Only 16 of us today but a small but perfectly formed meeting was nonetheless lively and as always, effective.
Performance League
Congratulations to Terry Maylin on winning May’s league with 251 points, he was followed by Clara Downton with 188 points and Mike Skinner with 183
Education Slot
Jane Malyon’s theme this week was the importance of making your 60 second presentation memorable. To be memorable it doesn’t have to be eternal (only 60 seconds remember!) But it’s has to stand out as a message. Edutaining was her amalgam of a suggestion as to what we should be aiming for. Calling your shop that sells vegetables a sex shop apparently worked for someone in South Africa. Use props, sound effects and be silly… if not rude. A good point well made!
Membership Matters
New member- Terry Maylin announced that Patrick Mullarkey had joined for an initial period of six months.
Renewals- two out of three who were up for renewal have rejoined but unfortunately Sarah Smith is not joining for another year. She sent Terry an e-mail explaining why the changes in her business model means that she has to move on. We are sorry to see her go, she has been a valuable addition to our group for her short stay and we wish her well.
60-Second Presentation Round
Paul Dulieu had a slightly new pitch this week. He recognises the importance of pets to their owners and can certainly help as a celebrant where there has been an animal bereavement. Having delivered this slightly different request he settled down to do the adjudicating.
Toby Acton emphasised the importance of clarity of purpose as we look to advance our businesses. You need to know why you’re doing it, as well as how to do it.
Steve Chilton emphasised the need to temper loyalty with being certain that your existing broker is treating every annual renewal as if it were a new one, that’s certainly what he does.
If Paul Dulieu departed from the usual so did Paul Corrigan. He can be of assistance if your central heating is oil fired and he gave us a rundown of what they can do to help.
Stuart Smallcombe is going to be away for three weeks. He’s spending one week in Ibiza and then two weeks in Mexico. If your holiday requires you to take your mobile phone be careful, think about spending caps and at least make sure you sorted it out with your provider. Even normal use might involve huge expense
Clara Downton dealt with the suggestion the first time buyers represented a good client to her at the moment, there are good mortgage deals around and also plenty of properties on the market.
Scott Griffiths explained how his job was very much one of solving problems, and he had been heavily involved in this for one of his major clients this week; but also he indicated that there are some clients who come to him who are just too weird. He did make reference to a Voyeur house but did not share with us some of the bizarre e-mail addresses they had.
Sylvia Neveda came up with the catch line of the week ‘you’re only as good as your worst cleaner’.
Jane Malyon provided a photographic illustration as to what they no longer do, but she also had time to show us the noble ‘scone’ with both pronunciations used and jam being shown adorning it both on top and underneath cream.
Howard Bullock highlighted changes in the Inheritance Tax Law which involved the taxation of personal pension plans. He can help!
Catherine Foley managed to deliver her 60 seconds and for her ‘trooper like’ efforts she was quite rightly awarded the Oscar!
10-Minute Presentation by Joshua Ayettey
A careful and very effective presentation was made by Joshua Ayettey. He put his Architect work into the context of four stages: 1.feasibility 2. sketch options 3. planning applications 4. technical design. With illustrations on the television screen, he effectively held everyone’s attention as to what he does. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately he and his wife have been authorised to foster children, and his success is unfortunately our loss.
Please note that next week is the David Plumley memorial breakfast, when we will be joined by some of our retired members in the celebration of this former member’s life and his contributions to EBF. You will need a dad joke for your 60 seconds. I’m hoping for what should be an upbeat get together with the meeting following its usual format. Please can I ask you all to do everything you can to be in attendance.
Well done Joshua on an excellent presentation.
A really excellent presentation from Joshua whose passion for his profession was clear for all to see and a great reminder from Jane that the key to being memorable is often to make it silly or rude!
Thank you for your concern yesterday and especially to Jane’s excellent care!
Sorry, I missed your ten minutes, Joshua. I would have loved to have been there. Hope you are feeling better, Catherine. See you all next week