Monday 8 November 2010
This day was one of my favorites at work so far. It started out a little rough, but ended up being such a wonderful experience. On Friday, one of my bosses, Misa invited me to an event to observe another part of what Think London does.
The event was at the Canadian High Commission in Trafalgar Square off Coskspur Street. I had actually been to that specific street a few weeks before because that is where my Stonehenge tour departed from. I was so relieved that I already knew the area where the event was being held. That’s one of the most stressful things about being here; getting lost or turned around. London is so huge and there’s no way I can actually know where even a small number of the buildings/streets are when I've lived here for such a short time. The "long story-short" is that I still got somewhat lost. I was in the wrong building. I told them my name and the names of the people in attendance and the receptionist didn’t even bother to tell me that those people did not work in this building. She just said she would send someone down to me. About ten minutes after being there (thank goodness I got there a few minutes early), I asked her if this was the Canadian High Commission. Of course, she said no and that it was next door.
I was nervous about being a little late, but it was not a big deal. I had booklets from the office that Misa (one of my bosses. She’s American.) had asked me to bring. They were Think London marketing material for our prospective clients at the meeting. I walked in at the same time as one our current clients, Pulse Energy. His name was either Steve or Ken…I can't remember it. I guess I should work on that for future events… He’s been in London since the summer and trying to jumpstart his business and finish a different, big business deal here. His company did a lot of the renewable energy for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Think London is working with him now to get their UK arm of their business off the ground. I remember thinking it was really nice to hear a familiar accent.
When I got up to the conference room, it was very relaxed. Misa was the only one in there and she was making notes. Steve/Ken was the first client and he was about 20 minutes early so it was not a big deal that I was running a late due to being at the wrong location.
I had read the briefing on what the meeting would be about, but I was still pretty unsure of what was actually going to be discussed. Overall, this event was created in hopes of engagins with British Columbian companies who were looking to globalize and to share ideas with companies who were involved with the Vancouver Games. I had no idea that such high profile people would be at this event.
Here's a list of the VIP attendees:
- Ken Veldman - Manager, Olympic Legacy & Business Services British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Trade & Investment
- Kim Hobbs, Events for London, Greater London Authority (GLA) (Part of the Mayor's Office)
- Tim Plyming, Project Executive, Digital, BBC London 2012
A lot of the presentation featured Tim and Kim talking about their plans for lives sites during Games Time. They plan to have enormous TVs spread around London and the UK so as many people can experience the games first hand, as possible. I loved hearing about this. They were talking about customer experience and what people are going to remember about the games. I think I'd love to work with a company that does something like this...creates wonderful and memorable experiences for people.
After the meeting, Misa called my boss, Lucette and asked if I could stay for the luncheon afterward. I was all about the free food, obviously. It worked out and Lucette said she didn't have a lot for me to work on at the office and that would be fine. I was a bit nervous about this luncheon since I only really knew Misa. It was for 'networking' but of course, since I don't live on this continent, I knew this would be most beneifical as practice for me. I just tried to blend in and look like I actually belonged. I think I did a pretty good job. I sat next to two women from Synergy PR in London and we had a nice chat. I also sat next to an older gentlemen, but now I can't remember his name or the company he worked for. I had never been to an event like that, an event where you have to act professional and meet all these people and pretend to be interested in what everyone else is saying. Most people don't really care, they just want to communicate what their company is. Once I got going, it was fine. Think London has a high reputation in the business world in London. As soon as I said I worked there, people were immediately interested in what I did there. After a few minutes of networking/killing time until the food was ready we ate and watched a presentation about the Vanvouver Olympics. We ate some kind of fish and a side dish that I'm still not really sure what it was. The presentation was really cool. It was an edited video of clips from Vancouver and how the community responded to all the excitement of the Olympics. I really enjoyed that part. After the luncheon, I headed to the office to finish my hours for the week. I did more research and then went back to Harrow.
For dinner, I cooked (meaning microwaved) a traditional English dinner: jacket potatoes (baked potato) topped with Heinz Beanz and shredded cheese. Yummmm. So much delicious on that plate right there.
No comments:
Post a Comment