Roadshow - Part 1

Roadshow? Attended one? How nice! Can just sit quietly and listen and absorb whatever is being said. That is, if the topic (and speaker!) is interesting enough. The worst is when the speaker talks in a monotone. In my line of work, I have attended many of such talks conducted by various speakers. Some interesting, others will send everyone to slumberland within a few minutes. I particularly dislike those who read outright from the powerpoint slides.

Well, fancy some public speaking experience? I wonder how many “freeze” when they have to talk in front of an audience. Do you think it can be learnt or conditioned?, or is it an inborn ability by virtue of an individual’s personality? Hmm…

Well, tables have turned, and this time, my job required me to do some public speaking, together with my bosses. Due to the many number of branches in Malaysia, we split into two teams. Bid big boss presented to the main branch in KL, big boss covered northern and east coast, whilst I was tasked with southern and east Malaysia.

Where do I even start about this experience? Well, preparation of powerpoint slides of course. Went through quite a few drafts until we more or less agreed on one standard outline to follow. Due to the hectic work schedules of my bosses, slides were finalized last minute.

Business traveling has always seemed glamorous when one starts their working life. It’s the thought of visiting so many places which may attract many. But truth be told, for me anyway, schedules can either be very hectic that don’t leave much spare time for anything else, and sometimes due to flight schedules, a lot of waiting time required. It is not glamorous at all (to some maybe). Imagine moving from hotel to hotel, living out of your luggage. Short trips are ok I guess, but extended business trips can be very taxing on the body and mind.

But I digress. Presentation, roadshows, talks, or whatever you may call it, is always nice if someone else conducts. Unfortunately for me, this time I had to share my knowledge of fixed income with agents in the various branches. Personally, I think the various “training” I had via standing in front of audiences for my singing and music performances have sort of conditioned me not to be as nervous.

I recall attending an interview / screening which took place for one full day for my first job. One of the requirement was to present a topic (duties of a branch manager – I can still remember it), to the other interviewees and a panel of “judges”. Can be very daunting for some. There were six of us for the assessment session, but only five made it through. One lady fumbled quite badly during the presentation evaluation thingy.

Somehow, my personal goal is to do a good job (not just good enough, but to do it well). So mental preparation is required. It actually gets easier with each session. There are so many differing presentation styles though, Some are very interactive, others go on and on, etc… My style? I am a sucker for punishment and aim for interactiveness. So far, feedback has been positive on my presentation skills, so am kind of glad.

The other “tough” thing would be the Q&A session. Questions differ in range, sometimes off topic, but I do try to answer as many as I can. The least I had was only one question, and the longest, a Q&A session lasting one and a half hours! Whoah!, that was tough, but I think I survived it well enough.

What did I gain from this experience? Well, I sharpened my presentation skills, I learnt from the ground level what the concerns and difficulties they have in terms of the knowledge and support required for them to do a better job. Also gave me an opportunity to interact with the branch staff and understand their working constraints. I suppose for the agents, it gave them an opportunity to meet someone from HQ who specialized in an area which is generally not well known.

More interestingly, it gave me an insight on ground level morality, work ethics (some staff sauntering to work at 9:30am, whilst others are already busy as bees by that time), working relationship between the organizers of the event, the various attitudes of the branch managers… the list could go on. I suppose I could have approached this purely as a talk, whereby I go in and just present what I want to say, but just keeping and eye or ear open, somehow shows a lot more than what may be obvious at the various branches.

On a lighter note, no matter the gripe on business traveling, it does give a flavour of the hotel for future visits, and even the various places for a return visit which may not be business related. Can find out first hand what is good to see or eat around the various localities, etc. As an added benefit, my last stop ended in Kuching on the Friday, so I extended my stay and went back to my hometown for the weekend.