Dr. Misner brought up the concept of EGBOK at the recent national conference in Rhode Island as part of a discussion about change, leadership, and solutions. The idea, introduced by Mark McKergow, is that you need to focus on what’s working, not what’s wrong.

If you focus on solutions, you can get almost anything done. Panic shifts responsibility away from ourselves. It reinforces counterproductive impulses.

So take a deep breath and remember EGBOK. Everything’s Gonna Be OK. It’s going to be okay because you do the hard work to make the vision a reality, because of your adaptability. The commitment and shared vision of the people in BNI mean that Everything’s Gonna Be OK in spite of challenges, technology problems, and personality conflicts.

Dr. Misner even handed out EGBOK buttons at the national conference. If you think the buttons are a good idea, say so here in the comments, and BNI will make more.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcript of Episode 207 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan. How are you and what in the heck is EGBOK?

Ivan:
Hi Priscilla. I am doing great and I’m not going to tell you what it is yet. I want everyone to wait for it for a minute and want to build up to it a little bit. I will tell you that I started talking about this at our recent national conference in the U.S., the conference that was done in Rhode Island. I brought up the concept of EGBOK as a result of a conversation on change leadership and focus on solutions. I had a good friend come out to do a presentation in the CA region. His name is Mark McKurgow.

Mark wrote a book called The Solutions Focus. I talked to him at length about being solutions focused and dealing with change and the chaos that comes with change. He teaches a concept called rutenso, which is the art of thriving in times of constant change. If nobody has noticed, we are in times of constant change. He talked about, in his presentations and discussions we me- he and his wife stayed with us and we had conversations about change. We are going through change with BNI and online technologies. There is a lot of change, but also members, week to week, members change or leadership teams change. We have to be able to deal with change.

He talks about the standard process of change is hard and unnatural. You have to set goals and targets and identify and analyze the problem. Eliminate uncertaintly. With rutenso, he talks about the fact that change is happening all the time and that you want to identify the direction that you want to go and what’s working, not what’s wrong. If all you look at is problems, then you become an expert at problems, not solutions. He talks about the fact that small actions start things quickly. Just little things can make a big difference. He also has a whole concept that he is going to be doing which is leader as host, which I think is beautiful with BNI with how we talk about visitor hosts and supporting one another and givers gain. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with that.

So rutenso is how to deal with change. One of the things that I asked directors when I spoke to them recently, and let me throw this by you, Priscilla. Here’s the question or statement. True or false: we’ve changed a lot as an organization over the last 26 years, haven’t we?

Priscilla:
Yes.

Ivan:
The answer is no. Not really so much. You look at the change and go, BNI has changed a lot over the last 26 years. Even the name of the organization. I talk about this in Givers Gain. We started as Dawn Network but we couldn’t trademark that so we had to change the name. So we changed it, but here’s the thing. They have been incremental changes. We have experienced ongoing incremental change, layer upon layer of nuance, new ideas, continuous improvement. But not monumental change. Monumental change, overnight, rock your boat, monumental change.

The example that I used when I spoke at the conference was Motorola. Motorola is a great example of a company with monumental change. They started manufacturing car radios. Then they did the first portable FM radios. A lot of people don’t know this, but I said this to some people, the millenials and genXers that Motorola was one of the world’s biggest television manufacturers. Really? Motorola TVs? Yeah. Motorola TVs were really big. They did 8 track cassettes for about five minutes before that business went under. Then Motorola was known for the Bravo pagers. I don’t know anybody who was in business in the 80′s and 90′s who didn’t have a Bravo pager. Now, of course, what is it? Digital mobile devices and many other things.

There’s a company that has gone through monumental change. BNI has kind of gotten a little comfortable, I think, because we have lived for 26 years in incremental change. Now, not long after I heard Dr. McKurdow speak, I heard Dr. Warren Bettis talk at an event and I had a chance to go out to dinner with him.

He talked about something that I thought was really amazing. Now, I studied under Dr. Warren Bettis at USCE, if you don’t know who he is, listeners, look up any book on leadership. He has either written it or quoted in it- any major book on leadership. He’s really the world’s leading expert on the subject. He talked to me about adaptive capacity and our ability to adapt and change in a chaotic environment and how important contextual intelligence is to ability to understand the context of the challenges that we live in.

