Dance Mom's

Ethnography: Dance Moms

Ever since the age of two to the age eighteen my mother has always been considered a dance mom. I loved to dance and she loved to be a part of that. We called it our special bonding. Throughout the years of my mother being a dance mom I never realized what goes on other than just watching me dance and being there to help change from costume to costume.

So now that my mother is no longer a dance mom I went to see my cousin and my aunt at her dance studio which is located in down the street from where she lives. I chose to follow her around to experience a day as a dance mom. I have to say it is a very stressful job believe it or not. So for a couple of days the manager/head teacher the dance school allowed me to watch, sit in on the meetings, and experience in debt what really goes on.

The first day that I went to the dancing school with my aunt and little cousin I made sure that I had brought my journal to write down anything I thought was an important detail that I could incorporate in my essay. So my first couple of days was very interesting at the dancing school because they were practicing for what they call competition. Competition is very important to these students so they practice 24/7 to make sure their routines are perfect and they feel comfortable with it. While these girls are practicing their mothers are in the back talking sitting and waiting till as long as the girls need. There are some parents that are right there buying drinks and food for their girls so when they come out from practicing.

So while I was sitting there at the dancing school with the parents they were getting ready to have a meeting and asked if I had wanted to listen in. So I decided to listen to what happens when you’re actually in the meeting and you’re not on the other side dancing and not knowing what’s going on. So the mothers sat there discussing several different topics that would benefit the girls. One thing I did not know was these mothers all had a specific job that they knew they had to be in charge of. While they sat in their meetings one of the things they discussed was fundraisers. While they were coming up with ideas many people had great ideas but I did not realize that when you do a fundraiser it still cost you money for being on someone else’s property so the mothers and dance manager all would go halves to make it even.

Also the dance mom’s take the time to go with their children to do fundraisers and stay with them until there hours/shift is up. One of the most important and expensive parts of being a dance mom is a costume. Now I danced for a very long time, but I didn’t know that my mother and other dance mom’s pay about $80 bucks just for one costume. These dance mom’s meet at least once a week to discuss progress that has been going on and any concerns that anyone has. Usually if it is close to having competitions they will meet twice to three times a day.

Another responsibility that dance mom’s have is they are backstage 24/7. They are always backing there waiting for you to come off stage and helping you get into your next costumer because sometimes you have to change within minutes. When I went to experience one of the compititions with my aunt and cousin I saw all the dance mom’s right back stage waiting with the next costume in their hand. Some mom’s even kept a close rack right in the back of the stage so there children wouldn’t have to walk too far. Another thing that the dance mom’s would do is everyone would get together and buy beautiful flowers for their children so everyone gets one for all their hard work and then they all go out to eat as a group.

I think a dance mom has many responsibilities that she takes on. Everyone thinks it is easy I know I did but after actually being in the life as one and watching many of the parents be dance mom’s I honestly don’t know how my mother put up with that all those years. My mother knew I loved to dance and she loved to watch me. I think a dance mom’s main responsibility is to be a supportive parent because if your child does not have a supportive dance mom weather they did good or bad then the poor child will have very low self esteem and dancing to me is supposed to be fun, spending time with your mom, hanging with friends and meeting new people from different places. Dance Mom’s are great supporters and that’s what you need to be a great dancer.

Tabletop Gamers

I love all types of games, card games, board games and even video games. One type of game many have never heard about before are tabletop games. I myself have only heard about these types of games over the last year or so. They are usually played in either gaming stores or gaming clubs. Most of these places can be found by either word of mouth or through online forums. I have recently joined a gaming club in my area.

Tabletop players are just normal people. They range from Doctors to college kids, who all love to play games. There is no particular dress code to be a gamer, most wear jeans and t-shirts. Their age can range from ten to fifty years old. One thing they do all have in common is the love of the game. Some prefer to build and paint models rather than play and others would rather just play than worry about all the painting.

