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      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
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    Menu
    • Home
    • View Members

      View Essex Business Forum Members

      Our membership represents the very best of local business. Our vetting process is thorough; each member must come highly recommended, and remain so by delivering continually outstanding work for members, their contacts, clients and friends.

      Have confidence. Browse our members page and feel free to contact anyone listed.


      If you own or run an outstanding local business, please join us as a guest at one of our meetings. Your first visit is free.

    • About EBF

      Member Testimonials

      Hear from Essex Business Forum members, past and present. Discover how membership has helped their business to grow.

      The EBF Mark of Excellence

      Find out more about the EBF quality assurance scheme and discover local businesses who have been reviewed, tested and are actively recommended by our panel of local experts.

      EBF Synergy Teams

      Synergy Teams are powerful sub-groups within our membership. Designed to bring together collaborative businesses and to help members do better business, together.

      The Essex Business Forum Constitution

      Created for members, by members. The rules and regulations that form the foundation of our professional association.
    • Visitor Information

      How to find our Business Networking Meeting

      Instructions on how to find our venue, and how to find the meeting room once you arrive.

      Meeting Walkthrough

      View a visual walkthrough and explanation of the various parts of our weekly meetings .

      What to bring

      Find out what you should be bringing along with you as a guest at one of our networking meetings

      Frequently Asked Questions

      Read a collection of common questions and answers that our prospective members and guests have asked us
    • Read our Blog

      Our Latest Blog Posts

      Annual Review 2018 / 2019 - our 8 year anniversary

      A review of our 8th year and announcement of the EBF member awards. What a fantastic 8 years it's been....

      Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in...

      It was our eighth Birthday celebration and given the absences for half-term the attendance was excellent with 24 Members and 3 Visitors, one of whom is to become a Member....

      Love was in the air

      Our Valentines Day meeting had a 60 second round suitably themed and it contained both lovers joy and lovers lament. The joy is that it was a beautiful morning and there was a good turnout, 26 members and one visitor....

      QE2 bridge closed; EBF open

      If last week was dull miserable and wet; by contrast but in equal measure this week was windy, 60mph gusts were recorded and the QE2 Bridge was closed.  No such closing for EBF, infact we had an excellent turnout of 26 members and 3 visito...
      Read the Essex Business Forum Business Networking Blog. A roundup of our weekly meetings, as recalled by our chairman Aidan Squire. We welcome any comments you have to make on any of our posts.
    • Contact Us

      Contact Essex Business Forum

      View our main contact information and use our enquiry form to get in touch with us. We'd love to hear from you.

      Register as a guest at one of our meetings

      If you'd like to attend an EBF meeting yourself please complete this form so that we know you are attending.

      Invite a Guest to Essex Business Forum

      If you can think of someone who would benefit from attending an EBF meeting then please use this form to invite them along to one of our meetings for FREE.

Business Networking in Billericay – a Weekly Review 4th March

Chairman’s Business Networking Blog, Tuesday 4th March 2014.

17 members in attendance, for the first time for several weeks there were no visitors but we have the promise of several coming up in the next week or so.

It is with immense pride that I can report that my Leadership Team managed to stand up and introduce themselves without a mistake. They all remembered their names, what their title was, and what they did. It doesn’t get better than that!

We had apologies for absence from Ian Douglas, Mark Waller and Brian Painter the latter two being on holiday.

It is important that members not attending do tender their apologies and their reason for their absence. At the time of preparing this blog, Jim, having successfully introduced himself and remembered his title will be sending out an email to all of you confirming the procedure for making your excuses, namely directly to him and or Scott Griffiths and not on the group general email. We would not want any apology for absence to encourage anybody to do likewise.

So excited was I at the response of the Leadership Team and Scott Griffiths having nothing to report in relation to the Performance League, I passed round the business card box and jumped straight into the 60 second round without a thought for Nige Kirby’s Education Slot. I blame the rather strange contraption I was wearing to monitor my blood pressure. Nothing happened during the meeting that caused it to register higher than usual, for which my thanks to you all.

