The Essex Business Forum Constitution
Who / What is Essex Business Forum?
We are a business promotion and networking group who are looking to support and provide new business for our members. This is through regular networking breakfast meetings where individual members can promote their business and make and pass on new business referrals to other members.
We provide facilities to support and promote member businesses both through forums, a website and through separate group meetings of members who are in similar areas of business.
We also look to promote member’s businesses by arranging and having a presence at Forums organised by others in the business sector. The intention is to promote EBF and its members to the public and local community as a collection of trusted suppliers and businesses.
About Our Meeting
The weekly breakfast meeting is for members who each come from a different business or professional category. Although most categories are effectively exclusive, this will not always be the case, and the Membership Committee reserves the right to expand any category in consultation with the individual member or members affected.
The weekly meeting runs from 6:30am to 8.30am. The meeting will open at 6.15am for registration and networking between members, their guests and visitors. After 8.30am, the meeting remains open for further networking.
Members are expected to arrive in good time for the 6:30am start and must stay until 8.30am. We do not wish to set rigid attendance goals, but full members are expected to attend regularly. If you are not there, you cannot pass business to another member and you cannot provide the regular promotion of your own business to enable you to receive referrals from other members. This is fundamental to the ethos of EBF.
The meeting will be conducted by a Leadership Team that will consist of:-
Meeting Chairman - who leads the meeting
Meeting Secretary – who reports to the meeting on business passed and other statistics and important information
Membership Co-Ordinator - who works with the membership committee to review new member applications and existing member renewals
Education Development Officer – who delivers the education slot and arranges the 10-minute presentations
Social Secretary – who arranges events for members - both social and business.
The Membership Committee will be made up of the Membership Committee Chairperson, one director, and three other members.
If the Membership Committee consider your attendance is not adequate and this is without good reason, the Membership Committee may refuse renewal at the end of your membership term or immediately cancel your membership and look for someone who can fill your category more effectively.
Members are encouraged to bring visitors on a regular basis. Visitors should be either potential members who are involved in business or people who can provide valuable information to the meeting and potentially provide referrals to Members and /or for other promotional reasons.
All visitors must be notified to the Leadership Team prior to any meeting that they are going to attend by the introducing member and visitors may attend two meetings without the sanction of the Meeting Committee.
The meeting will follow a structured agenda (See our Meeting Walkthrough page).
If you think you have a visitor who could, by way of a presentation, bring useful business information to the group, you should approach the Membership Committee to sanction a 10-minute presentation slot to be made available for that visitor.
About Membership
Upon joining, each new member will be assigned a mentor to guide them through their initial period of membership. The mentor will be expected to provide guidance to the member in relation to matters such as 60-second and 10-minute presentations and generally offer support in the early weeks of membership.
EBF will arrange, during the course of the year, induction, professional development events and presentations - some of which may be presented at the Meeting.
If any member feels that a visitor looking to apply for membership would affect the benefit they get from the category that they operate under at the meeting, they should refer this to the Membership Committee. If there are no such complaints, the Membership Committee will be entitled to assume their consent although all members are asked to consider when introducing a visitor to the meeting to take note of the category that they would be looking to fill and refer this perception to any member likely to be affected.
If you wish to change category during the period of your membership, the request should be referred to the Membership Committee.
Membership may be withdrawn not only for failure to attend meetings with sufficient regularity but also a member’s failure to comply with EBF’s policies and ethos or for how they perform their own business functions for other members and their referrals.
Complaints about conduct should be referred to the Membership Committee who not only have the power to revoke membership but also suspend or put on probation a member where the member's business practices or commitment to the meeting are called into question.
The meetings regulations may be reviewed by EBF from time to time and communicated by the Leadership Team through the Meeting Chairman or Meeting Secretary.
A Meeting Chairman, Meeting Secretary and an Education and Development Officer will be appointed for a period of 6 months and, upon fulfilling all their responsibilities to the meeting during their tenure, will receive compensation from EBF in the form of mitigation of their membership fees.
Decisions of the Membership Committee and alteration of regulations will be subject to approval and issue of revised policies by the Directors of EBF.
Fee Structure and Charging Policies
New members pay a one-off joining fee of £75.00
Membership fees are as follows:
For six months £300.00
For one year £450.00
For two years £750.00
There will be a charge per meeting to cover the cost of breakfast and the venue. This payment is payable whether you attend or not and must be paid monthly in advance on or before the 1st Thursday of every month either by standing order or payment of a cheque to the Meeting Secretary in advance of the meeting itself.
These fees may be subject to alteration from time to time upon the approval of the membership through the Membership Committee.
Payment may be by cheque or by a credit card approved by the Membership Committee. Where a credit card is used, there will be an additional levy of 5% on the fee amount paid to cover administrative costs.
Membership fees are payable on or before the meeting before the expiry date of the period for which the member has made their last payment. Failure to renew on time entitles the Membership Committee to suspend or expel a member if there is not an acceptable reason given to the Membership Committee.
Late payment will attract a 5% levy.
On payment, a receipt will be issued. Once a receipt has been issued, fees can not be refunded.
Substitutes
If you are unable to attend the meeting, you are encouraged to send a substitute to represent you.
A substitute cannot be an existing member of EBF. Any substitute should be put in the position where they can conduct your 60 second presentation.
The Membership Committee will ensure that EBF publishes a list of known substitutes who are acceptable to the meeting, but this list will not be exhaustive.
You must notify the Leadership Team of your proposed absence and the identity of the substitute (if any) in good time in advance of the meeting. The Meeting Chairman might be able to assist you with possible substitutes if he is aware of visitors who are attending.
EBF's Directors
Essex Business Forum is the name of a Limited Company registered at Company’s House whose directors are charged with the obligation of maintaining and sustaining the regular meeting for the benefit of all members.
The Board of Directors of EBF are charged with ensuring that the meeting functions effectively and efficiently, using the membership fees to provide all necessary materials and, more importantly, promotional and advertising opportunities that are aimed at promoting all member’s businesses.