I sit on the Board of Trustees at the University of Laverne, and he asked the audience when he spoke at the university event. He said, “You have a new president here. And you’ve gone through a long process to select her. She has really done her homework and she’s going to be ready on day one, isn’t she?” And they all said yeah, she was going to be ready. He said, “Are you all crazy? She’s not going to be ready on Day 1. You are crazy if you think she is going to be able to start on the job and understand all of the potential problems that exist. We can never conceive of all the potential problems in any given situation.”

This means that our ability to truly adapt to the context of the problem and focus on the solutions is, as McKergow said, will make a difference between our success and our failure as leaders and I submit to you that same thing applies to chapters, that it will make or break our ability to address and be successful as an organization. BNI Connect is a great example. I talked about all the challenges and issues we were having in the creation process. They system going down, the reports were not exactly what we wanted. The system went down and you don’t know what to do and the group function isn’t what you want. It’s not really easy, and the system went down. The sky is falling. You get all of this stuff.

Everybody, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Take two or three deep breaths because everything’s going to be okay. And that’s EGBOK. Everything’s going to be okay. It’s not going to be okay just because someone says it’s going to be okay but because they do the hard work necessary for that vision to become a reality. So you know, it’s going to be okay because of one’s ability to adapt, one’s adaptive capacity.

I am here in this organization with people who know how to work hard. I am here in an organization with people who are committed to the philosophy of BNI. I am here in an organization with people who are committed to what we are doing and have a shared vision of where we are going as an organization. That’s why I can say everything is going to be okay.

Although this came to me and I had this realization because of a technology issue this is something that I think applies to every chapter in every country in every city all around the world. Chapters have challenges and problems and controversies and chaos and change. If the chapter focus on looking for solutions, and taking a deep breath and understanding there is a system with people who are committed both regionally and nationally with national directors and internally with HQ, that there are people who will help make this process work and will help you get through the process. I even handed out buttons at the conference that said EGBOK.

So I tell you what. If you are listening to the podcast and you think the button is a great idea, post a message for me. Let me know. I read your messages. When you post stuff, I read them. If we get enough people who say they want an EGBOK button, we’ll start producing them. I just made enough for the conference, but we’ll start producing enough for members all around the world. I really believe that if people really focus on the solutions to a problem, that you can get almost anything done.

See, what happens is people start to get into this sort of panic mode. Right? Panic is contagious. Panic is easy. Panic shifts responsibility away from ourselves. Leaders know that panic reinforces counterproductive impulses. What we need to do instead at a local level, at a national level, at an international level, is when there are challenges, focus on the solutions that exist out there because there are many solutions that people can apply. We try to be as transparent of an organization as possible, particularly with all levels of the organization, particularly with directors and what is going on and why we’re doing certain things.

Connect with your directors if you have questions. One of the things that I’ve learned is if you don’t tell people as much as possible, if they don’t feel involved, they have a tendency towards quietly criticizing and passively resisting. That’s an important concept and especially at the chapter level. It’s very important to be open at the chapter level with where you’re going, why you’re doing it, why it’s important, because if they don’t feel involved, they will have a tendency towards quietly criticizing and passively resisting. It’s one of the reasons why we have an international board of advisers. We get members from all around the world involved and issues to help think through the problems and challenges that we have.

So BNI has gone through incremental changes off and on over the years. By that I mean little tweaks, modifications, how we manage ourselves. We have never experienced the monumental change that we are going through wight now with the technology. We are in the middle of that monumental change. Big stuff. Earth shaking stuff. I get it 100%. Change makes me uncomfortable. You have no idea how strongly I hate change. We are all human. I know very few people who can honestly say that they thrive on change. Very few people do. We like the predictability of knowing that we can depend on our work to produce the same kinds of results. The beauty in BNI is that the system is still a system.

So don’t worry about all the stuff that is going on around you, particularly with things like technology. Focus on the fundamentals. Focus on the fundamentals. Focus on what is going on in your chapter. Focus on doing things right. Remember that panic is easy and it reinforces a counterproductive impulse.

Leaders need to learn that real life is messy. It’s full of changing circumstances. It’s full of challenges. Leaders learn to tolerate anxiety, both theirs and others’. That’s my tough one. I can tolerate my own anxiety, but other people’s anxiety is where I start to get frustrated. Leaders understand the importance of all that.

I know I need to wrap up, but I ready Michael Grouper’s material for years. Michael Grouper wrote this and over the last year or so I have gotten to know him personally and we’ve become friends. He recently told me that the real hallmark of a high performance organization is its ability to see change as a resource, as an opportunity to test assumptions and systems, to add to the collective knowledge and to grow the business. Change creates opportunities to see things in ways that you don’t ordinarily see them and to do things in ways that you don’t ordinarily try. If you can use change to your advantage, it can fuel your company’s growth in ways that are amazing because it removes everybody from their comfort zones and forces them to take a fresh look at the business.