Unfortunately however the main subject of the Ed Slot was the delivery of the 60 second round which perhaps would have been usefully delivered before rather than after today’s round had taken place. Within the context of the Educational benefits of Nigel’s exposition and the great scheme of things this was really irrelevant; I am sure you will all be better prepared next week and its all part of the learning curve…

One of the other things that Nigel cautioned about was the use of acronyms advancing details of your business and the referrals you are looking for. This is a particular issue for those in the IT Business. This week’s acronyms however came from unlikely sources. Second up was Anne Clarke who talked about a seminar of sorts on auto enrolment on pensions. If that was not puzzling enough she talked about AAT and I was lost. My sense of bewilderment was maintained by Paul Lefever who talked about testing systems, incoming earth and ECB’s and RCB’s. I suppose the idea is that if said ECB’s and RCB’s are important and you don’t know what they are you should call on Paul. Eye-catching from his presentation was an electrical safety test for £75.00 which will probably cover ECB’s and RCB’s.

Vivienne was fairly soon on her feet after Paul Lefever had sat down…now I was in real fear for my mental health, she talked of the consultative approach to transportation and shipping charts, I have made my mind up, I must have a 1 2 1 with her when no doubt all will be revealed. It is a good job that Jim Henshaw came to my rescue by clarifying that he was an intermediary between the client and provider. He then went on to talk about tied, multi tied and whole of market. There is no doubt that the visitor from Mars who had learnt English but little else would have felt on another planet…..

Christine Arnold brought us down to earth with perhaps the quote of the meeting “…source it, print it, and supply it…”. It reminded me of Peter Kaye “live at Blackpool Tower” in talking about booking holidays over the t’internet “…clicked it booked it F….d off”.

I think I was getting slightly light headed by now with the effect of the blood pressure monitor squeezing my arm, they’ve put it in the wrong place I hear you say…. What I really needed to relax me was a group coaching session, Hugo made it all sound quite relaxing, even a bit touchy feely. Even Fred Harcourt, down to earth decorator was talking about being one of the “Dulux Select”. I had visions of him putting on a big furry dog suit and going off to find his brushes.

Nige Kirby of course could not resist it, he had to remind us all of his reference last week to his long probe and its effect on boilers. Christine was still in shock but he did move on to gas fires which apparently don’t need long probes but apparently are only of interest to those who are aging with greying hair…. Does anybody apart from me own one?

Iain Martin was very much more up my street this week. Although he used an acronym it was, yes you guessed it, TV. Now even I know what a TV is and I also know what TV boxes are and I understand why they should all be working to their optimum. His health check for said equipment was therefore quite appealing. Of course Adam Hotson brought us down to earth, talking about self assessment tax returns, but we certainly sat up when he said could apply that any director of a company, whether he is on PAYE or not, should have one.

Just when I thought it was all over Robert Mayes admitted to not having his name on my list and therefore his became the final 60 second offering; there must have been something in his orange juice…he talked about moving doors and windows in order to brighten up your kitchen. I had visions of him moving windows round in a house and creating problems such as sliding doors to the bathroom, French windows to the toilet and a rather small frosted glass opening for the lounge. Perhaps it was the blood pressure monitor making me feel rather light headed. It obviously worked at one level however because the nice Mr Heij awarded me the Oscar which demonstrated great generosity of spirit. I think the euphoria of 24 medals in the Olympics got the better of him.

So in my mildly euphoric state I introduced the late Ed Slot which led into the 10 minute presentation. Richard Willis showed his developed presentation skills using the TV (see, I am good with acronyms after all) Screen to reinforce the suspicions that he really is rather good at marketing and we can feel confident in referring him when we get an opportunity.

The referrals and testimonials round is starting to be consistently effective and so a meeting with one or two firsts came to an end. It was the first meeting that had daylight in the sky when I arrived at 6am. It was the first meeting of the year when the majority of the meeting took place bathed in bright sunshine.

