Under Pressure

Musings from Dennis #86: “Sorry Dennis,” my Pico Art boss approached me one afternoon at my desk. “This sat in my email for a week but it needs to be done. Can you do it?”, she asked. When is this theme function, I asked? It’s in two nights time. What? And what is the client’s (a huge global investment bank) chosen theme? “Arabian Nights”. I dropped whatever I was working on and just started organizing things. Working with the production manager to get the fabrics, going to check out the function room at the famed Raffles Hotel (made famous by Somerset Maugham’s stay and where the Singapore Sling was created) and getting out the quotation for the client’s rep to sign on and eventually getting her to pay after the evening using the very old swipe-type credit card machine! They say in events management, one works best under pressure, but er #nothanksnotagain!

Stuck in KL

Musings from Dennis #85: “Please disembark”, the captain announced on the intercom after we sat there in the plane for close to an hour. I was leaving Kuala Lumpur on a public holiday morning (Diwali) after business meeting days prior, and was looking forward to taking part in a charity event that day back in Singapore. Something was indeed wrong with the plane’s wheels, I was told. There was frenzy and anger among passengers with some really misbehaving and abusive. But I had this surprise thought, despite missing my young family back home - maybe there is a message here for me and that is to take it easy and rest. I sat at the airport lounge resting and reading magazines etc (those days our phones were not that smart) and 8 hours later at 5pm, I boarded the replacement flight – having missed an entire day of events but found myself quite rested actually and surprisingly calm. We can’t always be in control of what is happening to us but we can certainly control how we would respond to those happenings.

I Tell You To Jump!

Musings from Dennis #84: My coach Uncle Hock hollered at a 12-year-old me as I stood at the side of the deepest end of the swimming pool, not able to see the depths below. And scared to bits. I had already learnt the breast stroke but I always start at the 4 feet side! But the coach yelled at me, (I mean the entire swimming complex could hear) and I was terrified of him because he was ever so fierce, so I cautiously obeyed and bent my knees to slowly jump in. Water engulfed me as I splashed around and started waving my arms about in sheer terror! Soon I realized, hey I wasn’t drowning! And my head is holding steady above water! Hey boy, he gleefully said “you just learnt how to thread water”! Isn’t that the same for us in our work sometimes? We may have ‘mean’ bosses who would not help or guide us, shove us to last minute meetings and give us projects that look way above ‘our pay grade’ – and we can’t protest nor quit due to varying reasons but then, after ‘jumping in’, we find ourselves having a skill we never knew we had! It was there all along! We adapted and we thrived.

Rejection

Musings from Dennis #83: In my late 20’s I never had the courage to make cold calls due to the fear of being rejected. I even turned down an opportunity to be in insurance despite being told I could talk! In my late 20's, I once called a company for sponsorship but he slammed the phone down on me and that took me 2 months to recover! It also took a lot of courage for me in my dating years! Years on my "skin got thicker and thicker" and I found myself eventually making a call for a licensing opportunity and finishing my opening sentence with a smile despite getting slammed half way through and no one heard most of what I had to say! Nowadays I have learnt to take a ‘no’ like water off a duck’s back. In so many ways I do admire many younger people nowadays who had no problems asking and hearing the no’s shoved to their faces! And also to all those who keep asking me for free swags! LOL.

Scream!

Musings from Dennis #82: Scream! I recalled the Sentosa staff once gathered at the enclosed swimming lagoon for a team get-together and as I wandered by the waterfront to the meeting point, I noticed two colleagues sitting on a big-wheeled water tricycle paddling on the water – and screaming! When they came to shore, I asked one of them, what that was for. She said this is a great work stress reliever and they come here every now and then to just let it all out. Years later when I did my counselling classes, I found that this technique is indeed one possible coping mechanism. Just need to look for an open space, with no one around who could judge! Of course you could also use a paper bag, then squash and throw it away. Feel better already? (this post is for Lee-Li Ng!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Musings from Dennis #81: Even from way back in 1989, women-empowerment was important for us to acknowledge, so this was one way to honour them! The Sentosa pageant was organized based on how contestants carried themselves in their dual roles of their work and their roles as moms and how supportive the dads were as well. Glad I was able to do this. For all the mothers out there, celebrate yourselves today as we celebrate you!

Hook Book Look Took

Musings from Dennis #80: In my early 20’s I trained to be a Sunday School teacher. One of my trainers taught us the technique of “Hook”, “Book”, “Look” and “Took”. But I realized this technique can also be applied to business presentations as well! Hook: begin your presentation with a compelling reason why the listener must continue to tune-in to you (could be an interesting story, a “what if” or a presenting issue, all listed in that opening “Desired Outcomes” slide. Book: Contents of your presentation that gives the meat of what you want to say. Look: Something in there for your audience to look in and find a need for themselves. Took: Your next steps, next meeting – heck maybe that deal memo you already prepared for the signing!

Just Five Dollars??

Musings from Dennis #79: If you read my earlier post, it is not always true that you have to spend a lot to win a sweepstakes. When I joined Disney CP after Takashimaya, the team organized a consumer promotion in 1998 with a top prize of 5 trips for a family of 4 to Walt Disney World Florida USA! 20 people could go and this was just for Singapore and all you had to do was to buy S$5 (USD$3.50) of Disney products to enter the draw. Return flights, entry passes and accommodation at the theme park awaits! Of all the 5 lucky winners, we had one who simply just actually paid only S$5 and this boy won for the entire family! Simply amazing.

Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen!

Musings from Dennis #78: We held our Danish Fair featuring food and produce from Denmark at Takashimaya Square within the heart of the shopping mall. All 10,000sqft featured wonderful things like cheese and jam and lots of other produce for sampling and purchase. We had Maersk to be a major sponsor. They even gave away a trip for 2 to Copenhagen, Denmark as a lucky draw prize with minimum purchase, which I, as the Promotions Manager for the mall had the delight to notify the singlular winner, after the bosses picked her ticket in a publicly held draw. I was told that “money attracts money” and it is true that by and large, the customers who spend more usually get a higher chance of winning as they get more draw tickets. So I called this lady who won. Excitedly I told her, ‘hey congratulations! You are the singular winner among thousands to win this fabulous trip to Copenhagen Denmark!!’. I expected a ‘woohoo’, ‘yay’, ‘wow’ or something to that effect. Instead she quietly replied “Oh, I just came back from there”. “What? So..” I jokingly asked “do you want this or not or shall I give it to the next in line?” “Oh no yes yes!! I will claim it! Weeee!” I could hear the forced joy on the line. LOL indeed!

Nervous!

Musings from Dennis #77: What do you do when you have to stand in front of so many people to present, you have a script in hand, everything has been prepared yet you feel absolutely so nervous because of stage fright? In my earlier days of solo singing, my trainers and fellow singers would tell me to look at the audience’s eyebrows – you would not look at their eyes yet they will think so. Very helpful! I am sure many of you will have different techniques to help but I found that in a room full of people, whether in a conference room or in a large auditorium, it really helps when you move around and not stay seated or standing in the podium (and find yourself shrinking with so many people staring at you). The more ground you ‘conquer’ on stage the more confident you get. Many presenters do that, even stand-up comedians. Now you know our secret.