We can’t take our high performance for granted. We have 26 consecutive years of growth. We are working on our 27th consecutive year of growth. We have a core system that works and works really well. From the top down, there are times when there will be change and our ability to adapt to that change and to focus on the fundamentals and calm people down- if you can calm a room down and let them understand that everything is going to be okay. EGBOK. If we all focus on fundamentals and focus on solutions, we are going to get through this because the difference between successful people and others is not a lack of strength. It’s not a lack of knowledge. It’s generally a lack of will because the ultimate measure of us as leaders is not really where we stand in moments in comfort but where we stand in times of challenge, chaos, and controversy.

This podcast was meant for members. Not just the BNI Connect that is being implemented with technology, but the next time that you have a challenge or you have chaos going on in your chapter, come back and listen to this podcast. Take it to your members and understand that if everyone calmly focuses on solutions, you can get through almost any challenge if you learn to have an adaptive capacity. And that is my message for today.

Priscilla:
That’s a very good message. I think the main point is that BNI is so big and there are so many different types of personalities, countries, cultures, and so forth. I just think it is apt to be difficult to make change, but you put it out there really well.

Ivan:
Thank you. And it’s an organization of leaders. Everybody in the organization is an owner or salesperson or manager. There’s no factory line worker person in the organization, right? So when you have an organization of leaders, it’s like herding cats. I think first we have to understand that and secondly, we have to understand that by everyone working together you are going to achieve the kinds of success that you want to achieve as long as everyone keeps a clear head and focuses on the solutions, which is McKergow’s concept. Focus on solutions, not problems and Bettis’ concept of being willing to adapt, having a strong adaptive capacity.

Those two things and EGBOK in a chapter can get through almost anything. Thanks Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay. That was great. I think that’s it for this week. I would just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. Thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we hope you will join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

This week’s topic is the Classification Cowboy, illustrated by BNI member Dan Fletcher. View and download the slideshow in the next post.

A Classification Cowboy is someone who tries to take more than one profession within a chapter. If you try to take more than one classification in a chapter, you’re blocking the connections and referrals that can be brought to the chapter.

The best way to handle this is to address the problem before the person joins the chapter, rather than after accepting a person with multiple businesses as a member. A chapter with multiple attorneys with different specialties is much stronger than a chapter with someone who doubles as attorney and paralegal.

You can download the slides in the next post to show to your chapter.

Brought to you by Ask Ivan Misner.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 164 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com, a Web site where you can ask Ivan any question you have about networking.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I’m joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan. How are you and where are you today?

Ivan:
Well, this week, I am at the South African BNI conference. As you know, last week I did a little safari, which was amazing; done it before; this was my second visit to South Africa. It’s such a beautiful country, and this week I am at the BNI conference for the organization in South Africa. Amazing group of people.

And again, whenever I visit your region, please come up and introduce yourself to me and let me know that you’re listening to these podcasts. I’d love to meet you.

Priscilla:
That sounds wonderful!

So what do you have to share with us?

Ivan:
I have a fun topic this week. It’s Classification Cowboy. Now, there is a PowerPoint presentation or JPEGs that will be up this presentation, so I recommend that if you’re at the Web site, open it up; if not, download the PowerPoint. And if you’re listening to this from a mobile device, print out the PowerPoint presentation so that you can see the slides that I’m talking about.

The first one is a great slide drawn of a Classification Cowboy. And I’ve got to tell you that this was all done by a gentleman by the name of Dan Fletcher, Dan Fletcher, F-L-E-T-C-H-E-R, Dan Fletcher. Dan is a BNI member, of course, in the United Kingdom, and his Web site is CartoonBox.co.uk, CartoonBox.co.uk.

Dan put this all together on his own, and so I really wanted to thank him publicly, because he had seen problems with this whole concept of the Classification Cowboy, and he wanted to draw something that would identify it and describe it.

Now, for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, a Classification Cowboy is somebody that tries to take more than one profession.