Why should we all not be looking forward to next week?

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March 5, 20149 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Jim Henshaw says:
    March 5, 2014 at 10:05 am

    Oh joy – I’m first, I’m first! In response to my email, Hugo is the first to register an apology for an upcoming absence and I’ve awarded him a fruit gum for being the first apologist.. He’s ecstatic (I don’t think he gets out much).

     Reply
  2. Christine Arnold says:
    March 5, 2014 at 10:07 am

    I can even do the dance to the dance floor dance… I’ll add a little accent in next time Aidan. hahahahahahaha

     Reply
  3. nige says:
    March 5, 2014 at 11:21 am

    Vibrant meeting I thought, I thought I made a bit if a mess if the edd slot but I think people got the general idea, I am willing to meet people for a 121 plus help with anything on the edd side. Xx

     Reply
  4. Mark Waller says:
    March 5, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Sounds like the normal frivolity has gone on whilst I’ve been sunning myself in Tenerife. Looking forward to being door monitor next week and i see the week after !

     Reply
  5. Stuart Sinclair says:
    March 5, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    With all those kisses Nige, I think I’ll skip the 1-2-1 if that’s ok? :o)

    Great meeting and great 10 minutes Rich – swiftly followed by our 1-2-1 (no kisses exchanged, I promise) although I think Aidan might be shocked to learn ‘TV’ actually stands for TransVestite….. Maybe an alternative costume idea for Jim, if he can’t find a meerkat outfit…

    Until next time ….

     Reply
  6. Ian Nicholson says:
    March 5, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    I see that I need to up my game as I haven’t had a mention in Aidans’ dispatches! I’m thinking that I really ought to start using some financial services acronyms to gain points!!……. Great meeting again, and it followed good 1-1’s with Jim and Christine (separately I might add!) . The 10 minute slot (it was actually 15 as I forgot I was timing Rich) was very informativr and I see a 1-1 with Rich on the horizon. A social evening really sounds a good idea. Without being too simplistic….how about a quick meal in the high street followed by a visit to one of the local hostleries!…..I’m sure Mark’s colleagues could get those of us home who live a fair distance!

    Have a good week everyone….and here’s to more sunlight at the next meeting!!

     Reply
  7. Iain Martin says:
    March 5, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    Another great meeting and 10 min slot from Richard.

    I not sure why Aidan perked up when I spoke about my FREE system health check. Its on offer to all Billericay and Brentwood members and referrals. There are more terms & acronyms that have slightly more suspicious alternatives but I will gradually divulge these over the next few weeks…….see if you can spot them.

     Reply
  8. Robert Osborne says:
    March 6, 2014 at 4:49 pm

    Good meeting and another great 10 minute slot. Think I am going to have to learn about powerpoint presentations to keep up with standard that has been set over the past couple of weeks.

    See everyone next week.

     Reply
  9. Robert Mayes says:
    March 7, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    Good meeting again with a good 10 min slot, I think Aidan was a bit spaced out but I think
    I was not far behind him with not signing in hope you all have a good week & see you all on
    Tuesday, but will have to rush away as I have a meeting in Croydon at 11am.

     Reply

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Recent Blog Posts
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    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
  • Ben’s addiction to BOOBS left nothing to be desired…
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About Essex Business Forum

Essex Business Forum is an association of professional business people and owners of established and reputable SMEs based in Essex which represents every trade and profession, and with the addition of an extended network of businesses in highly specialist fields.

We run weekly business networking groups every Thursday morning in Brentwood, plus other regular events and networking meetings.

We're always looking for new members to join, so if you are interested then come along to one of our meetings.

Recent Blog Posts
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    February 21, 2019
  • Chairman’s Blog 21st Feb, Kevin Brooks just dropped in…
    February 21, 2019
  • Love was in the air
    February 14, 2019
  • QE2 bridge closed; EBF open
    February 7, 2019
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