The morning drizzle didn’t stop us turning out in force for EBF on 2nd May and the meeting kicked off with Paul Booth’s education slot about improving one’s 60 second delivery. Top tips included talking slowly, not holding up a piece of paper in front of our faces and just reading off the script….but also that bad news is good, because ‘worry’ sells! Yikes – but true!
Last week’s Oscar winner was Tina who mentioned her new client in the world of sports/speaking engagements and she was followed by Shannon who rapidly had to change planned tack of reading off a piece of paper in front of her face, to mention new social media forays they were introducing! Nick Cooke talked about avoiding hitches at the point of property sale by having his services in advance and Brian talked about dealing with fear of flying and fear of public speaking. James mentioned interest in pub/club and restaurant clients because he sometimes gets to enjoy their wares too – and later, Paul B expressed similar interest in those clients too. Meanwhile, Vincent wants us to have our antennae open for flippin’ fantastic fetes and Rotary club events etc (Fotary Flub doesn’t work) and Toby wants leads to consultants in psychological safety – which was a new one on us.
Jack stood in for tall Paul and mentioned a 10% spring sale and commercial landfill treatment of Legionnaires – which dovetails into Andy’s work testing places and helping them to comply if found positive, to be low risk thereafter. Mike found that his general life pointed to fellow EBF members at every turn, from Terry’s legal services to Clara’s mortgage advice and then Ben helped us to realise that just tuning into our Netflix and favourite viewing could be another Cashback opportunity to save – and we might just use that to enjoy Desperate Housewives all over again!
Stuart asked us to point him in the direction of businesses needing contracts for five or more mobile phone requirements (either physical phones or Sim cards) and Terry mentioned a client who was baulking at £250 to pay until they realised that the compensation to be got from his defaulter was over £2500! After that, Howard took a minute’s silence to get us to ponder on lost opportunities we had missed in the past ….though I’d have liked even more minutes to ponder Leann’s offer to inject personality into your new home.
Jane urged you to book up her fun and delicious Quiz Night and Supper on 28th September, which got the thumbs up from Toby – and then Neil mentioned the highs and lows of his current client enquiries. It turns out that Pub in the Park promises chaos throughout whereas his new lady client, the head of Monkey Business, is a very, er, turned on entrepreneur. We’ll leave that where it lies, shall we? Adrian made us aware of new acts/rights coming in affecting the way businesses deal with pregnant staff and also concerning the distribution of Tips. Reminded me of the time husband Roger worked at a top London hotel on work release – and put his tips in the communal tip jar as told.
However, they later refused to include him in the share out and Roger complained so vociferously, that the hotel staff went out on strike. Marvellous. (In the end, he was allowed to keep his own tips 😀 !)
Finishing this section, Tina awarded the Oscar to Scott Griffiths for mentioning the danger of choosing cheap website hosting. That usually means you’ll be sharing a host with 1000 other businesses and if just one of those provides a ‘gateway’ for shoddy attackers’ malware to secretly use their site for thousands of pages of porn or spam…the other 999 users will likely be affected too. Cheap hosting = false economy therefore!
We had a Q and A session to follow and learned a bit more about some of the businesses or terms used round the table – such as having the phrase ‘enduring powers of attorney’ explained. Very good use of our time – always useful and never a false economy. 😀
Finally Jane reminded that the B to C SYNERGY session was next week (earlier than usual) after the EBF meeting and the topic was Are You Meeting Your Customer’s Needs – And How Do You Know That?! Well done one and all. A great way to start our Thursday.
An excellent and lively meeting with some great questions in the Q&A that we had in place of a 10-minute presentation.
A thoughtful education slot by Paul Booth and a good 60 seconds round!
Yep, Q&A sessions work really well and I enjoy them. A good meeting as always 🙂
So the main thing to take from the meeting is Paul and I want to spend more time in the Pub!
Great meeting and enjoyed the Q&A, thank you Terry for the advice and letting me vent.
Another bouncy, edutaining event – well done everyone. Paul B set us off in style with some great tips and the meeting thrived on banter, business and breakfast thereafter. My favourite day of the week!
Timely ed slot from our interesting Accountant and a good Q and A, always something new to learn It was if I’d never been away! Have a good weekend.
Thank you Jane for an excellent review of a very enjoyable meeting. The Q&A session was really good to partake (and “pargive”!) in
Sounds like a very good meeting was missed. I do miss seeing all your happy smiley faces on a Thursday morning.
A very well written blog Jane, thank you. I would recommend sitting next to Toby, schoolboy humour and stealing his banana was the highlight of the pre-meeting. Thank you to Paul B for his ed slot. Can I order my granola now for next week?
Looks like It was a great meeting. Sorry I could not attend as I was working in Belgium.
Would have liked to have been there for the Q&A session just watched the video.
The q&a sessions are always entertaining and informative! And I had forgotten how far it is from the head honchos when you sit down at Jane’s end of the table.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Great Ed Slot from Paul B. Enjoyable meeting with pleasant Q&A. Thank you Jane for the blog