In the past, in the past, we’ve used the term “Classification Hog.” Don’t do that. As you might suspect, Priscilla, makes people mad when they’re called a Classification Hog. So it’s not a term that we’d recommend that you use, but we like this concept of Classification Cowboy, and the artist on this, Dan, has done a great job of drawing his description what it is. And in his second slide, he talks about while most people accept one person per profession, that’s the spirit and the rule of BNI, the Classification Cowboy doesn’t. The Classification Cowboy insists on two professions, sometimes more, and there’s a great picture of him, Priscilla, with a little bubble over his head saying, “I’m a sharp shooter,” and then another bubble that says, “I’m a rodeo rider” and trying to take more than one classification, that they block potential members from joining the chapters. They deny the chapter of the connections, and that’s what’s really important is that if you try to take two, three, four classifications in a chapter, you’re really blocking the number of connections that can be brought by individuals.

On the eighth slide, he’s got this great diagram of blocking all the referrals that could be brought to [the] chapter over the years if they allowed other people in those classifications. And the Classification Cowboy claims that it is his or her right, it’s their job to take as many classifications as possible, but the truth is, it’s, as Dan says, it’s just darn rustling. It’s taking from the BNI chapter, which is his slide number 10. And he says, “Watch out. If you see him, don’t let him get too big for his boots and don’t bring him into a BNI group.”

This is a great PowerPoint presentation. I would urge members to print this out, take it to their chapter. I would urge members, this is a great educational coordinator’s presentation. It’s only about a dozen slides long. You can do this very quickly in just a few minutes and show it to people. Of course, give Dan credit. His contact information is there on the last slide.

But it really addresses an issue that, I think, when chapters get it – and particularly membership committees, because it’s the membership committees that control the classification issue. And membership committees should have this thing in front of them when they’re looking at a classification that somebody is applying for. Because if somebody’s taking multiple classifications, it restricts the number of people that are going to be in the group. And if it restricts the number of people that are going to be in the group, I guarantee you it will restrict the amount of referrals that are passed.

But even more importantly, I have found that when people try to find ways to work together rather than to compete with each other, that a lot of business can be done. I have seen multiple chapters – I was shocked once when I went to a chapter that had five, Priscilla, five attorneys.

Priscilla:
We have four!

Ivan:
You have four attorneys in your chapter?! I think you and I have talked about this once. That was shocking to me when I first heard it.

But as I start to talk to these attorneys, they tell me they pass more business to each other than any one other person in the group. Has that been the experience in your chapter?

Priscilla:
Yeah, well, they have very distinct categories.

Ivan:
Yeah, and they’re working with each other.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
It’s amazing how that happens, and so if you can get people in there who say, “Hey, look, this is really my area of expertise”…

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that you break your profession up on those core elements. I wouldn’t even necessarily say that you have to have more than one attorney, but the truth is, if an attorney does wills and trusts and their expertise is not family law, then they’re really different.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
Family law is a lot different than wills and trusts. And if you’re focus is wills and trusts, bring in a family law attorney. That family law attorney will send wills and trusts to you, and you can send the family law to them. And you end up really becoming working together very closely.

But the ones that are really frustrating to me are the ones that are really clearly different professions. It’s many kudos to your chapter for having four attorneys. That’s wonderful, and that’s an outstanding example of what I’m talking about.

But there are professions where the professions really clearly are two different professions; they’re not the same thing. And people are trying to take both categories, and that’s where it’s critical that that be stopped. And membership committees be active in being responsible for insuring that people don’t take multiple classifications.

Priscilla:
Yeah, it’s a difficult topic, because people will get a little bit defensive around that issue.

Ivan:
They do; they do. And if your chapter can coach them and guide them, that helps. And when push comes to shove, see, you’ve got to do this before you accept them. Once you’ve accepted them, then you’ve got a problem.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
Especially if you’ve accepted them under multiple classifications. Then you have to deal with it again when it comes up for renewal, and that becomes an angry situation that you want to try to avoid if you can.

So as much as possible, active membership committees who can address this issue before the person is made a member [are] much more likely to be successful. And there’s nothing wrong with the membership committee saying, “No, really, this is the classification. We’ll accept this one or this one. Which one is what you focus most on?” And it’s better for a chapter to say, “No, thank you” than to take somebody who has multiple – somebody who’s a Classification Cowboy. In the long run, that’s the better decision to make.

Priscilla:
Yep, I totally agree with you. [It] makes for a much stronger chapter.

Ivan:
Absolutely!

So everybody listening to this, print out the PowerPoint or the slides that we’ll have with this podcast. Feel free to share this in your chapter. And if you have a second, Dan Fletcher’s e-mail is on the last page. Drop Dan an e-mail, thank him for his efforts, because he contributed this all on his own. To me, this is a classic example of Givers Gain. He spent a lot of time doing this because he thought it was an important issue. I want to personally thank Dan, and if you take a look at this, drop Dan a e-mail and thank him as well.