I went to the gaming club for the first time about six months ago. It is located in a mill in my city and is up on the fifth floor. To get to the fifth floor you can either climb up about twelve flights of stairs or take the freight elevator. Trust me though you would rather want to take the elevator than climb up all the stairs. I have never been on a freight elevator before and it was a little scary at first. After going up and down it a few times you get used to it. Once you get to the top floor, you go threw a door and then to your right there is a sign on another door for the gaming club. When you enter you walk into a very large room. It is longer than it is wide. There is a large table where most make there playing list as well as role playing, or play board games. Next to that is an area with a couch and a few chairs, this seems to be the area were most hang out and talk and enjoy their lunch. On the left you see a refrigerator as well as a shelf with candy and chips. Along the rest of the wall to the left there is a lot of shelving all filled with models and books. These shelves belong to the members of the club, and this is where they store all of there armies and supplies they need. As you walk farther in to the room you walk by an area that has about six tables. I was told this is the area most used for building as well as painting. The rest of the room has six by four tables spaced throughout the room. There are about nine tables and each table is different. They all have different scenes on them. There is a snow table, a canon table a few that are green, a city table and a chaos table. They all have moveable terrain.

I was invited to watch a few games and learn how to play the game. There are a few games played at the club, Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy, War Machine, and Flames of War seem to be the popular ones. All these games require a set of six sided dice, a tape measure and an army to play. I decided to start with Warhammer 40k first. There are ten different armies you can play some have subgroups in them and most members own at least two. You can play Chaos Daemons, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar. Dark Eldar, Space Marines, Orks, Necrons, Imperial Guard, Tau Empire, and Tyrainds. All these armies have different characters, and are all played differently in some way.

During my first game it was Imperial Guard versus Orks. The Imperial Guard are figures that look like soldiers. First both plays will make a list from there Army Codex. Each Army has its own book explaining every character and unit you can use for that army as well as how much each will cost. Most games are about one thousand to three thousand points. Next both players roll off. This determines which side of the table they will start on as well as who goes first. Next both teams set up, these two armies are usually played with the most models so it can take a little while for them to be fully set up. Once both teams are all set up turn one begins. They start out with the movement phase, each unit can move a certain amount of inches each turn, example would be a troop moves six inches. Next is the shooting phase, some armies have more shooting than others. Each gun has a range it can shoot, shooting ranges from twelve to thirty-six inches. You must declare who you are shooting at before you measure and if you make it you are allowed to shoot. Next phase is the assault phase. This is where you can run into and enemy and fight hand to hand combat. Most troops have a six inch assault range, if you are not with in six inches of any enemy model you can not assault that turn. Each game has 5 turns, and in each turn you repeat all three phases. Some games can run anywhere from one to four hours. In some games there are missions you have to complete, you either have to hold a few objectives, such as a barrel, you must have a unit within three inches of that objective before the end of the game. Another game you can play would be total ellimonation; this is where you have to kill the enemy before they kill you.

Some of the club members play several games in one day, others may play one then hang out for a bit while watching others play. The atmosphere is awesome, everyone is nice to each other, and they are always happy to show new comers how to play. As I left that day I learned many new things. I found out what table top gaming is and how to play. It is a little tricky at first but once you know the rules it can be fun. I now belong to the club and go there weekly.

Automotive Technicians

I walk into the automotive workshop at the Chevrolet dealership. There is a lot happening around me, I pause and take a moment to take in all of the scenes. The floor is gray, smooth concrete; every few yards there are small puddles of a spilled, slippery fluid. The walls are made of concrete bricks, painted white and blue to match the Goodwrench theme which is displayed throughout the service and parts end of the building. I am standing in the center of the shop, facing the parts counter. There are six service bays on each side of me; each bay has a car lift and a technician’s personal toolbox. The lifts are all painted blue, again, sticking to the theme. Some tool boxes are large and shiny, others are smaller and worn out from years in the automotive repair business. As I walk through, I examine each technician’s personal workspace. Some have pictures of their children and wives. Some have calendars with scantily clad women looking over them. Some have funny signs posted on their toolboxes. They all have bottles and jugs of fluids, piles of rags for cleaning up their spills and plenty of shiny tools.

