The verdict @ Alexis

It may have passed some time ago but the memory and the lesson learnt will forever be with you. Well, not exactly that long, but 2 weeks ago. I am talking about the speech workshop that we conducted. We just had a post mortem meeting cum dinner the other night @ Alexis. I was definately looking forward to this event, for 2 reasons ..... the good food and the feedback of the whole workshop.Oh ... the venue was heavenly. It was an ambience that was cosy and yet contemporary. Simple grey furniture amidst a grey background. Hanging cupboards with utensils were hanging around, giving the feel that you were dining in Ikea's show room. And it was the open kitchen concept. Its so fun to see the chef baking your pizza or making stew in their copper utensils. haha ... no more horror stories of chefs spitting into your food. 

If you like chic dining, then this is the place to be. Ooh

 ... I love the taste of their mushroom pizza. Its so crunchy and fresh. Garnished with raw herbs, all the natural flavours oozes out. And the cheese ..... so so rich! Also must try is their bruchetta with sun dried tomatoes and balsemic vinegar. Its amazing how they make it so soft yet so full of flavour. Ah, who could go to Alexis and not try their Tiramisu? Lip smacking! There is the hint of liquer on the layers of moist sponge. And the taste of the coffee emulco, added on with the chocolate shavings just makes it so tempting

. Topped with glazed almonds and served with raspberry sauce at the sides, the tiramisu was the highlight of the night! Well, so was sipping white wine and chatting with your friends over jazz in the back ground.

But the verdict was out. The participants did their evaluations and the more senior toastmasters were ready to give us all some pointers or two. Well, its my first speech workshop after all and the others, are trainers by profession. Still alot to learn. Overall, I must say that the team did extremely well in the coordination and logistics. Its just amazing how we sailed through the whole 2 days with out hiccups and how everybody knew and performed their tasks supporting each other. All of us evaluated the participants when they spoke and they were really appreciative of that. But by the end of the two days, all of us had dry throats .... hehe

I am very proud of my session as well. I had good feedback from both my seniors and the participants. My topic was on impromptu speaking .... that means, how to speak without time to prepare. Tricky eh? But I went up with confidence and gave some pointers and techniques. I was the first speaker of the workshop, and was very nervous (lucky it did not show), as the first speaker will either make it, or break the whole workshop. hehe ... I guess its me, but I get the kicks out of speaking up in front. Its addictive. At first I thought I was being a bore as the participants were just staring at me. It did comfort me a little as some were taking notes. Then came the Q & A session. I thought to my self, 'oh no .... pin drop silence'. But people kept on asking and asking non- stop. Even the COO of some MNC asked ...'How do I answer my boss if I don't know the answer?' Then this VP of some resort asked 'how do I not sound stupid if I can answer immediately'. Haha, this is where my expertise comes in ..... Crapalogy!! 

Fortunately, I handled Q & A well. The emcee even had to stop the questions from coming. Its a good sign. But I definitely need to pick up facilitation and time management skills. The trick is, when faced with tough situations like this (imagine a young exec trying to teach a COO how to handle the boss?), take a deep breath and stay calm. The answers will just flow to you. And it helps if you've got reassuring team members. Looking at their smiling and nodding heads, I knew I was going in the right direction. hehehe ..... public speaking does give me the adrenaline rush!

So Deloitte Speech workshop, here I come!!