Blog Week 84: Two faces of the same coin.
Sunday 1 July 23.21
We have a summer reception for clients, regulators and various others this week. We have to exude confidence and success to them (typical drill: posh venue, fantastic catering, excellent goody bag) while simultaneously counting the pennies (after all cost-cutting is looming on the horizon). I am glad the budget for this event was agreed some time ago as at least we don't have to start haggling over small things at the last minute.
The timing is unusual, having this event when the school holidays have started. But June was going to be so congested with other firms' summer receptions, some partners thought we should be different. Being contrarian someone called it; being risky would be more accurate. We remain uncertain as to how many people are attending. Who was invited was another issue...
Monday 2 July 23.36
Spent much of today dealing with the summer reception preparations.
I mentioned invitees yesterday and that is a sensitive matter. In the past one or two invitees somehow presumed their invitations were transferable to whoever they deemed should attend in their place. Interestingly a couple of economic consultancies have been particularly good at this practice. Usually for the benefit of their colleagues.
None of our partners have ever said anything directly, but certainly they are not impressed by this free-riding practice. One suggestion was to state "this invitation is personal and not transferable" on the invitation card. But it was decided that sounded too aggressive and liable to misinterpretation. After all we don't want invitees to wonder what else is buried away in the small print of our terms and conditions... So in the end the culprits were just not invited this year. A simple solution. And it keeps the cost down.
Thursday 4 July 00.43
Tomorrow night is the summer reception. Everything looks like it is in place. But I'll let you know about anything interesting...
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