Chairman’s Business Networking Blog, Thursday 28th January 2016.
21 Members present and one visitor John Flaherty.
Of the members Stuart Smallcombe was subbed by James White one of his company’s employees who gave a good account of himself.
The guts had been knocked out of the Naughty Corner in that Howard Bullock and Stuart Smallcombe were not present., However sometime stand in Michael Adelizzi joined forces with Dean Caldon and further re-enforcements came from an unlikely source,namely Mike Rogers added cynicism and grumpiness to the natural naughtiness of the corner itself.
The Education Slot was a treat this week with Brian Painter telling us a fable about a stonemason. Aforementioned stonemason had the ability to transform himself by simply expressing the wish to be something else. He went from stonemason to prince, the sun, a cloud, a mountain and then back to being a stonemason. I think the purpose the fable was to illustrate envy causing stress. It also showed a lack of imagination so far as the stonemason was concerned, even I could of have thought of lots of things to do with my transformation but hay ho…even if nobody understood the parable it was used by one or two of us in our 60 seconds notably Paul Booth. The stonemason finished up a client of his, saving lots and lots of tax.
So what of the 60 second round.
Michael Adelizzi gave us a walkthrough of him stripping out and refitting a bathroom. It could have been a voiceover on a documentary showing the work going on.
Donna Evans has been trying to impress a big Irish builder; Lucinda is looking for mortgage brokers.
As to the School of Whimsy, they remain intent on trying to demonstrate they are perfectly normal people. Alan Shaw is designing a glass roof to link a turret with a main building but it was later in the meeting that he excelled himself by indicating that he would quite like to run a sandwich bar. Nick Cook really played it with a straight bat; structural surveys and problems were totally on message and Brian Painter, fresh from his fable, produced a statistic that 1 out of four people visiting him are suffering from stress. It wasn’t the content but more the way he announced, it sounded like the opening to Star Trek, “STRESS!…the Final Frontier. These were the words of the Pilgrim the stress controller”. I think they will be at their Whimsical best next week…..they are getting there!
Dean Caldon unmercifully ripped into Purple Bricks ; having wetted my appetite I went onto their website. Truly frightening faces appeared being advertised as their resident experts for various parts of the Country. Come back Sarah Beeny, all is forgiven…or rather….. go to Redstones.
Scott Griffiths was threatening to attack weary old websites by poking them with a sharp stick. I suppose it’s better than a poke in the eye with a wet umbrella.
Jo Eastwood captured the imagination with a beer rather puzzling named “little things that kill” If she carries on like this there will be an invitation to join the School of Whimsy.
It was Terry Maylin who won the Oscar with his description of positively assisting a client who was an employee of Santander. His “kick ass” approach commended itself Dean Caldon who as a member of the Naughty Corner likes to see a bit of rough and tumble
It was from the 60 second round that we tumbled into the Meeting Secretary’s Report. By the end of the meeting almost £10,000 worth of business had been recorded and there were 20 referrals.
Our 10 minute speaker was Gill Willis who gave a truly professional performance illustrating exactly what she does and how she does it with the assistance of a screen presentation. I think she has now successfully managed to draw together all the strands of her business and we are all far better equipped to go out and find business for her…..so let’s do it.
I do not regard myself as an entirely sensitive person but I could not help being concerned about Richard Reeds feeling of isolation expressed in his comments to my Blog last week. Let me finish therefore by telling you that Richard Reed is trying to dissuade us all from going to Paris by suggesting that the hotel in the particular offer he had was rubbish; he seemed to regard the distinct possibility that you can be shot by terrorists as something either relatively inconsequential or rather exciting His suggestion was,go to to Paris, particularly if the wife wanted to do so….. but go for a different hotel. That’s the way to deal with Islamic Fundamentalists.
If none of us get blown up I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Great meeting always good to see guests hopefully to become members, brilliant presentation Gill, good weekend to you all ?
Well attended meeting folks with 21 members plus one “handyman” visitor who said he will be back… the florist last week said that and if she fails to join and virtually guarantee her membership would be covered by valentines day business well,,, they say you can lead a horse to water don/t they!!
Jo Jones said “it’s all about what you put in, 80% intake (food/alcohol) & 20% exercise” oh oh..
PS: Aidan, if we stopped going to everywhere there was a real or perceived risk we would never leave our homes!
Great meeting everyone, and I have to say again what a great presentation it was by Gill, very professional. Well done Aidan on the blog. The cryptic ed slot by Brian was erm… interesting.. I think. Have a great weekend and see you all next week.
Richard is absolutely correct, you can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead. A very professional 10 mins from Jill, I didn’t count a single “um” or “er” What a difference in the attitude with the staff at Mary Green compared to WPGC. There members of the staff frequently gave an impersonation of Michael Flatly as they walked from the top of the stairs to the kitchen. Joanne has been charged with the task of converting my beer barrel in to a 6 pack. It reminded me of “it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than…………………………” See ya all next week.
I agree with those who have commented already. The meeting was superb and I am very pleased that you all had an opportunity to meet my guest John “Small Jobs” Flaherty. I have to say that he is very good indeed at whatever he does and he pays a good deal of attention to every part of the task whether it is in the house or in the garden. I suggested he gets more cards printed as they seem to fly out his hand shortly after his 60 second delivery.
Jill – your 10 min presentation was truly superb. In addition to myself, I’m sure everyone else will benefit from your specialist knowledge and advice.
Aidan – your blog as ever is erudite and witty and I admire you for taking the time out to produce such a light hearted but well crafted lucubration (yes others might need to look it up) after each meeting.
Excellent meeting made even better by winning both the Oscar and door prize! Great 10 minutes Jill, very professional. good to see the numbers up and good to see John as a guest and hope he joins! Good luck with those looking for photographers.
These meetings always leave me feeling more motivated and focused! Yes an excellent 10 minute presentation Jill – definitely need your help with my future marketing! Have a lovely weekend everyone and see you next week 🙂
Sounds like a very vibrant meeting with plenty of business passed. Sorry I couldn’t be there again – I will next week no matter who calls or what I am struck down with! I’m interested as to why Alan would like to run a sandwich bar – where did that topic arise?! I hope the florist and handyman do join – I will have flowers from the first and jobs for the second 🙂 See you on Thursday for my health and safety talk!