Well! What a meeting July’s TBN was. As we gathered at The Italian Villa for our special Summer Business Breakfast there was a truly buoyant atmosphere. Over 120 business people united to do some good old productive networking that’s synonymous with our monthly meet ups.
As the morning’s event begun and the sun shone down, standing at the top of the Italian Villa’s steps to their beautiful garden, there was truly a sight to behold with so many faces talking, exchanging business cards and putting the business world to rights.
With Britain’s unpredictable weather and conflicting reports, the decision was made to host the formal networking inside of the Villa. Those who attended 2016’s summer breakfast will remember the frantic toing and froing to avoid the rain and so, for the sake of more productive networking, this year was held indoors.
Breakfast, as always at the Villa, was superb with tender sausages and crispy bacon proving the perfect pick-me-up to get everyone ready for the roundtables and one-minute pitches. With plenty of discussions taking place from the best CRM tools for small businesses (Xero and Zoho proving most popular), to procurement practices, to government changes to recording business finance legislations, conversations were fruitful and aplenty.
The morning’s speakers included Justin and Tony of Beales Gourmet and The Italian Villa who informed us records had been broken that morning as their team had served 120 breakfasts in just 30 minutes. A cracking personal best for the outstanding Beales Gourmet gang!
TBN member and regular Becky Craig of Blu Lake was next to speak with an insight into her experience competing in Business Come Dancing and the parallels between dance and the business world. Her three key points to take away were:
- Have a clear vision for your business/dance but always be prepared to go with the flow!
- Stick to your strengths but be prepared to push yourself too!
- Trust your own gut!
With the warm weather and talks of dancing, there was a real party feel to the morning which was accentuated when a sporadic Mexican wave of cheers between tables broke out during the second roundtable sessions. It’s no secret that we like to have fun at TBN in between the formalities and dynamic networking!
Sharon from Move On Rentals was our next speaker. A born and bred local Sharon has a passion for community involvement presenting and producing her own radio show plus writing a regular column for House magazine. Her local knowledge and community passion are what makes Move on Rentals one of the best at what they do – knowing the top areas to buy, sell and rent locally.
Then it was time for the alluring Abi of Daze Entertainment to put our members on the spot as she called three members to join her. As a seasoned burlesque dancer, she topped off this month’s fiesta of a business breakfast by dressing her volunteers in burlesque hats with accompanying fans. This was for good reason though as she demonstrated how to transfer burlesque talents to improve your networking skills. Showing everyone how to keep a good posture to portray confidence, how to keep eye contact without looking seductive, and last, but not least, how to shimmy – as everyone needs a good laugh! Props must be given to Andy who provided an enthusiastic shimmy to the room!
Finally, Dave of TBN Advantage spoke to us all to encourage everyone, funnily enough, to take advantage of our new benefits for members. Our charismatic host, Jay Ratchet, was on hand to testify how he has saved money on fuel and won £1,000 of business thanks to TBN Advantage. So, if you too want some extra benefits from your membership, click here.
Thanks to everyone who attended this month’s special Summer TBN festivities!
We hope you can join us again next month, 3rd August, back at the Hallmark West Cliff, 7 am – 9 am. Register now!
Thanks to drone8 for the featured photo this month.