A low turnout was expected this week, so it was pleasing to find 20 members in attendance and one visitor Paul Edalere. Once again, we had a beautifully sunny morning, clear skies and members equally clear eyed, and bushy tailed. Before the meeting got underway, we were treated to the Sensational Sock competition whereby those members who had remembered wore outlandish socks and the outcome, as judged by Jane Malyon gave first place to Scott Griffiths with socks that were pink in background but contained faces of the board members. He deserved the first spot if for no other reason than he specifically wore Crocs so that he could adequately display a foot fetishist’s dream.
The Performance League
When the meeting finally got underway, we had welcomed Paul Edalere as our visitor, Matt Barry on his return from sabbatical and finally Nick Cooke from COVID. Scott Griffiths was upbeat for good reason, last month’s league produced more than half of the members reaching the 88-point benchmark with the winner Neil Bellham 261 points followed by myself and Jane Malyon.
Education Presentation
I frequently refer to this part of the meeting as the Ed “slot”. Paul Dulieu delivered what definitely couldn’t be described as a “slot”. His theme was how lonely it can be if you are your own or other people’s boss. This coupled with many of us now working from home creates potential mental health issues. Paul described the feelings as being “Pretty Blugh” which I thought was an excellent description. He then followed up with tips such as, if at home step away from the work from time to time. Be willing to say no to work if for whatever reason you feel unable to deal with properly.. As well as taking time out find time to meet and interreact. EBF is a good place to do this but be willing to find someone who you can talk to, again EBF can be a good source of finding someone. Well thought out and well-presented and got us off to a flying start.
New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal
Terry Maylin did the honours by formally inducting Hannah O’Shea as our most recent member. Welcome Hannah!!
The 60 Second Round
Scott Griffiths, in his capacity as Oscar judge, started us off by extolling the virtues of live chat. He does quite a lot of work with Paul Dulieu in relation to websites so I can report as no surprise but several members later, Paul also explained how he could assist in developing his own version of live chat for customers. It is to Scott’s credit that the Oscar went elsewhere.
The three Mikes were present only separated in turn by Hannah O’Shea. Mike Hickson was celebrating designated days including Roast Leg of Lamb Day and National Cream Tea Day. I cannot remember what day today was other than it was World something or other Day.[Editors note: It was World Password day]. Mike Skinner also was into lists, giving tips of how to best use his services. Pay attention to script, simplicity, lighting and look. Mike Rogers on the other hand who would have won the title of most polite member for putting a please after his sandwich order on the Sign In sheet, claimed that he cut down his own personal stress by only working 1% of his time. he may be known later on as Mr 1%.
We were all feeling upbeat by this time. William Verner brought us all down to earth by confirming how the current financial climate has affected lending. It needed Ben Golding to lift the spirits. He produced the chat up line of the week for a nurse who was attending him by enquiring of her energy needs. She is now a member of Utility Warehouse. Seasonal trends do not apply to hypnotherapy Brian Painter is looking forward to an influx of people with fear of flying with the holiday season now being upon us. Tina Walker’s business can also be seasonal, and she is currently looking to organise events.
Best use of props this week was Jane Malyon who produced two jars of the highest quality jam together with wooden spoons so that we could all carry out a taste test. Such a risky venture even induced the sympathy of our Vincent and he desisted the temptation to bell her out after 60 seconds. There is a soft side to the ink and print man.
Our Oscar winner this week produced an exemplary 60 seconds. It was Stuart Smallcombe who related what he did for the clients that he needs to attract thereby giving us an easy insight into what referrals we should be looking for. It was good to see someone win the Oscar by producing an on message presentation without any frills.
10-minute presentation by Terry Maylin
As a result of various cry offs we were facing a Q&A but Terry Maylin stepped into the breach and produced a quiz on invoicing and collecting payments due. It was very effective and it was an unimportant illustration of being ready to produce 10 minutes of very short notice thereby gaining the benefits of an extra slot.
Speaker’s prize
It can only be won if you put in a referral. This week newly inducted member, Hannah won a bottle of Malbec which Terry Maylin provided.
Referral reality check
This recently revived section of the meeting showed how effective referrals have been over the last week. It also emphasised how many people were absent despite the relatively good turnout.
Next week I will join the missing but hopefully, with absent members returning we will have a good turnout.
What a lovely way to start the day waving our feet around in front of you all !
Beats working !
well done on the attendance especially bearing in mind all the absentees!
Great to be back and good to see some new faces
Thank you Paul D for your emotive ed slot, I know how lonely it can be, working in a busy print shop with customers coming in and phoning me all day. Great tips though. An enjoyable meeting, boosted by the welcome return of the Mattmeister yay!
Great ed slot Paul D and 10 minutes Terry. Welcome, Hannah. See you all next week.
So hang on a minute.. Scott arranges an EBF Sock competition, knowing full well he has some specialist EBF socks in the draw, that he won a similar competition with two years ago!! Whats going on here??!?!? Its a fix!! Stewards Enquiry!!! lol 🙂
Now YOU hold on smallks. It wasnt me that had any part in arranging the competition, this was at the request of Jane Malyon. I was, as you can now imagine, happy for it to go ahead, knowing the arsenal I had stashed in my sock drawer.
No hold on! Scott did award you the Oscar rather dubiously imo, maybe he felt guilty about winning the sockoff with the same socks. Double indemnity isn’t it called? Terry? Terry? x
Sounds like a great meeting. Sorry I missed it… I’ll be back!
Socks ahoy – another great meeting with inspiring words. Loved your 10 mins Terry – really interesting. I laughed so much, I cricked my neck!
Sorry that I couldn’t make this one folks.
Welcome to Hannah & a welcome return to Matt. Well done to Neil.