This week the situation in the UK has seen what some refer to as ‘normal’, that is activity we last undertook in February 2020. This has been enabled by a widely adopted vaccination programme, and I think the end of the summer period marked by children returning to school, the calendar showing September, and characteristically British weather – hot and sunny (now most holidays have ended).
I have been both back in the room and the zoom – here’s the lessons:
British Hillclimb Championship at Prescott UK – an outdoor event with, as far as I could tell, the same size crowd as the last time I was there in 2019. I cannot recall seeing anyone wearing a mask, even in the indoor breakfast suite. I noticed the very permanent looking ‘masks only beyond this point’ signs being ignored.
CIPD Coventry & Warwickshire held their first face to face event in 18 months, with the Self-employed Special Interest Group meeting as it used to at the Stratford Manor Hotel. When we have run events online, we have found that around 50-60% of people who booked actually attend. For this face to face – ‘live’ – event, 18 booked in and 17 turned up.
Retail – we went to our favourite farm shop in the Cotswolds, where we bumped into a celebrity who was maskless, kindly agreed to a photo, and even took it himself using my wife Joanna’s camera. What a gentleman – thank you David. He never asked whether she was vaccinated or not.
Singing – I am privileged to be Chair of Stratford Musical Theatre Company, and we got together again to start singing rehearsals, first time together since March 2020. Singing indoors is one of the most effective forms of transmitting Covid-19, but we are permitted to do this now due to the scale of the vaccination programme. We hope everyone has stayed safe, but acknowledge we are taking a risk. I expected we would have around 30 people come along – we had 49, apologies for the pessimism.
Training – which this week I did on Zoom. This was a relatively short session for a small group, with a fixed agenda. So Zoom suited us all very well. And you have to be able to persuade and influence on screen, not just when you are in the room.
Conclusions so far:
- There is a huge appetite to physically meet people again
- Not everyone feels that way, and personal risk decisions will vary enormously. I was back in the room with plenty of people, but never shook a hand.
- Online meetings, communication and training is not going away.
- If you are going to physically meet, make it an experience. No one wants to go somewhere and feel they could have done this online.
- Celebrity stardust works ‘live’ in a way that online does not. I will follow the example of Joanna’s new best friend and sign autographs & pose for selfies once again.
- I am very fortunate: I have survived covid and having been vaccinated, I can do most of things we have described as normal. Not everyone is in this position, the pandemic lives on. And so must our determination to enable everyone to ‘live with it’.
Buzzword of the Week – Qualified Opinions
Definition – a statement issued in an auditor’s report that accompanies a company’s audited financial statements. It suggests the financial information provided by a company was limited in scope or there was a material issue regarding the application of accounting principles (GAAP or IFRS). Qualified opinions may also be issued if a company has inadequate disclosures in the footnotes to the financial statements. Lamont’s Financial Glossary: “considered to be a less than satisfactory state of affairs” Alternate View – Treat as an accountant sounding the alarm. Always the first thing I check when reading financial statements. If qualified, there is a problem, so proceed with eyes wide open. Yet the real scandal are the occasions when Accounts/Auditors SHOULD have qualified the accounts but did not e.g., Carillion, Wirecard, Patisserie Valerie. So, a ‘clean’ audit certificate is no guarantee that everything is present and correct.
Coming Up…
7 Steps to Start Up – my joint venture with Rob Harrision and Glued: now on Tuesday 12th October 10.00am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seven-steps-to-business-start-up-and-growth-registration-170279999061