I stand in the center of the shop, close my eyes and take in all of the sounds. Radios are blaring; most of the guys listen to the same station, and the rock and roll channel is drowning out the less popular hip-hop channel. There is a clanging sound coming from one corner of the shop as a technician puts all of his strength into hammering an old, rusted rotor off of the car. In another corner, there is a loud hissing noise accompanied by a horrific burning odor, as another technician uses a torch to extract a stuck universal joint from a driveshaft. On the other side of the shop, there is a loud buzzing noise as another technician uses an air hammer to remove a hub from a vehicle. To my left, there is a pumping noise as an oil company re-fills the bulk oil drum used by all of the technicians. There are squeaking and squealing noises from all over as the ten large bay doors, in need of lubrication, open and close. Overhead, there is a loud, booming voice paging different employees to different areas of the building and paging for phone calls.

The technicians vary in age; some of them very young, just out of technical school, others are older and have been in the business for many years. They are all dressed in the same uniform: black pants, a black and blue collared shirt bearing the Goodwrench logo, and work boots. Most have rough hands, scarred from days of physical labor and burned from hot engines and fluids. Many suffer from physical conditions from the many years spent working on cars. Some have bad backs, others bad shoulders, others have damaged wrists. They all work through the pain; they are strong men and do not let it bring them down.

Every morning, they all drive to the dealership, most in GM vehicles. At ten minutes to eight, they punch in on their time cards and move on to the changing room. When they are changed and ready to start their day, they move to their assigned bays and make sure their tools and supplies are all in order. They head into the service drive where they meet up with the dispatcher who will give them their first assigned vehicle for the day. They review the repair order, grab the keys for the vehicle and get working on it. Sometimes, their job will be to diagnose a problem on a vehicle, other times it will be to perform a maintenance service on the vehicle. Most of the technicians enjoy the maintenance jobs, they are easy to perform and they pay them a good amount. If they are given a vehicle with a problem, they need to use all of their resources to diagnose the issue so that the service advisor can sell the repair to the customer. The technicians go through a lot of factory training, so they have their own knowledge to help them diagnose the problem. They also have on-line assistance and diagrams to follow to diagnose the problems. However they go about doing it, their goal is to find the answer to the problem and make a repair recommendation which the service advisor can then sell to the customer. When the job is sold, they need to perform the repairs and then test the vehicle to verify that it is repaired. Once they know it is fixed properly, they write up what work was performed on the invoice and give the keys to the service advisor. Most technicians will work on multiple vehicles every day.

While everyone is different, there are many similarities between the technicians. They get frustrated with common misconceptions that customers have. Many people believe that there is a computer that diagnoses problems on vehicles; unfortunately, this is not the case. The computer used by the technicians can give them diagnostic codes and they can use the computer to monitor different data in certain systems of the vehicle, but does not give them an answer to the problem. They need to do the actual work, not the computer. They take the codes and data given by the computer and need to run certain tests to actually get a diagnosis for a problem. When a customer comes in with a problem and says, “I don’t understand why you’re charging me to look at my car when all you have to do is throw it on the computer”, it is very frustrating to the technicians because they get no credit for the hard work that they do. They are similar in the way that they get frustrated by how jobs get paid. Technicians are paid on a flat rate system; they get paid by the job. Each job has a specific book time and that is how the technician’s pay is calculated. For example, a brake service pays two hours; if it takes three hours to do, they still only get paid two hours, but if it only takes them one hour to do, they still get paid for two. This system can be beneficial if they have the right kind of work. Sometimes, however, it is a disadvantage for them. When they are working on a vehicle under warranty and they are diagnosing a hard problem, GM warranty may only pay 0.9 hour even if the technician spends multiple hours on the vehicle; that is where it becomes frustrating for them.

autistic boy

Have you ever wondered how autism affects a child’s life? Well I was lucky to learn more about it when I was given the opportunity to observe a classroom, at a catholic school, of 16 first graders with 1 boy that has autism. The boy’s name is Shawn and he is considered to be a very high functioning autistic child. Shawn is able to talk but it is hard for him to express himself using words. He reacted to his surroundings in unusual ways; a normal sound would bother him sometimes so much that he had to cover his ears.

Shawn is tiny for a 6 year old; he is an adorable brown haired, blue eyed, very small statured child. At first observation, you wouldn’t really think that there was anything wrong with him. Upon further observation I was able to see that he didn’t interact properly with the students in the class. He tended to isolate himself and play by himself instead of joining in with what all the other students were doing. There was a teacher’s aid in the room that worked with Shawn to try to get him to play more with the other students and she was also able to calm him down the couple of times that he got upset that week.

When I first started going to the classroom Shawn wouldn’t even look at me when I said hi to him, he would just turn his back to me and go back to what he was doing. After a week of seeing me on a daily basis he finally began to at least acknowledge that I was in the room by giving me the cutest little smile. On the last day that I was there, Shawn actually very shyly came up to me and gave me a hug when the teacher announced that this would be my last day visiting the classroom.

When I was in the classroom it was really surprising to me how Shawn was able to draw better than the average 6 year old. He put so much detail into the drawings that a child wouldn’t usually think of at such a young age. The other thing that I noticed Shawn was especially good at was putting together small puzzles that many of the other kids in the class had much difficulty with. These observations correlated with articles that I read online regarding how there are certain areas in which autistic children seem to almost have genius abilities, but then in social situations they can have what is referred to as “mind blindness”. This “mind blindness”, refers to not being able to recognize and understand body language and facial expressions like the average child can because of that even high functioning autistic children like Shawn, need to be taught the social niceties in a much more in depth way and constantly reinforcing these behaviors. This was extremely obvious to me, not only as I mentioned above with the smiling, but also in how he seemed to hurt the other kids feelings so intentionally and not really understanding why.

In my overall observations of the classroom settings I noticed lots of small activity stations which really are helpful because they allow each child to move at their own pace and keep their attention for short periods of time. This was very helpful to Shawn because he really didn’t seem to be able to sit still for very long. They had a reading station with not only an assortment of books but also with magnetic letters to form their own words, a math station with many different unique ways to explore numbers. In another area there was a sand table and a table where they were able to play with toys in water. I noticed that both of these tables were very popular with all the other students, but Shawn would avoid them as much as he could. This seems to be another issue for children with autism; they seem to have much more sensitivity to texture and need to be firmly encouraged to engage in these activities.

As my final observation, I noticed that from day to day when something was done at a different time or in a different way Shawn appeared to get upset. That seemed to correspond with what I read about the fact that most children with autism don't like changes in routines. They like to stay on a schedule that is always the same. Sometimes even a change in the way the objects and items at each activity center were arranged seemed to upset Shawn if it was different from the previous time that he had been there.

Based on my observations for the most, the classroom situation he was in seemed to be appropriately meeting his needs without isolating him from the rest of the classroom. The one thing I feel he could really benefit from would be an aid specifically assigned to him to help him deal with whatever situations may arise. You may have to try many different people before they find someone who he is comfortable enough with to be able to trust. It is also important that it is the same person all the time for him to be able to form a bond.

Disney Fanatics

I have been a fan of Disney for quite some time; my introduction was the animated film The Little Mermaid in 1989 and a trip with my family in February of 1990. Since then I was hooked. I’ve visited the Disney parks here in the states several times and have been to Disneyland Paris twice, my next goal is to visit the Tokyo Disney resort. I make it a point to see all of the animated films in the theater and buy the DVDs before they are locked away in the “Disney vault”. I am also an annual passholder for Walt Disney World and visit about one or two times a year. I had pretty much defined myself as a Disney fanatic until I met John and Stacey, in their presence I lowered myself from fanatic to fan.

Webster’s dictionary defines fanatic as, “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion”. The one part that doesn’t apply to John and Stacey is that they can be very critical if they feel that Disney makes a bad decision, there latest film isn’t up to par, or their new attraction is just so-so.

I met Stacey at work when she was hired into my department, we went through the requisite introductions and she seemed like a nice person. It wasn’t until she started to bring in personal items from home to make her desk feel more personal that I thought we would get along well. She had pictures frames with family photos of visits to the parks, pieces of memorabilia, and a collection of small snow globes that surely cost quite a pretty penny. She always had something Disney on her person as well, be it Mickey Mouse silhouette earrings, a pin of one of the characters, or a necklace with Tinkerbell. I decided to strike up a conversation about Disney one day and the floodgates opened. From speaking with Stacey I found that she borders on the fanatic. It was our love and enjoyment of Disney that brought us together as friends. Eventually I would meet her husband John and find that he was just as obsessed as she was.

Their house is like any other that you would find in this area, a Cape Cod style house, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and the requisite dining and living areas. When you enter their house you might think you have left Massachusetts and set foot in Orlando. Every room in their house has some type of Disney touch to it, whether it is pictures on the wall or park merchandise tucked carefully onto the shelves of a curio cabinet. John’s proudest room is his office; the walls are covered with posters of Disney films and ads for rides in the parks. There are models of ride vehicles on the shelves of his desk and vast array of framed pictures from varied trips taken over the years. He even has one corner of his office set up as a sort of shrine to his favorite attraction, “The Haunted Mansion”. Now I love “The Haunted Mansion”, it probably is my favorite attraction as well, I have a few collectibles but it seems that John has any item that has ever been released that has some relation to this classic attraction. I think I counted at least four snow globes, a few mock ups of show seems from the ride, some figurines, a coffee mug, the list goes on and on. Stacey’s pride and joy lies meanwhile, lies in the basement. Here she has all of her collectibles, posters, and even a replica of the Disney monorail system complete with hotels and models of rides that actually move when a sensor is triggered by the moving monorail. Stacey is an avid scrap booker and will gladly show you her fourteen scrap books dedicated to just their Disney trips, all you have to do is ask.

John and Stacey had invited me to their house before to meet other Disney fans; they hold informal meetings with other Disney fanatics once every few months. I never had the desire to go as I didn’t want to feel, for lack of a better word, inadequate to those whose obsession ran thicker in their blood then mine did. Once this paper was assigned I figured it would be the perfect opportunity so I accepted the invitation to their next meeting.

I went to the meeting not sure what to expect or the demographic of those that would be attending. The driveway and street in front of the house were lined with cars normally found in middle-class families, the people at the meeting were white and ranged in age from early 30’s to mid-50’s. Most of them had on some type of Disney apparel, mostly t-shirts that were stamped with a date. It almost seemed that the older the date stamp the more superiority the wearer felt. I attested this to what I call “the black dog” syndrome; the Black Dog started off as a tavern on Martha’s Vineyard but has blossomed into much more. Its signature are the year stamped clothing that they sell, the older the year stamp the “cooler” the individual is wearing it, or so that is the perception. I noticed that some people had t-shirts that not only had a date stamp but also displayed a special event, this people seemed to be held to an even higher regard. The main topic of the conversation was anything Disney, it centered on whatever was “new” with Disney. Smaller groups or couples would break off to talk about politics, current events, or what was going on in their lives. But everything would come back around to Disney. Most of these people have known each other for years, they are a very close group, and they even travel together to Disney. They mostly met through an internet forum board, Disboards.com, or “The Dis” as they call it. John and Stacey seem to be central to most of the people here so I assume this is why their house is used as a meeting location, either that or to show of the latest merchandise they bought from their last trip. This group tends to use a lot of abbreviations or as they call it, Disney slang. Being a fan of Disney myself I was familiar with some of the abbreviations as it pertained to some of the attractions and shows, yet there were some I questioned about. I knew that “ToT” meant Tower of Terror and “AK” and “MK” were for Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom respectively. I thought I had a grasp on most of the lingo but then “CS” and “BCV” started coming out and I found myself lost. For the record “CS” is counter service and “BCV” is Beach Club Villas. After asking Stacey what a few of the abbreviations mean I found myself being able to follow the conversation with more ease. And it isn’t just that certain parts of sentences are abbreviated, the whole sentence is abbreviated as much as it can be. Here is a sample conversation that I heard between a Bob, a man wearing a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party shirt and Debbie, a woman wearing more Disney inspired jewelry then I thought was possible:

Bob: Hey Deb, how was your last trip?

Deb: Oh it was fantastic; first we took the ME from MCO directly to AKV and checked in. CRO had made a mistake on our room so we got upgraded to a savannah view room.

Bob: That is awesome! How was MVMCP?

Deb: It was fun except that SM was closed and it was far too cold to do SM, but CoP was open which was great. The TTA was running so we got to see some of the work they were doing on SM, which was neat. And we had a great skipper on JC so we made it a point to mention the CM’s name at GR. We didn’t want to stay too late so took the monorail out to the TTC and drove back to AKV.

I’m not kidding, this was an actual conversation and it continued on in this manner for another fifteen minutes. For those that don’t speak Disney, allow me to translate:

ME = Magic Express

MCO = the airport

AKV = Animal Kingdom Villas

CRO = Central Reservation Office

MVMCP = Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

SM = Space Mountain

SM also = Splash Mountain (confused yet?)

CoP = Carousel of Progress

TTA = Tomorrowland Transit Authority

JC = Jungle Cruise

CM = Cast Member

GR = Guest Relations

I was amazed that they had their own Disney language and everybody seemed to understand what the other was saying.

The other thing I was surprised about was the tenacity that many held to their opinions of Disney. I heard several discussions about what is the best ride on property, what is the best hotel, and what is the best-animated feature. Every individual in the room had a separate thought on it and a list of reasons why everyone should share their opinion.

Disney fanatics have even found a way to recognize one another when out on vacation, even if they aren’t in Disney. The color of Disney fanatics who post to the Disboards is lime green. So anything lime green from shoelaces, shirts, or bits of yarn adorn backpacks and baby strollers. It is common, I’m told by the group, that when you see someone with the lime green indicator it is common courtesy to introduce yourself with your real name and your handle on the website. When planning a visit to any of the Disney parks it is quite ordinary to go to Home Depot and take one of the lime green paint swatches, conveniently in the shape of Mickey’s head and write your Disboard handle on it. This is then proudly displayed for all to see and to precipitate interactions with other Disney fanatics.

As I said my goodbyes John and Stacey were busy planning another trip with another couple, they already have one lined up next month, this trip is for July, all the while speaking in their abbreviated language and deciding on dinner reservations. I hope that one day I will ascent to their level of fanatic and proudly display my Disboard user name on a lime green tag firmly attached to my Mickey Mouse backpack.

BNI

Have you ever heard the slogan “Givers gain”? If you where a member of BNI you would live it. Members of BNI (Business Networking International) are like a click of their own. This group is open to businesses of all sizes. The goal of the group is to continue to grow, to have someone from each profession represented at each group. Each group can only have one business representing a particular profession. To be able to join this group you have to submit their written application along with the processing fees. If you are accepted as a member of this group you then need to attend a training class. At this training class you are given your handbook, some pamphlets, a leather business card holder that has BNI in gold lettering on the cover, and a name lanyard. BNI is taken very seriously you must be at each weekly meeting or have a substitute cover for your company. You can and will be asked to leave the group if you have too many unexcused absences. As a member of this group you are expected to pass referral as appropriate to the other members helping them build their business and in turn they pass referrals your way to help you grow yours. The other task that is expected of you is to have One-on-Ones. These are informal meetings that are set up for later times in the week, sometimes something as simple as coffee. This meeting is used to discuss what each other’s business is really about so that you are better able to generate referrals and leads for the business member you are meeting with.

The room is a bustle of chatter and plates clanging. As the group comes in they meet and greet, get breakfast and grab a seat. Because there are so many different professions that are represented in one group you get a wide range of styles and personalities. You have the banker dressed to the nines, with a suite and a smile. You have the carpenter in cargo pants a sweatshirt and a lumberjack style beard speaking when spoken to. The computer guy in the stereotypical khaki’s, button down shirt with a sweater vest over it, he completes the look with a pair of glasses. Though it is a mesh of people from all walks of life they get along well and seem to have a goodtime together.

This BNI is at a hotel so as part of their monthly dues the room and a light breakfast is provided. The room is a normal hotel conference room set up in a horse shoe shape with tables and chairs. The is one table near the main entrance that is home to the sign in sheet to make sure that you get counted as present you must sign in. There is a set schedule to each meeting. Like many other groups there is a president, treasurer, and secretary. The President then starts the meeting as the PALMS report is circulated. The palms report is the weekly report that includes your name, how many meetings you have been present and how many you have been absent. The number of one-on-ones you have had, the number of referrals you have received/given and the dollar amount that has been generated for your group from these referrals. At this point of the meeting any new business is discussed and announcements are made about upcoming outside networking events that might be of interest.

Now is the time the 60 seconds start, you stand and the rest is up to you. Some people in the room start with their name and the name of the company that they are representing then go into their dialog and others close with their name and company name. The 60 seconds for the most part are a free for all. You are allowed to do and say as you please during your time frame, though talking more than 60 seconds is not an option. There is a person at the back of the room stop watch in hand, that holds up a small sign to let you know when you are down to 10 seconds. Next to the time keeper is another man on his laptop. At first glance he doesn’t look like he is paying attention to anything going on around him but he is. It is his job to type a quick couple of sentences of each person’s 60 seconds to give the overall jest of it. This then gets emailed off to the members after the meeting. They can use this to remember what another company had spoke about or if they had a sub filling in for them it can bring them up to date on what the other companies are look for in the way of referrals.

Most are the same mundane speech week after week, what their company does and who they would like to get connected to this week which could lead to a referral if you know that business owner. My company is a little different we like to make people laugh, engage them in the speech and they will remember you and your company better. The most recent week my husband’s 60 second went something like this. How many people have pets in their home? How many people’s pets sit on the furniture? Does your dog or cat wear pants? What if your brother-in-law sat on your couch without pants? At least he showers daily and uses toilet paper. I have never had the dog ask me to spare a square, yet we think nothing of the dog sitting next to us on the couch. Good enough reason to have your furniture cleaned? I think so! Enviro Pro Clean is trained and certified in cleaning leather and upholstery now is the time to schedule your appointment.

The 60 seconds are done and now on to the 10 minute speech. On a rotating schedule each company provides the group with a 10 minute speech on their business concluded with questions. The next phase of the meeting is where they literally pass the referrals. The carpenter of the group also does random woodworking. This gentleman Bill has made a box for the group complete with the BNI letters on the front side, hinge on the top and a slot to put the slips of paper in. As this box is passed from member to member they stand put their slips in as they state what each slip is for. For each referral and one-on-one there is a slip that is completed (this is where they gather the numbers for the PALMS report). Before they pass the box to the next member some close with “Go BNI!” It seems a little awkward and this is probably why not all members do this. There is a short pause when this is finished as a designated person counts the one-on-one slips and the cash totals of the referrals received. As the meeting closes the president again addresses the group. He provides them with the totals that had been received for that week. The president then reminds them to keep their eyes and ears open for leads and closes with a “GO BNI!” Although this is the official close of the meeting the members linger behind. They discuss referrals that they had passed, giving the other person more information and scheduling this coming week one-on-ones.

Don’t forget “Givers gain”, what are you giving?

Welcome to our group blog

Hi, folks. This is the blog I've set up to use for sharing drafts of essays in progress and responding to the work of others. As you post your drafts, please use the labels box at the bottom to tag each post with its assignment name (ethnography, annotation, text-wrestling, etc) and also with our first name. this should help us search for posts (and help you group your own posts together or see the work of your "favorite author." If you have any problems, please post a question on the discussion board "General course questions" in Angel site.

Note that you do not need to sign in to Angel to access this blog. You can read the blog by pasting its URL in address bar (right now it is accessible to the general public, though I doubt anyone will find us in cyberspace). To post on te blog, ou will need to be signed in on blogger.com homepage; to post peer reviews, you do not need to be signed in, but it does make the process a little quicker.

And bonus points for person who can come up with a better name for the blog!