final client presentation

We filed through thick, 10 foot double wooden doors into a large room.  In the center of the room was a heavy U-shaped wooden table with white leather chairs stationed around its outer edge.  The U opened toward a built-in cabinet and large white screen.  We collectively gasped - it seemed more like a boardroom in the world headquarters of a multinational corporation than a room for meetings in a small city.  On closer inspection, we would find that the table was edged in gold, with golden claw feet.  On the table, facing each chair was a darkened flatscreen.

We scurried around, deciding where the presenters would sit for each team, where the client would sit, who would control the Powerpoints.  Sheela and I, presenters for the CSR team, sunk into the smooth leather chair in the middle of one arm of the U, farthest from the door.  Karen positioned herself across from us.  The team took most of the remaining chairs, leaving several at the curved end for our client and their executive who would hear the summary of our projects.  At one point, we thought it would be the mayor himself who would review our work.  Tahir plugged a cord into his laptop; we all gasped again when the first slide of our presentation flashed sixteen times onto the flatscreens waiting on the table.

Our project sponsors walked into the room, offering greetings.  A man in a striped vest and cravat began to pour the traditional single sip of Arabic coffee into white demitasse cups with a gold rim and the red logo of the Municipality.  Eventually, another Emirati would enter, dressed in the white dishtash and head scarf.  He would shake hands with his colleagues, nod to us and sit in the central seat at the end of the table. Pigeons cooed and fluttered loudly outside the window.

Knowledge Management subteam & sponsors

We had been told that the Knowledge Management subteam would complete their presentation first.  Each team had 15 minutes to summarize the month of their efforts, followed by a 10-minute Q&A.  As Karen began the KM presentation, the pigeons seemed to get louder and louder, bobbing back and forth and fluttering to and from their perch right outside the window.  They were in my line of sight as I looked at Karen, distracting.  The Emiratis at the end of the table looked at her, their faces unreadable.  The uniformed man returned with his small tray to collect the white china cups and replace them with hot sweet tea in small glass mugs.  Cups clattered and the pigeons cooed.  I noticed my tea was not the usual caramel color but a greenish-yellow; only the Emiratis had a similar tea.  I pinched the glass handle between my thumb and finger and quickly tasted:  it had the herbed flavor of a Ricola cough drop. 

CSR subteam & sponsors

Faiz, our graphics expert on the team, had spent the last couple of days designing a one page flyer that summarized a month of work in an easy-to-read format.  We had it copied and, as the meeting started, passed it to our primary project sponsor L at the end of the table.  He shuffled it out of the heavy cardboard folder with the Municipality logo and passed it around to the other Emiratis.  For a long moment, I wondered who would speak next:  I had asked L if he would like to say a few words to kick off our presentation to his superior.  He began to introduce our CSR project and I turned around to catch the eye of Tahir, Faiz and Felipe, glad he wanted to take ownership of the work we had done.  And then, it was my turn.  I quickly marched through the introduction to our project, method and the CSR strategy we had developed jointly with department representatives of the Municipality.  As I talked, the senior Emirati nodded occasionally with a relaxed face as he listened, his dark eyes intense.  And then he asked a question, and another.  I talked a little about how the Gulf and Middle East region is turning traditional CSR on its head and initiating social and environmental programs from the public sector, instead of the private, and emphasizing that the strategy and initiatives we had developed over the past month could set Al Ain on a track toward its goal of global recognition in CSR.  It was a compelling message and one that we had seen resonate in every meeting, as it did again.  Then I transitioned to Sheela, who spoke about the priority areas we had identified for the next 3 years and the 36 initiatives we were proposing to begin executing on the new strategy.  And then, just like that, our project was over.  #ibmcsc uae

UAE Team 2 & sponsors

L to R:  Imane, Asma, Melanie, Catherine, Sheela