Bribery

Twelve of the members of the U3A photography group that I run came round for afternoon tea. The only absent members were the ones who'd had deaths in the family in the last couple if weeks. I know five people who've had relatives that have died in the last fortnight and only two of them were old enough to return to the earth in a way that hasn't traumatised their families.
G made the cake for the tea party, he has an idiot proof recipe for Victoria sandwich; the only skill required is the ability to weigh three eggs. My contribution was buttering the scones.
What my guests didn't know until they arrived, was that they weren't getting any tea or cake until they'd devised a full programme of photographic outings for 2019. This concentrated their minds, furrowed the odd brow and saved me a lot of effort.
And, now that everyone has been posted back out into the world, we've got one slice of cake, three biscuits and three half, ready buttered and jammed scones to assuage tomorrow's sugar craving.