The last six (6) hours could be considered as another break or more of escape from my regular mind-boggling work at our sometimes-suffocating office. 😂 Last week before my boss left for India, he told me to attend this India Trade Delegation scheduled today at Seda Hotel. I would want to remind my boss, the VP for Sales and Marketing, that I no longer work for business development. I handle demand planning now and this event is in no single angle related to my job. But those words stayed inside my head because I want to learn from the event, too! So I blocked off today just for this event.
I initially planned to come with @eatslance but he had to go home for an important family event so @justklaire to the rescue! Klaire and Lance are both Senior Brand Specialists at our company. They're awesome at work! 👏
It's a business matching event initiated by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI). I was surprised when I realized that it's the first time they'll be joining hands for better trade in both countries. They've signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between CCCI and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (Phil.) Inc.(FICCI) followed by the introduction of the Indian Business Delegation and lastly but certainly the highlight of this event is the B2B (Business to Business) Meeting. It's that part we start questioning ourselves "Why are we here again?" This case is true in all events when most of the attendees are either owners or CEOs and other top ranking Executives. And here we are, mid-management employees who are obviously the youngest in the crowd.
I let Klaire do the talking to give her the opportunity to hone her skills. She's frantic at first but with a little push, she turned out natural. We've seen how our boss negotiates; we've had enough immersion. Today's just a matter of execution of what we've learned from him. I'm happy that we've matched with a few suppliers from the Indian Trade Delegation. We're ready to present what we got earlier to the management and hopefully bring those products to you soon!
And of course we did some photoshoot on the side. Again, this is my break, gotta act like I'm in a real one. 😂