Chairman’s Blog Tuesday 5th November 2013
9 present including 2 guests, Christine Arnold and previous visitor Perry Greenhill. Both have application forms and we await the outcome.
Nigel Kirby was back to basics with the Ed Slot, giving us a quick run through of the EBF system, the referrals, the follow-up, the completed activity records, confirming business passed, chasing visitors and testimonials; a useful reminder for all of us.
Most envied member category goes to Robert Mayes who apparently is away on a cruise. The wet weather outside only doubled the envy.
The 60 second round was a solid one. Everyone was on topic and displayed a facet of their business. Anne Clarke talked of a presentation they were about to receive relating to a digital mail room that assisted entry of purchasing invoices through scanning.
Jim Henshaw declared himself at risk avoider, assisting clients to prevent or mitigate their risk. His topic this week was business loan protection.
Brian Painter as usual “showcased” one of our human frailties, stress! Stress itself apparently is subjective but has outward signs such a aching muscles headache and loss of libido, ultimately resulting in nervous breakdown. The only cheerful thing in his presentation is the fact that he is able to help you deal with stress and prevent all of the related problems, particularly loss of libido.
Scott Griffiths talked of e-commerce and that he was looking for clients involved with this type of business and Adam Hotson was back from illness trying to convince us that accountancy is interesting whilst my contribution was to try and convince everyone that they need wills. Whilst the message is obvious contemplating our own mortality is perhaps a more difficult problem to overcome.
It was inevitable, amidst these solid performers is that anyone who did anything slightly different was likely to be the Oscar winner. It was left to Nige Kirby to produce his prop, a gas analyser that bore a great resemblance to a colonic irrigation facilitator. It seemed almost worth while getting him round to service your boiler, whether it was needed or not, just to see this particular piece of kit in action. Well done Nige.
The 10 minute slot was Adam Hotson. If there is one thing worse than being bored by an accountant, its having the frighteners put on you by one. He held our attention by outlining some of the new powers that HMRC now have in relation to intervention in businesses. It was an interesting presentation that drew several questions at the end, always a good sign!
Finally Jim Henshaw reported on last week’s committee meeting emphasising the need to chase up our visitors and to use the website invitation.
Over the last month, Jim has particularly led the way in getting visitors through the door, and everyone is to be congratulated for having brought at least 1 visitor. Let’s keep the pressure up. There are a couple of new members in the pipeline as a result of our efforts thus far.
Finally please note that there will be no meeting on the 19th November 2013 due to the venues difficulties on that day, we probably all deserve a lie in!!