be placed on the e-mail list for IBWC activities or to volunteer, write to sueglenn@bigplanet.com.

Womanspace is a not-for-profit organization, and many volunteer opportunities are currently available to women interested in offering workshops, running support groups, and providing administrative and marketing support. Womanspace is a member of the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce and UCF. The number of Womanspace for information or directions is 829-6566.