Somewhat of a rude awakening for your stand in chairman this morning as I was thrust into the breach with no warning, but, be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them! I’ll leave it to you to decide…
Anyhow. As is my right as chairman I made the agenda up as I went along, shortly after announcing Kevin Radford as winner of last month’s performance league I glossed over the Ed Slot in favour of rolling straight in to the 60 second round…Its certainly NOT because I forgot all about it…
Good thing I did. With so many interesting 60 seconds to behold it was well worth jumping straight in. Terry Maylin warned us of the perils of accepting your insurance companies car hire option as I know from bitter personal experience. Marcelle Saad told us all about the birth Stone for July, the Ruby, which as my wife’s birthday and my anniversary is in July you’d have thought I’d have known.. I’m gonna pay for that! Then Holly, of Photography By Anna-Marie gave an (almost) Oscar winning performance of an original poem which I thought was marvellous, alas Terry who was awarding this week’s Oscar favoured the musings of Toby…and who am I to disagree…but I do.
Simon Essex told us how after a couple of weeks in the dramatic arts, he’s back on centre stage trying to fill sales vacancies in Liverpool Street whilst Nick Cooke is advising homeowners on neighbours trees. Which is just as well because I know of a bush which is climbing over next doors fence, and needs some attention. Maybe our visitor Colin, the garden maintenance man is the man for the job.
Kevin Radcliffe recycled one of his old poems with no points for originality but lots for humour, and Ashleigh Bermange told how Headstart had been commissioned to produce 300 personalised, monogrammed bathrobes for a wedding… I never get invited to those sorts of weddings! (Or any for that matter).
Howard Bullock was all about working in the best interest of the client. Is your IFA? Are you sure?
After the 60 second round, Howard was clearly chomping at the bit to deliver his Ed Slot so we eventually we let him off the leash and what a good job we did too. He told us about the power of underselling, of not pushing too hard and of how sometimes clients are more comfortable saying “No” to things that they don’t want, thereby subconsciously agreeing to what you’re proposing. Sometimes less is more.
After the slightly rearranged agenda (as is Chairman’s prerogative) we were back on track and into the next major section of the meeting, the 10-minute presentation which this week was hosted by Michael Parkinson (Toby Acton) and Vincent Goode. An interview format which was very revealing, Vincent told us loads about himself and his business as Toby probed deep beneath the surface asking the hard questions. I bet Graham Norton’s shitting himself.
We finished with the usual referral and testimonial round sharing 18 referrals and recording over £20,000 of business.
I hope you enjoyed this blog and if you didn’t feel free to volunteer to write it next week.
Have a great weekend and see you next Thursday.
Stuart
A very good blog indeed.
Well done Stuart with Chairing the meeting.
Congratulations to Toby for winning the Oscar and for also helping Vincent with his ten minute presentation.
See you all soon for another delightful meeting.
Toby! The new Parky!
Thank you Stuart, that was a very entertaining blog, and not that many typos which is a step up from the usual standard. Nice usage of the word thrust (twice in one sentence) and you have certainly set the bar low for future (and past) guest chairs. Thank you once again to Toby for inviting me on to his chat show. I enjoyed myself, which is the most important thing. Have a lovely weekend all, and I look forward to seeing you next week x
Sounds amazing! I’m devastated to have missed the meeting 👍😄
Very good meeting.
Well done Vince, with the help of Toby, was good to see something presented slightly different.
Sounds like a great meeting! Sorry to have missed it!
good job Toby and Vince on the 10 minutes- made a nice change from a quiz! Well done Stuart with your impromptu chairmanship, good lively meeting !
Well done Stuart for chairing. Another great meeting with the two Ronnie’s and their 10 minutes Vincent/Toby really enjoyable.
Have a fab weekend.
Congratulations Stuart for being in the chair and to Vince and Toby too for an alternative 10 minutes, have a great weekend all!
Well done Stuart, for both the blog & chairing the meeting, also to Vince for his 10 minutes, helped by Toby, see you all next week.
Great meeting and very entertaining 10 minute presentation from Toby and Vincent. It was like watching Ant and Dec in 20 years time. Look forward to next weeks.
Great meeting , Great ten minutes by Vince with the help of Toby made a good team and interesting change to the 10 minute format.
A brilliant presentation by our groups top printer Vince of Speed print fame. Very professionally assisted by interviewer Toby -The bloke in the smart suit.
Well done -informative and entertaining
Fine blog, Stuart, and a well run meeting. I would volunteer to write the next one but I can’t hear what some members are chundering on about.