21 members present with special mention to Shannon Savedge standing in for Clara Downton and Neil Bellham who brought along with him freshly baked madeleines that were passed round during the 60 second round.
The Performance League
Matt Barry is out front with 209 points followed by Neil Bellham and Toby Acton.
Education Presentation
It was the tale of five monkeys delivered by Toby Acton; their reaction to a bunch of bananas suspended above a ladder and an ice cold water spray directed at the first three monkeys that tried to climb the ladder to claim the bananas. After this the others became wise and avoided getting soaked leaving the bananas alone. They were replaced 1 by 1 until no monkey present had the memory of the soaking but all still observed the same behaviour. The establishment of entrenched positions without knowing why can be a challenge to the businessman of longstanding and his staff. The moral of the story would appear to be that we should constantly challenge ourselves and the assumptions that we make about the conduct of our business; that or we have a clear illustration of how the belief in a God arose in society!. I think Toby was suggesting the former.
The 60 Second Round
Mike Skinner was not only judging the Oscar award but is also pretty well booked up. Small jobs only until after Christmas.
Matt Barry was able to tell us of a charity workshop that he held this week with attendees from EBF, namely Mike Skinner and Scott Griffiths. Good news was that he found the EBF connection very useful and the attendees very professional.
Neil Bellham has been writing menus and doing boring stuff but before he hits the busy season he baked us all some madeleines. Most of us can be bribed but Mike Skinner did not award him the Oscar for this thoughtful and delicious presentation. As far as the Oscar award was concerned, I know I will not spoil the reading of the rest of this blog by announcing that in fact it was Brian Painter who received the award for helping an Indian lady come to terms with 2 successive abusive arranged marriages
Shannon Savedge was upbeat as she told of mortgage reductions from 6.29% to 5.8%. Consequential savings can be quite substantial and welcome as things continue to improve.
Blake Hammond and Jane Malyon maintained the Christmas theme as they sought orders for their products. With Blake, outdoor clothing and gift cards, with Jane she was looking for earlier orders so that she can start the production line going sooner rather than later and spread the load. She sees herself and Roger as running a train service which is currently under subscribed. At least that is what I thought she was saying.
Slightly more disturbing was James Humphreys interest in burly trades men and women who might well be underinsured whilst Paul Booth is looking for sole traders who need their accounts preparing.
It was a busy 60 second round with the added incentive that the Q&A that was to follow in the absence of our 10 minute presenter meant you had to concentrate a little harder, which of course is no bad thing.
Synergy Team Report
Paul Booths finance team meeting took place on Tuesday, The last one before the Christmas dinner when hopefully all potential attendees will come along. Watch out for the announcement.
10-minute Q&A Session
As always, lots of questions and a seamless shift into the referrals and testimonials round. It is a nice change to have the Q&A session and Stuart Smallcombe in particular was kept very busy.
Let’s maintain our attendance levels through to next week when we have the added incentive of Aunty Jane’s final synergy team meeting of the year to look forward to immediately after the meeting proper.
Good meeting. I always wonder if the question time section will work and it always ends up being interesting.
Good ed slot Toby
Excellent meeting and lively q and a session interesting Ed slot from Toby but I lost count of the monkeys!