As the meeting opened I became aware that this was Star Wars day. As I introduced the meeting up leapt at least 4 members and in unison shouted “May the fourth be with you”. It is nice to see that an American universe can be brought to earth by the English ability to pun. It bode well for the rest of the meeting, in particular knowing that Mike Rogers would be multi-tasking throughout; the air could have been electric.
Education Presentation
Multi-tasking Mike Rogers was the presenter and made a very interesting point about business cards.
You should be able to read a business card and it should reveal; who you are, the name of your business and what you do. Anything less is a waste of time. A good point made in Mr Usually Glum’s upbeat style.
The 60 Second Round
In Brian Painter’s absence doing his Polling Day Duty, Nikhil Shah stepped up to the mark with a semi gory description of a lady seeking treatment who had a mouthful of braces on her teeth. The moment he starts describing his patients teeth I always start to feel queasy.
Jo Jones was next up and didn’t help. She talked about lumps on the back of your neck from leaning forward to look at computer screens. The trick apparently is to tuck your chin in. I have been practising this. She spared us a full description of the sort of lump that might appear. Third up was Lee Scarff and if any of us were starting to feel really queasy he managed to up the ante by talking about removing dirt from your boiler. When the fourth member’s turn came round and we saw it was Kevin Radford were looking for something soothing. A well-crafted ode might do the trick Unfortunately the Bard was in no such mood. He had to make reference to the photograph that was posted last week showing him resplendent in his budgie smugglers. The rising nausea was perhaps only increased when we learned le that the actual body ( as opposed to the Radford head ) was that of David Hasselhoff.
Fortunately things then settled down.
The soothing School of Whimsy kicked in with Nick Cooke. He talked of “…a gem of a house…” in Sible Hedingham; he waxed lyrical about polished tubular radiators, aloft ladder with weighted pully system and round pin sockets. Unfortunately it would appear that the School of Whimsy must seek their pleasures where they can. This appearance was backed up by Alan Shaw who told of a mini house at the bottom of the garden. He did stop short of mentioning fairies… continuing the theme of taking pleasure where you can get it, he waxed positively lyrical about producing elevations in water colour.
Marcelle settled things down a bit. The emerald is the stone for May, 55th birthdays and wedding anniversaries. Apparently it is a Beryl. At least I think that’s what she said and don’t think it was the name of the particular emerald that she was showing us. Apparently the Columbians produce high quality emeralds. It’s nice to know that they produce more than one thing of high quality.
Kevin Brooks is worth a mention, if only because of his misfortunes of the week. Somebody stole lights off a skip that he had parked on the road and he suffered the financial consequences of a fine. He seemed cheerful enough about it. From one penalty to another. Terry Maylin is looking to serve papers on an absent tenant. His absence from his tenanted premises is because he is currently residing at her majesty’s pleasure. Terry is looking forward to the visit to deal with service once he locates the actual prison.
Michael Adelizzi was full of advice for those who find it hard to get their leg over into a bath. An easy access shower tray, two wire baskets to store soaps, a hook for a shower cap and a shower seat in case you get tired. He didn’t say that he was looking to attract care homes as customers but it would certainly fit the bill.
Saying of the week from David Plumley “simple is good”.
Jo Eastwood did not follow the advice however, she told of the vaping kits called mods, tanks, gel and other such things that all go together to facilitate the smoking process without the use of cigarettes. Brian Painter is away for one week and look what happens…
Jill Willis told us of a her return to traditional PR over the last week. She is helping advance the cause of “an expert on export”.
Because of Mike Rogers heavy involvement in the meeting he actually arrived early and he was therefore one of the last to stand up. He could not resist reading from his business card “…no one likes a smart arse…”
Kevin Radford, who was awarding the Oscar, did remember further back in the round and correctly awarded the Oscar to Michael Adelizzi.
This weeks statistics and points of note
- 25 Members present
- 4 Visitors present
- 2 applications to join – Cathy Neat of The Willow Centre and Bill Carey Landscape Gardener
- 24 referrals
- £18,000 plus business recorded
Interesting Fact of the Day:
The Greek name NTISIOS is pronounced DISIOS, Ervin of that name was a first time visitor.
Support of Charities
Following a members vote we have two new charities to support over the next year or so which were offered up by Scott Griffiths and Terry Maylin. It will be good to have members support a couple of charities that are directly linked with members and we will be hearing more from Terry and Scott as they present their charities to a meeting in the near future.
10 minute presentation by Mick Rogers
Mike (don’t call me Mick) Rogers managed to persuade Tina to fall to her knees next to the computer and operate his slide show. He showed lots of nice photographs of his working environment which perhaps surprised none of us. A suitable slogan would be “from cradle to grave”. The slide show demonstrated the team he has behind him which was made up of a dog, one full time child and an occasional helper. No sign of any chimneys so I think there was probably no question of exploitation. In true laconic Rogers fashion he managed to get over his effectiveness as a broker and why we should continue to feel confident in our referrals to him.
Meeting Summary
Apart from having also fulfilled his usual role as bellman, I should have mentioned it before, said Rogers did the running in the referrals round. Poor love will have to go and have a lie down now!! He did declare that he relaxed by sleeping, so go for it Mike, a great contribution to what was a very successful meeting.
A well attended meeting. The total of 29 sat down gave a real buzz to the gathering. A subsequent committee meeting approved Cathy Neat and Bill Carey’s membership applications. Next week might very well bring further applications for membership which shows us in a very healthy state.
There was a great vibe to the meeting this week, and great to see the 8 women present and 2 that were absent will be joined by Cathy to swell our femail ranks to 10!! Almost equality…
Bill was also confirmed into our ranks so member numbers on the rise.
I’m delighted to report that i’ve also just received ANOTHER application for membership from one of last weeks guests who couldnt make it along to yesterdays meeting. Mark Scarff would like to join us so we already have at least one application to consider at our next meeting. We’re gonna need a bigger boat!
What a jolly (rogers) meeting. I think we might have to knock into the next door room so Nick could you do a structural survey ?
Great news on the new appointments , it just shows that a business like meeting in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere is the key. Well done everybody – now I have a lot of pictures to give away ,anybody want one ?
Great meeting (again). All networking groups have their ups and downs, and from a solid core base, we’re really on the up at the moment, its a great time for people to be joining. Anyone else out there looking for more business or considering a network group would struggle to find a more vibrant and friendly group anywhere at the moment!
I echo what Stuart says – we are really on the up at the minute and a HUGE thanks to Jill, Matt and Tina for their efforts as recruitment hit squad, a great effort…. looking forward to getting to know the new members and getting referrals for them!
Great meeting. And so good to see some of the visitors from last week pay us a return visit. I thoroughly agree with what Stuart and Terry have said. There is no doubt that EBF is the best networking group.
Great meeting and as per Richard’s comments yes it’s good that we are getting more women members. We are now starting to fill up some of the important missing categories which will increase the amount of referrals within the group. I always love listening to Mick Rogers and Alan Shaw is a legend.
I was sold at the 1st meeting, thoroughly enjoying the group, glad I joined when I did, I hope it continues, a warm welcome from me to all the new members.
Being a new member by only a couple weeks more than some, I can only say, I have been impressed and made to feel very welcome from all since day one.
AND, free pics too!!!
Why didn’t I do this sooner?
This EBF love in is giving me a warm, fuzzy feeling 🙂 Great meeting!