20 minutes chrono

The roof of Cyber Tower 1

Last week I had the chance to assist my supervisor at Maluti Communications for a partnership announcement ceremony. The partnership announcement was about one of the local telematics leader associating itself with another world leader. The press was of course invited to the event. Everything was ready: press release was written, invitations were sent, media kits ready to be distributed… The big day was finally there and I was all thrilled to assist to my first press gathering. I thought everything would go as planned but I was wrong! 1.30pm. 30 minutes before the opening ceremony, my supervisor and I reached the venue which was Voilà Hotel at Bagatelle. We headed to the reception and asked which conference theatre. But then, due to some unforeseen situations, which I cannot mention here, the venue had to be changed. It was 1.40pm and only 20 minutes were left to fix and reorganise everything. I was amazed by the rapidity with which my supervisor thought of a solution. Just a couple of phone calls. Cyber Tower 1 in Ebene and the time was maintained. My supervisor organised for two vehicles to be sent to Voila Hotel for the journalists – in case some needed a lift in-between the two venues. My supervisor left Bagatelle at 1.45pm and I stayed back to inform the journalists about the last minute change. I was tensed and worried; I was wondering if everything would be ready for 2pm. I informed some journalists about the change and they preferred going to Ebene by their own transport. I waited till 2.10pm and left for the conference in one of the vehicle. I asked the other guy to wait till 2.40pm in case any journalist would be late. 2.20pm, I reached the new venue for the conference. I was pleased to see everything was going fine. The conference already started and we had an excellent media presence. The lesson learnt is that however planned and prepared an event could be, issues may always arise convert dreams into nightmares. One should always be ready and able to find quick and reliable solutions to these issues in these circumstances.