The Boardroom

All I had was a 10min slot out of a full day's marathon meeting from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

The butterflies in my tummy were already fluttering the night before. 

I had maybe two practice runs of the content I was about to present but never fully cemented any form of articulation. I was banking on the fact that I could present confidently because I know that if you knew your stuff, cover all potential FAQ, and were passionate about what you were presenting, the rest of a great prezzo simply boiled down to nerve management and articulation.

The dream lines started flowing in during the morning while others took their turns to present. Wanting to sound inspirational yet not cocky. 

"If APAC is going to crush the competition, Singapore will lead the way!"

Wait, "will lead the way" sounds not as powerful as "must lead the way". How about "shall lead the way"?

"Singapore has to crush every office out there!" 

Wait, scratch that, might offend the offices present there.

"People think Singapore is stagnating, but I see so much opportunity!"

Scratch that, might offend the older managers who've been here a long time.

So much running through my head and the clock is ticking. And the closer it is to my prezzo, the less I can remember of any script in my head. Shoot.

Need to fit the word 'opportunity' somewhere because that's the chairman's latest buzzword in his marketing campaign. Need to fit in 'exciting' because the chairman's been peppering his lines with that word too.

Finally, my turn to present! Impromptu lah, I was already excited enough do tried not to think anymore. Just gonna wing it. Gonna open with something good and then follow the points on the PowerPoint one-pager. 

"I can see a lot of exciting opportunity in the region, and here's why!"

10mins later, the room is pumped and the chairman made an observation. I said the word 'exciting' a grand total of six times, 'opportunity' three times. All in all a great prezzo, except that when in front of the room of 30 he bet me €100 that I would exceed my forecasted targets, I actually wanted to agree with him but accidentally took him on instead! That's the brain rush talking.

Phew.

I have alot of work cut out for me.