The Seminar
Ive been wanting to get ahead beyond the first post that i made to my own blog.. but have been tied down with preparing for the seminar which finally got done yesterday. The seminar was essentially a sales seminar "Data to Insight" - we trying to get some new prospects for Business Objects projects. My role was to get everything organized including a demo/presentation of the product. So I have been spending the last month or so with preparations for that.
Since it was a dinner seminar event, I will go ahead and try to describe both.
The turnout was not bad, my presentation went off really well, and I even earned a few compliments on it. The first few minutes were a bit scary but after that I was pretty comfortable with what I was doing.
The food was an absolute let down (for vegetarians). First came a bowl of salad which Ive never cared for anyway, so I didnt touch it all. Then came a plate with some boiled vegetables. No Indian in his right sense would be able to eat that. The thing had no hint of salt or spice.. ugh!!! I ate a few pieces of carrot and zuchini mainly because I didnt want to faint during my presentation which was to start a few minutes later. I was hoping to return to a plate of the actual dinner (pasta or something) but returned to find only my dessert waiting.. ugh.. boiled vegetables for dinner? they might as well have let us graze in a farm..
The keynote address was about running IT as a business. It was interesting to see the perspective of top IT heads on the challenges they face in running their department. Some of it went above my head - I found it difficult to perceive probably due to my limited exposure to events that occur at that level of the management. The keynote address was followed by a presentation by our CEO - that was good too, but half way through it I had stopped concentrating and thinking about my presentation which was to follow. My presentation went on alright - no problems at least, a few questions, managed to appease the curious folks there and finally ended well.
Now what remains to be seen is if we do close a few sales as a result of the seminar. That would probably be a true measure of its success.
Since it was a dinner seminar event, I will go ahead and try to describe both.
The turnout was not bad, my presentation went off really well, and I even earned a few compliments on it. The first few minutes were a bit scary but after that I was pretty comfortable with what I was doing.
The food was an absolute let down (for vegetarians). First came a bowl of salad which Ive never cared for anyway, so I didnt touch it all. Then came a plate with some boiled vegetables. No Indian in his right sense would be able to eat that. The thing had no hint of salt or spice.. ugh!!! I ate a few pieces of carrot and zuchini mainly because I didnt want to faint during my presentation which was to start a few minutes later. I was hoping to return to a plate of the actual dinner (pasta or something) but returned to find only my dessert waiting.. ugh.. boiled vegetables for dinner? they might as well have let us graze in a farm..
The keynote address was about running IT as a business. It was interesting to see the perspective of top IT heads on the challenges they face in running their department. Some of it went above my head - I found it difficult to perceive probably due to my limited exposure to events that occur at that level of the management. The keynote address was followed by a presentation by our CEO - that was good too, but half way through it I had stopped concentrating and thinking about my presentation which was to follow. My presentation went on alright - no problems at least, a few questions, managed to appease the curious folks there and finally ended well.
Now what remains to be seen is if we do close a few sales as a result of the seminar. That would probably be a true measure of its success.
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