First Aid

I meant to write this blog in March, as I had noticed a photo on Facebook, which when I read about it, I found very interesting and motivational. The photo is of a present given to David Husband of BNI Dylan, in Swansea.

David has been a member for around 18 months, which most of, due to Covid, has been online, and, as he has said to me, that has meant that we have all had to learn to adapt how we work, meet and communicate. And for some of us this has been very difficult; getting used to break-out rooms, not just chatting, not meeting people to invite, no business cards, less work; and some people lost their motivation.

David had his Feature Presentation, which he made interactive (with new Zoom skills). He also did an Education Slot (interactive) and encouraged members to use Zoom before and after their meetings. This then led to social media, working with the chapter's IT company, on to a members list that could be downloaded, that included lots of information about each member, Power Teams, plus much more.

This has led to a great feeling in BNI Dylan and, in return for all of his amazing ideas and work, the chapter gave David a food hamper from the chapter's butcher.

I think that we can all learn a great deal from David’s thinking; not just for now, but for years to come.

I titled this blog ‘First Aid’ because that is what David does; Dewi Development, First Aid Training. He provides First Aid training, coaching and mental health consultation.

If you like the sound of this why not give him a call?

What a mess!

Now before you start thinking that this is about something bad, let me explain.

I visited, by Zoom, the Hawke Chapter in Bristol recently, and the Featured Presentation was one of the best that I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve told lots of people about it and, via me, the company has already received more business.

The presentation started as normal and the person put on a white lab coat but was then handed a small pot of baked beans. Interesting, I thought! Then the lady talked about the various types of dirt and mess they came across. At exactly the same time (now with goggles added) pots of the stuff, including the baked beans, were poured over her head. I’d never seen such a mess of gunge.

Well, this was the type of mess (although rather extreme) that Claudia and her company - A Cleaning Service – cleaned for people and extremely well.

I loved the presentation and, as I have already said, I’ve told lots of people about it, and she has already received a referral via me.

So, what’s your next Featured Presentation going to be like?

I also liked the meeting overall. There were a few small unusual things: the Leadership Team waved as they were introduced, a great countdown clock on screen during the 60 Seconds (although only 30 seconds this day), and two Awards. The Pink Croc Award was an extra.

This meeting was rather special for two reasons; a visitors day (29 visitors, I think), plus the last meeting of the current Leadership Team, which included Matt Richardson, who had been the President for the past three years. Now he was brilliant (he also plays the Bass guitar).

The meeting was fun, well run and the Chapter is passing a very good amount of business. If I lived in Bristol, I would love to attend the meeting in future.

The Hawke Chapter really made me feel that I would love to be a part of it.

Special note: I was invited to attend by Cathy Provenzano, a rather good Lettings Agent in Bristol.

One-2-One in Mumbai

 Over the years I’ve been in BNI, since 2003 in fact, it has proved very worthwhile for me, not just for referrals, but for many other reasons; obviously most often from my own chapter but also around the country.

Right now, I can remember needing beautiful flowers in Oxford and a plumber in Southsea; very good reliable companies. I’ve also recently had members supporting my new children’s book and a few years ago helping me with a wonderful trip to Australia.

Well this week, I’ve had a One-2-One with a member in Mumbai. It was early morning for me, afternoon for them and the best part was seeing each other via Zoom. It’s such a great device to use today.

We had a very good and interesting meeting and I was also lucky enough to see their full 10 Minute PowerPoint Presentation – which was very distinct and beautiful.

Anjali Vhatkar is the founder and CEO of the Elaura Art Gallery and their work is amazing. If I had rooms large enough, there was art I saw that I would love to have, but sadly I don’t have walls that big!

However, what I can do is to speak to the architects and interior designers, and even hotel owners, I know, to see if they would like to know more about Elaura Art and how they could own one of these beautiful pieces.

But, what I like best is that I love the products (the art) and I find Anjali very distinctive, which means that I will talk about the Elaura Art Gallery to my friends, and in the past I’ve often found that this often leads to my friends asking me about the person I’m chatting about (how good they are?) and then to them later receiving referrals.

So, have you a great story to tell, that your fellow members will want to convey to their friends? Because, if you do, you might just find your referral number increases afterwards.

Gone fishing

David Moore (Novaglass) our double-glazing expert stands up for his 60 Seconds; he has a fishing rod in his hands. It seems that David likes to cast a line for a little relaxation in his spare time. I also discover that Matt Phils (A-Plan), our insurance broker, likes nothing better than to coax a monster carp into his landing net from a beautiful lake as often as he can. Although with two small children it’s not happened for a while.

Back row: Simon Harris, Mike Daly, Steve Cole, David Moore, David Wimblett
Front row: Nevill Godwin, Chris Denny

So why is this all going on at BNI Elmbridge? Well our 60 Seconds are all about our hobbies (with props of course). Now some of you might be thinking ‘but what’s that got to do with business?’ and the answer is, it’s about relationship building. Getting to know one another better. Finding something we have in common, a connection, because it really can make a big difference in how well people work together.

A great example of this happened to me a few years ago now. There was a member in my chapter that I seldom talked to and he didn’t go out of his way to talk to me either. Don’t know why, we just didn’t gel. Then he did his 10 Minutes and everything changed.

For his 10 Minutes he changed into his motorcycle racing leathers and he told us all about the racing he did around Europe. Now I was a big Barry Sheene fan and this got us talking. Cutting a long story short, the result was me referring him to one of my best friends, something that other than finding out about his hobby would never have happened.

So, I highly recommend that you have a Hobbies 60 Second at your chapter very soon if you haven't had one already.

And, obviously it’s not just about building business relationships, as I have now been clay pigeon shooting with Steve Cole (S. J. Cole & Co), our master builder, and I’m going pike fishing with David in the autumn. Just brilliant!

NOTE: Photograph by Andrew Boschier

Feature Presentation is a bit of a Lottery!

Sometimes it can be hard to think of a topic for your Feature Presentation; sometimes the thought of doing one can be just plain scary. So how about this for an idea?

I saw this presentation some time ago but was reminded of it while attending a recent Member Success workshop. It’s clever, easy to put together and requires no special presentation skills. But what I like best about this presentation is that you are totally in control.

It’s a variation on the ‘Any Questions?’ presentation where you just spend 10 minutes answering questions and of course giving the answers. The problem is, and I’ve seen it, with this type of presentation is that often members can’t think of any (or enough) questions to ask. And there are worrying silences. Then, of course, you have the pressure of having to ‘think on your feet’ to give good answers, added to which the questions asked might not be the ones you really wanted to answer.

So how was this presentation different?

Firstly, it got every member involved and so was very interactive. As I’ve already said it was fun, there were more than enough questions, but the best part was that the only questions asked were the ones that demonstrated exactly what the presenter did and how he could help them.

He gave one member a bingo machine to operate (with 49 balls in) and every other member a folded piece of paper with a number on (1 to 49). Some members were given two numbers.

The bingo machine was spun, a number popped out, and the ‘caller’ gave the number. Then the member with that number, unfolded their paper, read out the question and the practiced answer given.

It was the perfect answer, to the perfect question. Just brilliant!

Just one thing to note; you do need to prepare 49 questions in advance.

So, if you are ever stuck for an idea, or nervous about giving a Feature Presentation, then why not give this a go?