Chairman’s blog Thursday 20th March 2025

‘Happiness is not having heard the bad news!’  Someone said that but no one at EBF believes it. When we got up to set off for the meeting today it was just light by; the end of the meeting it was glorious sunshine. Today was the spring equinox and nothing was going to disturb the happiness of the 23 members who turned up ready to go.

The Performance League

Scott Griffiths reported that after only two weeks there were eight members over the 100 point mark. Third was Paul Booth on 125 points, Paul Corrigan second on 166 points and well out front is Matt Barry on 296 points.

Education Presentation

Ben Golding’s theme this week was time management. Apparently one of the things he is trying to do is not to let the time he spends defluffing his belly button affect the more important parts of the day.

The starting point must be writing down what you are going to do before the day starts. Try to focus and avoid multitasking, something the blokes will appreciate. Learn to say no and surround yourself with positive rather than negative people.

It is a bit like how to approach being in a happy frame of mind.

New Member Induction & Existing Member Renewal

There are renewals in the pipeline and Terry Maylin took the time to read out an extract from Andy O’Neill’s resignation letter which was both complementary to all of us at EBF but also an indication that he would reconsider membership when his overtly busy schedule allowed. It is always a shame to lose members but we always want it  to be for the right reasons!

The 60 Second Round

Paul Corrigan went first as current Oscar holder and was able to tentatively reveal the that he appears to have resolved his staffing issues and he is ready for anything!.

He was followed by Kory Martin whose 60 seconds was perhaps the most memorable. He guided us all to our mobile phones and where to look to see his website. By the time the 60 seconds was up he had not managed to engage it and we were all left in a delightful kind of suspense.

Matt Barry was able to reveal the new client, namely Podcast Paul and his Essex Celebrant branding. He illustrated through showing us on his laptop with the rather descriptive phrase, ‘fledgling but flowing’

It’s getting close to the 1st April and Blake Hammond was urging us to hurry to his Web site to find things that you can let off that might make an April fool’s day go well.

Soft boy James Humphreys is still exhibiting envy towards burly men. His observation is however that they need someone to help with the more cerebral matters that cross their desk,  including dealing with the forms that need to be filled in in order to effect insurance these days.

Podcast number 3 has been produced and Jon Foster felt he need do not no more in his 60 seconds than refer us all to that podcast if we have not already seen it.

Toby Acton has been very busy engaging with a Formula One team boss with a totally unpronounceable name who is connecting with. No doubt when he reports to us upon the outcome of his conversations he will have a full grasp of his name if nothing else.

Sometimes I find a message delivered in the 60 seconds to be slightly incomprehensible. This was very much the case with Vincent Goode’s presentation this week. Something about a panto formula and the colour described as mocha moose….. The one thing that is certain, however, if the colour is used it will be done speedily.

Best use of props today was from John Hammond. Smart locks were  what he showed us which do not  require data computer connection. Scott Griffiths however did not have props but had the phrase ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’ to illustrate the importance of making websites work properly and the need for his expertise to assist you in doing so.

Joshua Ayettey was the epitome of happiness explaining the pleasure and enjoyment that he gets from his job. This caught Paul Corrigan’s imagination and the Oscar was his.

This weeks statistics and points of note

This week there were another 20 referrals and £13,000 worth of business recorded. Included in this report was a brief exhortation from Podcast Paul to contact him about future podcasts, given their success to date. Contact Paul to discuss things with him.

10-minute presentation by Mike Skinner

It was Mike Skinner’s turn and he effectively had us clustering round the television screen illustrating his early life prior to his current video and photographic work. It is the ultimate accolade for a 10 minute presentation if you obtain a referral from it. However he got one from Joshua. I do not think it was just because he indicated that he had met Anthony Joshua that Joshua felt with necessity but all in all it was a very pleasant, if not to say happy presentation that emphasised his presentation skills as well as the business that he does.