Priscilla:
Okay, great!

Ivan:
Thanks, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Thank you, Dr. Misner.

I think that’s it for this week. I would just like to remind the listeners that this podcast has been brought to you by AskIvanMisner.com. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.

In week two of BNI Fundamentals, Dr. Misner addresses “Full Participation in BNI.” (Remember, Education Coordinators can download all this material in advance from BNI.com.)

1. Be there every week. Out of sight, out of mind. And if you show up late for BNI, we assume you’ll show up late with clients.
2. Participate in the networking time that starts each meeting. Don’t sit down until the president calls the meeting to order. Pay special attention to visit.
3. Participate 100% in the meeting. Treat whoever is speaking as if they were the biggest client you could possibly land.
4. Attend the BNI trainings and embrace a culture of learning.

All four of these practices demonstrate the Givers Gain mentality. The more you put into BNI, the more you’ll get out of it.

Brought to you by Networking Now.

Complete Transcription of BNI Podcast Episode 116 -

Priscilla:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables.

I’m Priscilla Rice, and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkley, California, and I am joined on the phone today by the founder and the chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner.

Hello, Ivan and how are you?

Ivan:
I’m doing great, Priscilla. This week I’m still up at Big Bear. We’re doing master trainer meetings with the Referral Institute people. One of the companies I run is called The Referral Institute. For BNI members, if you have a chance, go to ReferralInstitute.com, and it’s a great program to help teach people to go really deep in learning how to create referrals for life. I’m meeting with the key master trainers this week in Big Bear for the referrals.

Priscilla:
That sounds great. Well, what would you like to share with us this week?

Ivan:
Well, last week I started the 12 weeks of BNI Fundamentals, and this is week number 2, which is called Full Participation in BNI. If you’re an education coordinator, you can download these 12 weeks ahead of time by going to BNI.com and putting your user name and password for education coordinators. If you don’t have that, go to you local BNI director and get that information. And you can get this ahead of time and then follow along with us and help train and support members on these podcasts as we do them.

Last week we made the point that success in BNI comes when the rest of the chapter members trust you enough to open up their best referrals to you. You have to remember that until we’ve experienced your work, you have to earn that trust by showing us how professional you are and by treating us like prized clients. So we talked about the things not to do to be a good member in BNI.

This week the subject is how to really play full out, full participation in BNI for fun and for profit. The first simply is showing up each week at our meetings. That means be there every week; be there on time; actually participate. Why? Two reasons. First, if you’re not there, you’re not fresh in everyone’s mind, and you’re not in the minds of the members each and every week. We won’t think of you when we’re standing smack in the middle of a great referral for you.

The second reason is if you don’t show up or you show up late, we assume that’s just your style. This is really important. If you don’t show up or you show up late, we assume that’s just your style and that that’s the way that you’ll operate in a referral that we give you, that you’ll do the same thing with people we might refer to you. Remember, your actions here are all we have to go on to judge your professionalism with our referrals. So it’s very important that you walk the talk. There’s a great quote in a book called Inside the Magic Kingdom by a friend of mine, Tom Connellan, and it says, “What you do thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the words you speak.” And that’s what this is really about, is you want to make sure to show that you’re a professional. Be there on time, and be fully present in the meetings.

The second way is to participate in the networking time that starts each meeting. I’m going to give you a quiz.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
Are you ready for this, Priscilla? I didn’t tell you there’s a quiz in this podcast.

Priscilla:
Okay, Ivan, I’m ready.

Ivan:
Which of these four things should you be doing in the first 15 minutes of your meeting?

Priscilla:
Okay, what are they?

Ivan:
1, paying for the meeting; 2, getting your breakfast; 3, catching up with the other members about chapter issues, or 4, networking.

Now, this is an easy one, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Yes, I think I’m going to pick number 4.

Ivan:
Very good! Nothing else matters. In fact, networking is the sole purpose of this part of the meeting. A good rule of thumb is if you don’t sit down until the president calls the second part of the meeting to order, you’re doing the right thing. You don’t sit down and don’t just chit-chat; you want to network. You particularly want to connect with the visitors. There’s so many reasons why you want to connect with the visitors, but one is make them feel welcome. Another is to start to connect with them. Find out what they do. They may be interested in your business; you may be interested in their business. It’s not called net-sit or net-eat; it’s called net-work. So the first 15 minutes of the BNI meeting is all about networking.

