Next week we are having a big presentation thingy around the travel vertical. Lots of agencies and customers will be there to hear our insights and a few of my colleagues have been shitting themselves.
In my new role I have helped facilitate a presentation training class (more our coordinator did everything, but I’ll take the credit) and a voice class. The voice class was suggested by a trainer in a sister organization and it seemed to us a great think outside the box solution.
The lady running it was really great- used to be an actress and it was obvious that she knew her stuff. Rather than just make us do crazy vocal exercises, she explained the physiology behind breath and what makes our voice work and why something as small as correcting your posture can affect the quality of your voice.
Anyone with a bit of acting training knows that voice class isn’t the quietest thing in the world.
At one point, from the meeting room next door where there is a small strip of glass where you can peer into the next room, we saw a hand waving. Then the hand went away. Then the door of the meeting room opened.
Bah-Bah-Bahhhhhhh!
It was my bosses, bosses, bosses, boss. The head cheese, the big enchilada. No, not that big boss. Or even the other one but she is big enough to inspire fear.
“It sounds like a Shakespearean play in here.”
The voice teacher was not sure what to say. We all stared.
“I’m Blah Blah-Blah”, the big boss said in her American accent.
The voice teacher twittered hello in her poshy British vocal trained accent. She had no clue who Blah Blah-Blah was. She could have said her name was Cheese Sandwich and it would have been the same difference.
“I’m waiting for a phone call.” And the big boss left.
Now there was more helloing and what are you doing than that, I just can’t remember it. The subtext however was quite clear. We were being told to shut the fuck up.
Thankfully the voice teacher didn’t catch that and she kept on.
When I was walking the teacher out we ran into Blah Blah-blah.
“That sounded interesting!”
“Yes, for the travel day we’re trying to support the people presenting so they are as ready as possible.”
“Yeah. Next time I’d like to maybe join in.”
“Sure, sure. It was good fun.”
“A bit noisy.”
“Yes.”
“Yeah. I thought I had made myself clear.”
It took everything I had to not say, “I’m sorry. How silly of me to be concerned about my people being as ready as they could be next week. I should have found another meeting room for a three hour class for ten because we know how easy that is or even cancelled because you have plopped yourself down in a large meeting room when there are plenty of smaller rooms intended for one.”
I wonder how long it would have been before I got my P-45?*
*pink slip
October 10th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
i think a lot of women who go up n up that corp ladder grow balls (i talk about balls a lot, i know) somewhere along the way and it gets all warped with their compassion gene. we have quite a few in the corp i work for, and to call them scary medusas of pure intimidation would be an understatement.
the voice class sounds like fun! are the lessons about voice similar to lessons singers take to work on their voices?