23 of us this time, most there by 7.10 am whilst outside it drizzled. Customary banter heralded the meeting proper.
The Performance League
Paul Dulieu not only won, he trounced the opposition; just over 400 points was out of sight.
All reset now for December which is always a short month so an open book on who will grab the prize this month.
Education Presentation
Sarah Bell’s debut provided an insight from her own business point of view by distinguishing Speech from Language and Communication. Apparently only 7% of what we say is verbal and she demonstrated this with the phrase “ I don’t think so”. Emphasis alone can alter its meaning in four different ways. As business people, we need to be good communicators. If you don’t think so just shrug your shoulders?
The 60 Second Round
Sarah Bell was also involved as the adjudicator for the Oscar this week. She went first with the good news that she might be commissioned to work with a group of schools to start in April. She was clearly excited by the prospect but you can’t reward the Oscar to yourself.
Dean Caldon reported the slow down in the housing market that reflects the approach of the 31st March deadline for the Stamp Duty holiday. Nick Cooke anticipates that this will affect part of his workload too.
By contrast, Richard Reed has received his first confirmed booking for next year which represents the first signs of revival for him. Someone else emerging from the constraints of the lockdown was Brian Painter who has managed to get several issues rolled into one client whose problems included Cocaine Use, being over 27 stone in weight …and, oh yes he is also a smoker. I don’t know how many of such clients he can cope with but let’s see what we can do.
Stewart Smallcombe was talking “fibre to cabinet” which is probably something our government needs at the moment.
The Mayor of Gants Hill was fully dressed today and very upbeat over his line in Christmas Cards. He does envelopes too!! If Vincent was almost signing in praise of the Christmas Card, Ben Golding was Gilbert and Sullivan would have been proud of his version of HMS Utility Warehouse. If Ben Golding is theatrical it must have rubbed off on John Hammond who was explaining why entrances are so important although he came at it from a security point of view.
Congratulations to Tina Walker for making it part of her daily toil for overworked business people to buy Christmas Presents without using her own money.
Alan Moller looked rather ghoulish, broadcasting to us this week from his van. With three more people clustering round him and his face lit from below he looked like the sleeve cover of a well-known rock band. Sofa man has turned into Van Man again.
On the techie side Scott Griffiths has been tweaking websites and David Plumley, a welcome addition to our meeting, talked of his business describing his business as the 4”S”s, not the 3 “S”s that most are familiar with.
Sarah Bells’ award of the Oscar reflected her feeling that many members demonstrated integrity in their businesses and the pick of the bunch was Nathan Howson who has been conducting a quarterly review of his company’s work ensuring that they were maintaining their standards both as to work and customer service. Congratulations Nathan.
10-minute presentation by Nick Cooke
Nick Cooke was the presenter and our hearts went out to him as he attempted screen share. He did however finally come across with the goods, bravely demonstrating by photographs how he looks into nooks and crannies. He managed to highlight very effectively; defective chimney breasts, bulging retaining walls, windows creating a crack in a front bay, floors sloping downwards and most dramatically, a house that was sinking and very apparently so to the naked eye. The drop was 15ft!
The result at full time was Nick Cooke 1 Technology 0.
Referrals and Testimonials
This round was full of referrals and thanks for the money, and the meeting was rounded off by an acknowledgment of success for Brian Painters quiz night. It was 9am when we closed.
A brilliant meeting this morning. I would like to reiterate again, the integrity in this group. A child once described integrity to me as ‘doing the right thing even when no one is watching.’
I loved Toby’s description of an H2H business amongst all the other interesting points of input from other members.
Alan in Bohemian Rhapsody is an absolute classic!
Is this the real life or is it just fantasy? Only Freddie Mollery knows the answer. I commend Nick for remaining calm when his presentation was in real danger of collapsing like a dodgy chimney stack. I was mightily relieved when he managed to press the right buttons and recovered magnificently. Have a great week, all
Congratulations Paul on smashing this months figures, well done mate!. A cracking first education slot from Sarah and a calm approach from Nick on his great 10 minute presentation. Finally, thanks Brian for your quiz night efforts, have a great and safe weekend, hope to see Simon back soon!
Great meeting and well done Nick. You got there in the end. See you all next week.
A most enlightened meeting. Good to see Monsewer Le Plum with us, I miss his “jokes.” Sarah’s ed slot had me nodding like one of those toy dogs we used to see on the back shelf in a car, the importance of non verbal communication; well done young lady! (Everybody in EBF is young compared to me!) Well done Paul the younger for leaving us all trailing in the points stake but slow down, you don’t want to peak before Christmas. Jolly good effort, Nick, for your presentation. I had the same thoughts as Aidan, don’t work with kids, animals or the internet. Absolutely no reflection on Paul the younger for his tuition. Finally, if you’re still awake, thank you to my pals who joined in the “Fun night quiz” Watch this space towards the end of January for more exciting Pilgrim nights.
You got there in the end!
Good meeting as always. Superb Ed Slot by Sarah B. A fair bit of business passed around too. And thanks for all the kind words about my 10 minute presentation.
Great meeting!! Well done to Sarah on her excellent education slot debut!!
Also great 10 minute presentation from Nick!! We got to see the photos in the end 🤣
See you all next week 😁😁
Brilliant debut Ed slot Sarah, well done- you have come a long way in a short time in business! Thanks for the pictorial Nick, i shall have nightmares about sinking houses now and well done Alan, we all need a laugh and seeing you emerge out of the darkness was hilarious!
Thank you Sarah for the Oscar! Really interesting education slot and 10min. Thanks all again for another great meeting.
And we all learnt the difference between a nook and a cranny, what more could you ask for.
Our usual heart warming “get together” with a “virgin” educator, a “left them in his wake” league winner and a “master of photography” all present and mainly correct. Well done to all.
Great meeting . So glad Nick sorted his screen share out. The photos he showed tell a thousand words of why you need his help.
Sarah education slot was most interesting. I always struggle with wording of emails to make sure that they are interpreted correctly and not taken the wrong way. See you all next week
First the first time doing an Ed Slot well done Sarah B. and great 10 minutes from Nick – what a great group we have plus a special appearance from Freddie the Spark! See you all on Thursday.
Opps that For no First lol
Great meeting everyone. Well done to Nick too on mastering the screen share! have a good week everyone and see you on Thursday morning!