Mixing it up while staying consistent

When running a series of events, like networking, Sayers Solutions recommends that consistency is key – no changing the time, date, location or format.  However, that doesn’t mean it has to be boring, and there are still many ways you can mix it up

Merewyn has been hosting the FSB West Yorkshire networking event on Tuesday mornings since April 2020 and some might say she has perfected her own unique style.  It’s a “say and spray” type event (as she calls it) where everyone has 60 seconds to introduce themselves and their business. 

If there is time at the end there are break out rooms and there is lots of banter in the chat function and between introductions. 

Everyone is made to feel welcome (or not depending on their preference) and we have a giggle while making business introductions.

We have a good loyal following of attendees, with many that dip in and out over the weeks, as well as new faces each week.

In amongst our regulars, we have Mr Incredible, Paul Stamp (who reveals his superhero identity when drinking from is mug), “Stan from Sweden” – seeing him wince each time she says it, amuses Merewyn (its purely retaliation for the things he says in return) and Tearful Daniel – who was named during our first Christmas online meeting, while Merewyn slurred her way through her Baileys breakfast (it was Christmas!), giggling that Daniel, who lives in Kent, had just found out he was in tier 4 and locked up for Christmas … how little she knew at the time!

There are many occasions when conversations go off course, influencing the rest of the meeting (and several others), an example of this is “Egg chat” – where the meeting was dominated by several different mentions of how attendees liked their eggs cooking.

And more recently, on the Tuesday before Kirklees Business Conference, we had Donut chat. 

Merewyn had attended CHS Leeds the month before and had received a Project D doughnut from one of the stands.  Merewyn worked in a bakery as a teenager, so feels she has had a life of doughnut connoisseuring and has previously turned her nose up to American style donuts.  But this Project D was AMAZING!

So, during the FSB West Yorkshire networking event, she was trying to convince people who had stands at the Kirklees Conf to have doughnuts as giveaways … and if people didn’t use their full 60 seconds, Merewyn asked “what type of donut do you like” … until we reached Michael …  

In his pitch, Medical Insurance Michael said “if you want help with your eyes, we can help.  If you want help with your hearing, we can help.  And if you want to be the one at the nudist camp with two glasses of wine, whilst carrying a tray of doughnuts.  I am your man …”.

**Edit**

We stand corrected ….

Well …

We are pretty sure Gareth from Clockwork Eye will not mind us saying that he was completely broken after hearing this.  His shoulders were shuddering, he was taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes.  He even had to turn off his camera. Twice!

And as you can imagine Donut chat continued into the next day at the conference – however Merewyn is sad to report, that there were no donuts available at Kirklees Conference.

It’s a thing

Last week, while making a cuppa tea before the meeting, Merewyn had an idea to mix it up again and welcomed everyone with the announcement that they were going to play a game.

Everyone was asked to grab a thing from around them, saying it could represent their business or not.

They then each had 10 seconds to introduce their thing, before the main section of the meeting, in which attendees were invited to include reference to their thing – or someone else’s – in their 60 seconds.

It wasn’t until about halfway through that Merewyn realised she hadn’t announced her thing (or even looked for one) … and then the horror dawned on her, that she’d said there was going to be judging and a winner … but hadn’t even considered how that would work …

However, at the end of the meeting Barney Mynott, the West Yorkshire Development Manager, performed an awesome ‘rap’ including several of the things mentioned by the attendees throughout the meeting …

Merewyn has numerous #ProudtobeFSB moments, especially working alongside such a great guy, but this tops them all!  Barney is always ready with the facts, figures and interesting commentary, complemented by a wicked dry sense of humour.

Prop week was really enjoyable; it was good to mix it up, bringing a different flavour to the meeting, whilst staying consistent.

Merewyn plans to run with it for a couple of weeks to see if the idea beds in, and if it is a thing; however, it won’t be a fixed feature unless our attendees want it.

If you could bring a prop to a meeting that described what you do, what would you bring?

So here we show how while keeping consistent, there are ways that you can mix it up and keep things lively and interesting.

How do you mix up what you do, without losing the consistency?

FSB West Yorkshire is held each Tuesday morning at 10am on Zoom. You do not have to be a member of the FSB or located in West Yorkshire. To book your place please visit the FSB calendar here – https://www.fsb.org.uk/event-calendar.html

Merewyn is one of two Area Leads for the FSB in West Yorkshire and is a conduit between members and the organisation.

If you would like to find out more about Merewyn’s involvement with the FSB or the services provided via Sayers Solutions please visit – https://www.sayerssolutions.co.uk/book-a-session-with-sayers-solutions/