Sure, you food might grow cold if it’s left alone, but so will a visitor. Your food won’t bring you any business, but the visitor and the members will.

Priscilla:
Right.

Ivan:
The third thing is to participate 100 percent in the meeting. That means you treat whomever is speaking as if they were the biggest client you could possibly land. Would you walk out on a big client?

Priscilla:
No.

Ivan:
Would you take a phone call?

Priscilla:
No.

Ivan:
Would you send text messages while your clients are talking about their needs?

Priscilla:
No.

Ivan:
If you do it here with us at a BNI meeting, we have to assume you’d do it with any client we might send you. Now, you may think, “They may not do that,” but let me tell you, they will. I would. If I was at a meeting and I saw somebody completely distracted and not paying attention, I’m going to think that’s their normal MO, that’s their normal MO.

Another way of full participation is attending the BNI trainings and embracing a culture of learning. First, it means new contacts, and secondly, all the education enhances both your business and your skills as a networker. Full participation means listening to these podcasts, sharing these podcasts. That’s one of the ways you immerse and engage in a full culture of learning.

Of course, I’m speaking, and Priscilla, you’re helping me talk to the choir. People that are listening to this already believe in that, and so those of you are listening to this podcast or reading this transcript, the more you can engage other BNI members into participating in these podcasts and listening, the more they will have a full out participation in BNI.

Priscilla:
Great! Is there more?

Ivan:
Well, I think I’d wrap it up with just a summary. Show up to the meetings on time; network, participate, attend trainings. Why do all these things? Because it’s Giver’s Gain. You give and you gain visibility, credibility, and profitability in return.

Just in closing, let me suggest that you know you’re a BNI member if you go out to dinner with your family and you show to your table you don’t sit down for the first few minutes; instead you connect with anybody you know in the restaurant. Then you definitely know you’re a BNI member, because it’s all about networking, even when you have a meal.

Priscilla:
That’s great. Well, Ivan, can I ask you something very quickly?

Ivan:
Sure.

Priscilla:
If you have a chapter that’s been together for almost six years and you feel like the members are a little stale with each other because they possibly heard – we do 30 seconds – over a period of time, they’ve heard it many, many times. Can you think of one thing that spark the meeting or spark the relationships, one thing that we could do in our meeting?

Ivan:
Yeah, absolutely. I would recommend that the chapter start looking at the meeting stimulants that we have. Meeting stimulants are exercises that – by the way, Priscilla, they’re not good drugs, although some chapters could possibly use them. Meeting stimulants are exercises that we make available, so talk to your local director. They’re available as a download at BNI.com, and there’s about 45 or so of them, and I would recommend that the chapters use one or two of these meeting stimulants about every six weeks; use one about every six weeks or so. If you do them every week, it’s way, way too much. Even every month, it’s too much. But some of the meeting stimulants are a great way to get people to break out of their normal routine of doing a 60-second presentation.

Just to give you a sense of what some of them might be, one that I really like is where everybody reaches into a basket and they pull out a card and whoever’s card they pull out, they have to do that person’s 60-second presentation.

Priscilla:
Yeah.

Ivan:
That one is done a lot, and the great thing about that is it gives you a sense of how well are you communicating what you do. Because if somebody gets your card and they can’t say what you do, then either that person’s not paying attention or you’re not doing a good job of explaining what you do and what a good referral is.

Also, the NET radio, I love NET radio. The idea with that is that the president or the chapter director, the title varies from country to country, the person running the meeting is the DJ or host, and every member has a 60-second commercial, no 30 seconds or 45 seconds, but 60 seconds. So if you don’t use the whole 60 seconds, it’s dead air. So you have 60 seconds to do a commercial about your business. And I’m telling you I’ve heard some of the best 60-second presentations during the NET radio.

There’s another 40-plus meeting stimulants. Use those from time to time, and it shakes up the gray matter a little bit, shakes the dust off, and it gets people focused on doing what they should be doing but doing it in an interesting and different way.

Priscilla:
That’s great, Ivan. Thank you very much.

Ivan:
Thank you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
I’ll go back to my meeting tomorrow and talk about it.

Ivan:
All right. Meeting stimulants, take a look at them and let me know how they work out.

Priscilla:
Okay, good.

All right. Well, I think that’s it for this week. This podcast has been brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, the leading site on the Net for networking downloadables. Thanks so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice, and we hope you’ll join us next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast.