X Factor Meeting February 2007. Hosts: Chris and Virginia Ellis

Over twenty clients and staff made their way to Chris and Virginia Ellis’s superb new Choi Kwang Do School in Redhill, for an excellent X Factor Meeting with EFC Advisory Board Chairman and top UK client Ken Pankiewicz.

This meeting was a little different as it concentrated on teaching techniques on the mat. Ken covered the warm up, Little Champions: four to six year olds, covering lesson structure and teaching tips, teaching forms, pad work, self defence training and sparring. After each segment Ken took questions from the delegates, which encouraged a lot of questions and very lively and informative discussion. The meeting was very well received and Chris and Virginia made every one feel very welcome.

X-Factor Meeting September 2006. Host: Dan Woodruff

Eighteen people attended the recent X Factor held at Dan Woodruff’s superb Dojo in Stourbridge. The meeting facilitator was the very knowledgeable and accomplished EFC UK Advisory Board Co-Chairman Ken Pankiewicz. The meeting covered classroom procedures, including how to teach different segments of the Martial Arts such as forms, self defence and pad work. We also covered promotions for the Autumn and New Year and how to retain students in the run up to Christmas. The meeting closed with a very lively and constructive Q&A session involving everyone present. The feedback has been very enthusiastic and we thank Dan & Carole for being such excellent hosts and Ken for yet again providing first class information.

Meeting of Minds August 2006. Guest Speaker: Chris Robinson

Students for Life

The sixth meeting in the highly successful EFC UK Meeting of Minds Seminar Series took place at the Shudokan Black Belt Academy in Nottingham, with star guest EFC USA Board Member Chris Robinson, UK Advisory Board Members Ken Pankiewicz and Ken Robson and nearly forty clients and staff.

The theme of the meeting was Students for Life, not just for Days. On Saturday we had a very full agenda with presentations by Chris on “Before we grow our schools we must grow ourselves”, “The Owners Role”, “Black Belt Club Programs”, and “Building a Team not a staff”. He also encouraged everyone to have scripts for dealing with the first contact, the intro etc, “Scripts save schools”, “If you are not consistent, you do not have a system”.

Ken Pankiewicz gave an excellent presentation on “Evaluating your school and the tuition you charge”. This subject covered not only the price that you charge for tuition, but he also showed the delegates how to calculate the Quit Rate for their school. Continue reading →

X-Factor Meeting May 2006. Host: Ken Pankiewicz

All New EFC X Factor Kick Starts at Kickfit!

In the UK we usually hold our client meetings at the weekend, but we recently held our first UK week day X Factor at Ken Pankiewicz’s Kickfit Academy Headquarters in Slough near London. These X Factor meetings will emulate the highly successful format developed in the USA. They will be held regionally for a maximum of four hours and we expect to attract a smaller number of attendees, compared to our well established two day “Meeting of Minds” Y Factor Seminars. The meetings will be dynamic, with a relatively short agenda which will be examined in depth. There will also be a Q&A session when attendees can raise any issues which concern them for open discussion within the group.

Meeting of Minds March 2006. Guest Speaker: Rick Silver

Retention: The Secret to a Successful School

The fifth meeting in the highly successful EFC UK Meeting of Minds Seminar Series took place with star guest EFC USA Advisory Board Member Rick Silver, our very own UK Advisory Board Members John Lynn, Ken Robson and forty clients and staff.

The venue was Ken Robson’s Shudokan Black Belt Academy in Nottingham. Ken, his Program Director Rachel Gordon and Dojo Manager Andy Cannon strive continuously to improve their Dojo and their service to their students. Every time I visit I see improvements that have occurred as a result of their hard work and from the candid observations made by our visiting friends from the USA, such as Garland & Bridget Johnson, Steve Doyon, Nick and Donnalynn Patakos, Keith and Debbie Thompson and now Rick. It is a great example of international networking in action. But the information flow does not stop there, as Ken Robson repeated his open invitation to all EFC UK clients for them to visit the Dojo, so that he and his staff can pass on the skills they have learned. Every client who has visited the Dojo has subsequently given glowing reports on their visit, so ring Ken to arrange your visit! Continue reading →