Today’s main task of mine... giving a (BIG!) presentation to my CEO.
Is this periodical reporting opportunity? No. There is no such in my firm. Hahaha.

Well, appointment was set for late afternoon. I made sure that I got back to the office early enough.
Preparation was okay... so I thought. 15 slides were produced for this.
Long presentation is not important. Rather, the clarity of message is vital.

My boss and I went in to CEO room.
I gave my presentation for about 30 minutes.
Overall meeting lasted for 1 hour or so.

Result was as expected... we got his GREEN LIGHT.
This means my December is going to be very crowded and I will be super busy!

Though, I found a couple of improvement points from my delivery.
One thing - clarity of message. It was fine... but I could have done it better for sure.
I believe that issue was about wording. It should be more direct and precise.

Another thing - distinction about internal and external concerns.
I outlined about the project with client’s concerns. I didn’t shed light on internal - my firm’s concerns much.
Audience is CEO... who is responsible for revenue, business development, and resource allocation of the firm! I should have given a focus on that more.

Learned a lot. Good learning.
I didn’t feel “intimidated by CEO” much. Hahaha.

Anyhow, today’s mission complete. Good to go! Let’s look at the bright side and worry about the other for next opportunity with CEO.

Training is given tonight.
How did it go?

Worked-Well:

Time management. Delivered it entirely within given time.
I finished last slide at 3 minutes to 9pm. Perfect timing.

Improvement Needed:

Message delivery.

55 slides were used in the session.
44 out of them - from last year... the 1st time I conducted this training.

My strategy -

Old slides - same message as before, make it short and simple
New slides - go deeper than old ones. Give more examples.

Did it work? I guess, it was so-so.
That was rather poor because I lacked practices beforehand.

I wanted to do so; however, I barely executed practice.

Like any presentation how-to book gives such message... Practice is everything.

Trust me, it’s absolutely true.

Usually in my project, I will do rehearsal about giving presentation.
This time, it was internal training... I had to defer this task to other project-related tasks.
(This is my official excuse, okay!)

Next time, I promise that I would do better job...
Let’s keep fingers crossed that I will be awarded another opportunity next year. Hahaha.

Today, I came to use iPad on my presentation.
I didn’t plan to... it just happened.


Visual is “cool” to present to client
Easy to be understood


My finger was dried out... scrolling wasn’t that smooth
PowerPoint slides shown on iPad screen has small fonts... difficult to be read
Heavy file slowed iPad down

I can be better prepared for next time. Learned a lot.

For supper, I dropped by a new ramen noodle shop.

“Kurofune” (or *black ship*)

Ordered miso soup base noodles.



It was okay... very ordinary one.
Still my usual place, “Sawa,” is better. Much better. Way better. Hahaha.

I may go back once more to try soy-source base one... as last chance? Maybe? Hehehe.

2 more days to go for this week. Then, I come to US!

Wow... already closed out for application? Hmm.
Yesterday, my firm made an announcement about holding a training session next Friday.
What about it? Part of Supply Chain Management serious, it is FULFILLMENT.

Who is the trainer? Oh boy... it’s me, moi!!!

Today... around 3pm, the admin made a call... the session is fully reserved by many applicants.
Who are they? Young consultants in the firm... from consultant to manager.

What do you want to learn from me? My favorite color?
18 people are coming to take the session.

Is material ready? Of course not.

Am I ready to give a presentation for TWO and HALF HOURS??? Of course not.

Hmm... this is the worst.

I’d better spend this coming weekend (particularly long one until Monday!) for preparing myself and material.
Oh gee... this is a nightmare.



Supper at home. Beef and sweet potato. It was PRETTY GOOD!



Red pen... not normal one. This is the pen for touch panel... like iPad.
Cool... very smooth writing on the screen!!! Cost 900 yen and got a free coupon for it.
Good buy for iPad user for sure. Still works great on iPhone, too.

Finally? Already? The month of September is now ending... Oh boy, so fast and I hardly keep up with the pace of time!
Time does really flies!
Lots of paper work for me to approve from the project and my subordinates. Time and Expensive report submission, etc.

So the way to think about time...

Should I think like

Already 9 months over?
or 
Still 3 months to go?

You know the difference, right? I'd better think the latter one so that I can find more positively about what needed to be achieved by the end of year.
You know what I mean? It is important to plan things well within given time. Make it productive as much as possible.

You know, my firm sets me a quota to meet within this fiscal year. Yes, I need to sell business... better say, "businesses" (in plural form).

So for given three months, need to plan carefully via AIDMA model... need to take the first step into "A" - Attention.
Need to take names from whatever the source of information available. Hahaha.

Back to old days... I used to sell LOGISTICS business. Selling isn't quite (?) my speciality... but I cannot afford any luxury and need to do that without bitching about it. Hahaha.

Since MoonFlower was working late in the office, I told her that I would pick up something to eat so that I wouldn't bother her for fixing summer for both of us.
So I ate favorite noodle place like old days when I was single.

Well, once MoonFlower returned home. Popped up a question to me... what kind of soup the noodle dish was.

Hmm.

I have no clue. I just ate. Seriously...
I told her that man sometimes doesn't really pay attention to what he is doing... (this was my excuse!) and she never bought it.
Is this usual thing happening to any married couple???

Please advise.