Julian Robins, SPACE virtual support – BNI Advantage

The presenter that offered the most value for Julian was Phil Berg, International Motivational Speaker, #1 Amazon Best Selling Author, Coach, Consultant and Mentor.

Phil was able to speak not only from his background in business as the owner of a flooring company, but also his experience as one of the most successful, multi-award winning BNI franchise owners in the UK.

While there were many “ah ha” moments, Julian’s key takeaway that will add value to his BNI membership surrounded the inviting of visitors to come along to our weekly, BNI networking events:

“Stop trying to invite visitors, invite people you care about to meet other people you care about.”

– Phil Berg.

Simon Derrick-Roberts, Executive Director – BNI Adelaide CBD & South

With 2 jam-packed days of excellent speakers, it was hard to narrow down to a single takeaway for Simon, so we’ve gone with two.

The first being some perspective on looking at ‘members’ within BNI.  Instead of referring to them as members, instead thinking of them as what they mean to you and your business:  Connectors and Introducers.

And if we’re thinking about fellow members as ‘Connectors and Introducers’, then growing the number of connectors and introducers in your BNI group is a simple and effective way of generating more referrals (at no additional cost to you).

Mario McDonagh, STAH Group – BNI Advantage

As an educator, Mario revelled in the chance to listen and learn for a couple of days among fellow BNI members.  For him, it led to not only the gaining of knowledge, but also a revelation in his own business thanks to a presentation about the work of the BNI Foundation.

The key quote from a presenter that stuck with Mario was from professional boxer and social activist Muhammad Ali:

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.”

From his attendance at the conference, Mario has been inspired to give a portion of profits from his business STAH Group to the work of the BNI Foundation.

Sonya Noonan, Managing Director – BNI Adelaide North

Much like Julian, Sonya was also drawn to some excellent takeaways from Phil Berg:

“Are you doing BNI, or are you using BNI?  We should all be using BNI to get what we want.”

Another was putting a different spin on the BNI terminology: One-to-One, or 1-2-1.  These are meetings between fellow members of BNI (who are business people!) for the purpose of generating business for each other through qualified referrals, and as such should be called ‘Business Meetings’.