We are back from Athens and I am off today. My boss thought we could use a day off before going back to work after being on the go from 7 o’clock in the morning till the morning after for the last couple of days. Thanks Ron!
First of all, he was right! I woke up at 1pm today and still feel tired. Athens was a whirlwind of conferencing, death by PowerPoint, fantastic food and lots of mingling. Unfortunately I didn’t actually see much of the hotel room, or my wife for that matter, but you know how it is. Duty calls.
The kick-off started off on Sunday evening with a cocktail party that was out of this world! 250 people from around the CB-world mingling in this absolutely fantastic hotel, all food and drink catered for, and the backdrop was the Mediterranean ocean. The hotel was located right by the water. The morning after, the kick-off was officially opened by Matt Ferguson, our CEO and Farhan Yasin, our President of International. As it should be, the opening was a bit of a pep-rally and definitely gave a good vibe and a sense of “we can do it!”
The rest of the day was filled with presentations, speeches and of course, the breakout-sessions for Customer Care that I have been working on for months. It went really well and we got our message across. Ron did a great job and as hard as it can be to capture the attention of hung-over sales reps, he did it. I was offered to do the presentation before we left, but I think I am more of a “behind the scenes operative” when it comes to things like this. Maybe next year. Most likely next year.
One of the highlights of the kick-off for me was our guest speaker Chris Moon (http://www.chrismoon.co.uk/). This guy has been through it all and is definitely an inspirational guy to listen to. He has been blown up, kidnapped, threatened with execution multiple times and after losing an arm and a leg when clearing out minefields in Mozambique he ran across the Sahara desert in an ultra-Marathon and actually finished amongst the best of them. He was talking about seeing the positive in life and blocking out the negative and about his experiences in Africa. He was also talking about when pain and difficulty is so overwhelming and how to overcome this instead of taking the easy way out. A few quotes from him that really stuck with me, and I think you had to be there to understand why, were:
“The problem with common sense is that it is not very common”
“Difficulty flows like water, if you let it, it will fill you up”
“Never be crushed. Persist. Never give up.”
"Talk to the hook cause the face don't wanna hear it anymore!"
In the evening we were taken by bus to downtown Athens to a restaurant called “Dionyssos“ where we enjoyed a 4-course dinner made up by various Greek specialities and Greek wine. The name of the restaurant was very fitting as the backdrop was the Acropolis rock, the Parthenon temple and Dionyssos’ theatre, the first amphitheatre in the world. I have been to the Acropolis rock and the theatre a few years back, and it is a fantastic place and very well preserved considering its age. Unfortunately I did not have time for sightseeing this time around, but Shaena had some time on the Monday to go out on the town with the other “footballers wives” that had tagged along to Athens with their respective husbands.
When we came back from the restaurant we sat down in the hotel lobby for a quick drink and I phoned Shaena, who were asleep up in the hotel room. Shaena came down to join us in her pyjamas and socks, not bothered at all that we were in a 5 star diamond hotel. That is one of the many, many reasons why I love my wife!
Anyhow, this made for a very long blog entry, so good for you if you made it this far! :)
First of all, he was right! I woke up at 1pm today and still feel tired. Athens was a whirlwind of conferencing, death by PowerPoint, fantastic food and lots of mingling. Unfortunately I didn’t actually see much of the hotel room, or my wife for that matter, but you know how it is. Duty calls.
The kick-off started off on Sunday evening with a cocktail party that was out of this world! 250 people from around the CB-world mingling in this absolutely fantastic hotel, all food and drink catered for, and the backdrop was the Mediterranean ocean. The hotel was located right by the water. The morning after, the kick-off was officially opened by Matt Ferguson, our CEO and Farhan Yasin, our President of International. As it should be, the opening was a bit of a pep-rally and definitely gave a good vibe and a sense of “we can do it!”
The rest of the day was filled with presentations, speeches and of course, the breakout-sessions for Customer Care that I have been working on for months. It went really well and we got our message across. Ron did a great job and as hard as it can be to capture the attention of hung-over sales reps, he did it. I was offered to do the presentation before we left, but I think I am more of a “behind the scenes operative” when it comes to things like this. Maybe next year. Most likely next year.
One of the highlights of the kick-off for me was our guest speaker Chris Moon (http://www.chrismoon.co.uk/). This guy has been through it all and is definitely an inspirational guy to listen to. He has been blown up, kidnapped, threatened with execution multiple times and after losing an arm and a leg when clearing out minefields in Mozambique he ran across the Sahara desert in an ultra-Marathon and actually finished amongst the best of them. He was talking about seeing the positive in life and blocking out the negative and about his experiences in Africa. He was also talking about when pain and difficulty is so overwhelming and how to overcome this instead of taking the easy way out. A few quotes from him that really stuck with me, and I think you had to be there to understand why, were:
“The problem with common sense is that it is not very common”
“Difficulty flows like water, if you let it, it will fill you up”
“Never be crushed. Persist. Never give up.”
"Talk to the hook cause the face don't wanna hear it anymore!"
In the evening we were taken by bus to downtown Athens to a restaurant called “Dionyssos“ where we enjoyed a 4-course dinner made up by various Greek specialities and Greek wine. The name of the restaurant was very fitting as the backdrop was the Acropolis rock, the Parthenon temple and Dionyssos’ theatre, the first amphitheatre in the world. I have been to the Acropolis rock and the theatre a few years back, and it is a fantastic place and very well preserved considering its age. Unfortunately I did not have time for sightseeing this time around, but Shaena had some time on the Monday to go out on the town with the other “footballers wives” that had tagged along to Athens with their respective husbands.
When we came back from the restaurant we sat down in the hotel lobby for a quick drink and I phoned Shaena, who were asleep up in the hotel room. Shaena came down to join us in her pyjamas and socks, not bothered at all that we were in a 5 star diamond hotel. That is one of the many, many reasons why I love my wife!
Anyhow, this made for a very long blog entry, so good for you if you made it this far! :)
Next on the list: Mexico. Can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hey, don't be shy... drop us a line!