Chairman’s Business Networking Blog Thursday 6th November 2014.
25 present, which was a truly great turnout;
When I say 25, I include the Bard of Hadleigh who arrived at 7.30am. He might be the first but I am sure he will not be the last to realise that the breakfast at 7.45am enables you to take certain liberties and still have access to the Warley Park Banger. So what did he miss…
Well, first of all, a very good Ed Slot delivered this week by Terry Maylin. His message was simple. A successful networking group depends upon the importance of knowing each other and we should make sure we use all of the methods afforded by EBF to do this. It starts off with turning up every week, listening to and delivering the 10 minute presentation, having 1-2-1’s, attending Synergy Team meetings and also and perhaps of equal importance, attending social functions when people can attend with other halves. It all leads to greater knowledge of each other and our ability to promote and refer each other. Terry’s evangelism appears to be infectious.
The Bard also missed the results of the performance league for the month of October. The runaway winner was Kevin Brooks. Scott will award points (the amount to be solely at his discretion) for the first person (other than Kevin Brooks) to tell us how many points (probably a record) our runaway winner scored.
Finally he missed several of the 60 second presentations. For example Peter Hood was summoned by a tiler to deal with a sink cabinet that was “buggered”. Terry Maylin was heard talking about mediation, which is not such a departure to his “kick ass” approach to litigation. As he declared afterwards, if mediation does not work you can still carry on and give them a good kicking.
He also missed Nick Cooke who apparently had a meeting with Paddy O’Doors, nasty trees and load bearing walls. Surely that is a very sound basis for a good poem. He also missed Alan Shaw saying he had a telephone call from a lady; Neal Lewer that with the Christmas rush he only had two slots left. He definitely missed Gary Waskett explaining that they were doing an awful lot more solvent work at the moment. This does not mean cleaning drains, it means acting for companies that are restructuring rather than going down the pan. I think he probably caught Richard Read talking about celebrity cruises, a free six pack and 13 nights somewhere in Italy for about £495.00 without the six pack and £805 with the six pack…sorry I have just deciphered my notes more accurately. It was a free drink pack, or at least I think so. I also did not quite catch which celebrities would be onboard, it would have a bearing on the value.
With the Bard duly ensconced in the only remaining seat in the house we heard Kim Redwood-Lee tell us what she could do for us but disappointedly this was something to do with Tax Returns on time and the like. Mike Rogers told of an amazing 10 year fixed rate of 3.49% but perhaps the 2 years fixed rate of 1.59 was more jaw dropping.
Alex is looking for somewhere to film and as soon as he had finished; there he was, in full flow, Kevin Radford, Bard of Hadleigh talking about manufacturers or wholesalers and bragging of an extreme lie in. There was his customary couplet at the end of his 60 seconds and all seemed well with the world. He was followed by Vivienne who produced a poem that must now put our resident Bard on his best behaviour for attendance at future meetings, as well as more poetic utterances, if he is to retain his crown. Vivienne quite rightly won the Oscar for her efforts. If things were feeling lyrical however Scott Griffiths ruined the mood by explaining with great frequency how he has been kissing arse (or was it ass). Hopefully it was more of a peck than a full blown…we will leave it there and move on to Paul Booth who is looking for sole traders and is doing so because it is the season of goodwill. That is the transfer of goodwill into a limited company. Thank goodness there was no mention of the C word in his presentation.
Next up was Brian Painter and for the first time we realised was one of the down sides of having a later breakfast. Yes, you do remember correctly, he was waxing lyrical about the contents of a cigarette and if Scott Griffiths was licking , then Brian Painter was kicking… arsenic. It did not bode well for the food we were about to consume but we were all calmed down by Howard Bullock talking about pensions and still resplendent in his shorts. Following Brian’s horrendous description of the effect of smoking somehow Howard’s legs looked slightly more attractive than they usually do.
By now we were ready for anything and Marcus’s deep clean somehow seemed perfectly acceptable. By now the aromas of breakfast were spreading around the room. Scott Griffith’s meeting secretary’s report was one of the shortest have heard from him, but the upshot of the performance this week was that we wrote in excess of £13,150.00 worth of business and there were 20 referrals.
After the pit stop was Mike Rogers 10 minute slot. He ably manipulated the Nobo Board and gave us a wonderfully annotated and illustrated explanation of affordable housing. To be fair to the Old Curmudgeon, it was a really sunny and beautiful morning, the car park was dry, but even with these inducers of well being and general bonhomie did not explain a really polished entertaining and well thought out presentation. He was a good illustration of what Terry Maylin was talking about at the beginning of the meeting; a long serving member who we all know and trust maintaining his reputation as somebody you really want and feel comfortable to recommend to your friends and family.
And so we came to the end of one of the best meetings that I can remember. And it all started with a full attendance. I look forward to a similar attendance next week and an equally positive meeting that can have me waxing lyrical once again in this Blog.
Great Meeting – helped by a great turnout of members- do bear in mind though that you need to do more to be an effective networker and make an effort to attend synergy meetings, have 1-2-1s and so on – it will pay dividends(literally).
Well, Aidan & Terry, I couldn’t agree more. A great turn out always leads to a more fruitful meeting.
I think the points were 437 (or 431) which must (should) be a record – a truly great effort by Kevin Brooks.
For my cruise offer this week i should clarify that the £805.00pp not only got you a “free drinks package” but also a two cabin upgrade to a balcony for a 13 nt cruise (the “Italian Classic”) – great price. Finally, a great poem from Vivienne made her a deserved winner of this weeks Oscar (& don’t forget her World Options promotion guys – time is running out).
PS: well done Mike but what were those rates again?
Mike’s mortgage rates are so good I was considering remortgaging my home and going on Richard’s cruise, never mind upgrading the cabin, just upgrade the drink package!
Another entertaining blog from the chairman.
Good meeting for a dark, slightly chilly morning. Great presentation from Mike who explained clearly a topic that is as clear as mud ! affordable / unaffordable property purchasing, confirming that the government are white collar daylight robbers.
I feel suitably chastised Mr Chairman. My reason for rushing over ,despite being late , was of course that I wished to listen to Mike’s most excellent presentation (and nothing to do with the breakfast -which was very tasty). Hazardous sports are not to be taken lightly and you have to practise . The extreme lie in is a delicate balance and takes exemplary timing to make sure that you give yourself just enough time to ….. More practice needed , obviously