…the meeting in the small, dark and cosy room

Chairmans Business Networking Blog, 2nd February 2017

Do any of you get that panicky feeling that comes from being locked in a small room for a long time? Well 25 of us were indeed afflicted by the claustrophobic effects of being relocated to the small room behind the restaurant for our meeting.

There were 23 members present and 2 visitors. Dimi Bakalov was back clutching membership application and cheque; I can confirm that the committee approved his application and we accordingly have our thirtieth member.  Our other visitor was Paul Edalere, a local business manager for Santander based in Basildon.

Notwithstanding the good turnout we were initially missing 2 vital components, Scott Griffiths and David Plumley.  David had something akin to man flu.  Scott Griffiths had no such excuse other than the fact that it was his birthday yesterday and he woke up at 7am hung over. To his credit he managed to turn up by 7.30am.  A great effort under the circumstances.

Paul Booth delivered the Ed Slot.  His message was, “don’t just turn up at the meeting on Thursday”.  There are so many other things you should be doing to integrate into the group and help provide and therefore receive lots of referrals.

The 60 Second Round

At the beginning of the 60 second round I felt it necessary to issue a general admonition for anyone extending the 60 second presentation into over 2 minutes.  No names; no pack drill….and consequently everybody was very sharp and timeous throughout the round.  Well done everybody, you know you can do it.

So with everyone on their best behaviour…what about their performances.

He was awarding the Oscar, but pride of place must go to Richard Reed not because he mentioned lots of offers for New Zealand but because, the moment the bell went, he sat down as if he had been poleaxed.

I will mention Nikhil Shah second rather than last.  He would normally been mentioned last because he won the Oscar.  He was however so upbeat that I feel it will stimulate me as I go through the rest of my description of other peoples 60 seconds.  He has apparently had a good start to the year.  He managed to make 2 people cry.  One was a 17 year old who finished up giving him a hug and the other was a grandmother who was made very happy by the prospect of being able to smile again.  Nikhil appears to have a much more rewarding job than I have.  I am however relieved to say that none of my clients have currently offered to give me a hug and I find that in itself usually rewarding.

Brian Painter was at his doom laden best.  A jumbo jet can crash every day for a year with all passengers on board perishing and this would only just about equate with a number of people who die annually from cancer.  Perhaps you now know why I mentioned Nikhil and the hugs and smiles.

Marcelle raised a chuckle by explaining how it is not necessary to match earrings that accurately because… “there is a nose in between”.   It sort of restores your faith in humanity doesn’t it.

Jo Eastwood excelled herself by serving us up some Chinese wine,  Her excuse was the Chinese New Year.  She asked us to identify the wine.  The room was full of wine buffs who all confidently stated  “Shiraz!”…  it was in fact Cabernet Sauvignon blended with a small amount of Merlot.  So much for EBF wine buffery.

Alan Shaw did not quite do enough this week to gain immediate reinstatement to the School of Whimsy but he did tell a good tale of how a local farmer ran a heat pump from a ground source.  This apparently involved going down 90 metres.  My own experience of heating on a farm when I was just a lad perceiving that one of the warmest places is the dung heap. I was commend this to Alan as he seeks to explore different types of heating.

Terry Maylin was keen to explain how at T M Law we can build them up (prepare shareholders agreements) and knock them down, (act for them when they inevitably fall out with their partners).

Alan Moller has been doing “odds and sods” and as a consequence did not feel he could “ blow him out”.  Said “blow out” related to not charging too much to the customer who had received only odds and sods.

Kim Redwood Lee stood up, admitted to being currently disorganised and then fixed us with her best turn you to stone gaze and lectured us all on the importance of being organised.

There ended as good a 60 second round as I can remember for a long while.

The 10 Minute Presentation

As a result of this the referrals and testimonials round was positive and constructive. Perhaps I did not mention, With Howard Bullock’s inability to produce 10 minute there resulted in a lively Q and A session which seems to always go down well… particularly in darkened rooms.

I have every confidence that next week we will be at our usual venue in Mary Green Manor.  Let’s see if we can outdo anattendance of 25.  See you all then.