Let’s face it, FREE events are all about marketing. You’re not stupid. You know that. So, when you sign up to attend a FREE event, you know that at some point, the business delivering the event are going to ‘sell’ or promote something. That’s what’s in it for them. What’s in it for you, is that you have the opportunity to ‘try before you buy’ at no cost other than the investment of your time.

Now, if you’re anything like me with a busy life, time is precious. My time is extremely valuable to me so, if I am going to attend a FREE event, I want to be sure that I’m going to get a return on my investment. I want to know that it’s going to be worth my while.

So, when considering attending a FREE event, the first thing you need to do is be clear about the purpose for which you are attending. What are YOU wanting to get out of the day? Once you are clear about this, check that that is what you will be getting! There’s nothing worse than sitting through something, wishing you hadn’t bothered.

Secondly, research the company and/or the presenters. Does their background and expertise support your objectives? Use the internet for starters. You’ll be surprised at how
much you can find out. After all, you wouldn’t want to attend a food seminar specialising in sausages, if you ran a vegetarian restaurant. Whilst they may offer some vegetarian options, my guess would be that these wouldn’t be their specialism and they probably wouldn’t be in a position to answer any vegetarian specific questions at any depth. You want to be sure that your facilitators understand your needs, can relate to your world and speak your language!

Now when it comes to the selling part, for me, there are two distinct differences in approach. One approach is for the organisers to hold their audience hostage and not let anyone leave the room until they have signed up to their services and the second is to allow people to make up their own minds on the product, based on the experience that they have just had. These differences result in one of two final impressions. The first is a feeling of being SOLD to and the second, a feeling of being INFORMED. I know which one I prefer.

Our approach to our FREE events are based on what we believe our clients want and appreciate.  Our sessions are value packed and informative and it is evident from the feedback that we have received on them that our participants truly appreciate what we offer. What we deliver on our free sessions is a true reflection of the services that we offer
(what you see is what you get). We like to think that we treat people the way that we like to be treated, with honesty and integrity and respect for individual choice. If, at the end of the session, what we offer is not for you, that’s ok, at least you’ll be making a well informed decision. And if it is, then you can be confident in any further investment in us that you make.

So, the answer to the question I believe is “yes”. If at the end of any FREE session you feel sufficiently informed to make a confident decision, regardless of whether that is to invest further or not, then it was worth attending. Remember to check out the menu, check out the chef and enjoy your free lunches…….

Whilst there is value is ‘getting out of the office’ and ‘visiting patients in their own environments’, there is even more value and return in focussing on the front-line and the patient/customer experience. Anyone in business know that the most effective tool for marketing by far is word of mouth and this is why the world is embracing the power of social networking vehicles to get their messages across (but that’s another discussion altogether).

The point I am making is that unhappy or dis-engaged patients will tell on average 22 people of their experience, which hardly supports customer engagement and could totally counteract any efforts/initiatives in patient engagement elsewhere. Address and embrace patient engagement on the frontline and you’ll be on your way.

It’s not always about introducing new processes or new inititiative that need to be introduced in addition to already huge workloads, it’s about doing things differently to change behaviours. It’s about working smarter, working more efficiently and focussing on an outcome of excellence in patient care with increased engagement.

He joined the school two days after his 3rd birthday. He looked so small compared to the older children. ”He was only two years old last week, and now he’s at such a big school” I had said to my husband on the phone after dropping him off. ”He’ll be alright” my husband had said. And he was right. My little boy had quickly made friends and was enjoying his time in nursery.

A couple of weeks ago the school had informed us of the groups that the nursery children had been split into for Reception and to my surprise (and that of some of the other Mums), my little boy was being placed into a group away from his closest friends. As my little Knight was still in training and not yet qualified to fight his own battles I stepped in and without going into great detail, was advised that the current process for splitting the children into groups, unfortunately, didn’t allow for parent input or feedback and that unfortunately, no changes would be made. I was assured that changes would be made for next year and that the split wouldn’t effect existing relationships. I guess time will tell.

It was only on reflection that I realised that although I wasn’t happy with the decision, I took comfort in the fact that challenges like these will happen often in his lifetime and I won’t always be there to fight his battles. He is a Knight in training and train he will. With the right support he will learn to be flexible, he will learn strategies, he will grow stronger and wiser and over time, he will learn to see every challenge in life as yet another opportunity to shine.

He is my little Knight in shining Armour.

Finally, she knew the time had come. She knew it would. She knew what she had to do.

That morning, she left the nest but didn’t go far. She looked back at her chicks, who were no longer chicks. Her babies had grown into fine young birds, strong and confident. Eager to explore the world beyond their nest.

She watched as her first born, stepped up onto the edge of the nest. A strong gust of wind passed and she retreated momentarily back into the safety of the nest. She emerged again. She looked down fearfully at the sheer drop in front of her and the then up, at the magnificence of the cliff that rose above her. She noticed that she was on the only ledge the cliff face had to offer. She looked out ahead of her. Out into the openness, over looking a world that was so new to her, so huge, so dangerous, so exciting, so full of opportunities.

Her mother watched nervously as her daughter flapped her wings, still holding on to
the nest, feeling the air beneath them. She called to her reassuringly and watched and waited. Although understandably apprehensive, the mother was fully aware of the wonders that the world had to offer her young. She herself had travelled far and wide and seen some of the most amazing things that the world had to offer and had had experiences that had helped her to grow wiser and even stronger. She had learnt many skills along the way that had enabled her to develop her own personality, to build relationships and most importantly, skills to survive. And she had survived. She knew she wanted these too for her children. She knew they were ready…..

Last night I watched my 11 year old daughter and her friends perform their final, year end performance at Solihull Theatre – An amazing production titled ”What A Knight”.

It was an emotional night as I watched these amazing, talented youngsters singing, dancing and acting with such confidence in front of over 300 parents, relatives, friends and teachers. A final performance before they finish their time at Primary School and move on to Senior School.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house as the head teacher spoke a few final words reflecting on the youngters’ time at the school and the exciting journies that they will be embarking on as they move confidently into the next chapter of their lives.

And, everybody in the audience knew the time had come. They knew it would. They knew what they had to do. They knew their fledglings were ready.

Good luck to all in Year 6 at Monkspath J&I school as you spread your wings.

Sitting in the back of the car on our way from school, my little boy said “Mummy, why did the mushroom go to the party?“. I smiled and looked at him in my rear view mirror, his face was beaming, his shoulders lifted almost to his ears, his hands covering his tiny mouth as he tried to contain himself, as he waited for me to reply. “I don’t know, why did the mushroom go to the party?” I replied. I had barely finished and he almost exploded, as he started laughing and shouted “Because he was a fun guy!!!!!! Do you get it Mummy – a fun guy!!!”. It was the funniest thing that I had heard in a long time and we laughed so much, all the way home, as he kept repeating ” do you get it Mummy, a fun guy!“

Now you may be thinking that I can’t have heard many jokes in my life if I found this one that funny. What I need to point out is that, I know for a fact that, my little boy doesn’t know what a “fungi” is!  And it didn’t matter. The delivery of his joke was  superb.

We know that the words we speak, count for around only 7% of our communication effectiveness and the remaining 93% is through are body language and voice quality and he got those spot on!  As they say “it’s the way you tell them”.