Everyone was so right in saying that the time would be passing so quickly and we would be realizing it only on the last day. Today was our last day as a group in Manila - Priscilla and Yasar are already on the plane back home.
And what a great last day it was!!!A bit emotional, even teary at times, with many hugs and promises to get back together and to stay in touch - both the twelve of us, but also with our clients, with Andrie, and with Carel, Deo and Darren from SAP Philippines.
Chronology of events?
Breakfast as usual at the Flying Pan, accompanied by signing cards. Then we all met up at SAP Philippines in Bonifacio Global City and got ready for the presentations - us copying over PPT, xls, video files and our clients setting up little booths to display their products.
Hapinoy started out great. I could see on everyone's faces a fascinating mixture of joy, interest, proud and slight worry (OMG, how are we going to present our topic after theirs??).
They really had a great mix, Jörg, Michelle and Yasar each presenting in their own authentic style - funny, warm-hearted and solemn - as if they never did anything else. And Mark, their client, was having good laughs (and that guy can laugh!). I best rememeber their tons of deliverables, their SariSariWars collage, having DJ point out Bohol on a map, lots of appraisal from Mark and a great storyline of how to get from a car consisting of duct tape to a brandnew Lamborghini which would be helpful to scale to more Sari Sari stores.
Second went the MessyBessy team with an equally impressive presentation (looks of pride and worry in the audience increased...). They totally caugt everyone emotionally, with a great video and lots of personal pictures and stories about their experiences and the learners. It's a great business and Krie, the owner, is a wonderful person, who has accomplished a lot already. With the plans that Sindhu, DJ and Vince presented, they will be able to accomplish even more, Krie confirmed whole-heartedly.
Priscilla, Vineet and Caroline for R2R ("or-two-or", as pronounced with an Irish accent) were next. Reese, the owner, looked so proud, happy and flattered - it was an awesome presentation. Even though their scope was redefined a couple of times, their results will have a very strong impact on 2 of the 3 Marketing and Internationalization pillars of R2R. You'll have to watch their presentation once it is published - it's congenial and really funny (my favourites: "personal expansion" as goal of the sabbatical was taken too literal by all of us thanks to the good food; all of them making it a personal effort to boost the sales - great pictures with the many items they purchased - and the sales definitely went up this month! - and a very emotional ending with a heart.) Reese loved it - and so did everyone else.
I was so thankful I didn't have to go up on stage after those 3 groups and a short analogy by Reese on having started the jump without having a parachute yet. I kept my fingers and toes crossed for Simon to live up to the 3 excellent (sorry for all these superlatives, just really felt like it) presentations before him. And he did. He was brilliant, funny, authentic in his own calm way, and right down to the point. By this time, as he was the last presenter, no more worried faces but real pride and joy. Awesome feeling! We had a video as well - Jamie had crafted it and it summarized everything perfectly (sorry if I'm bragging about my two companions but it really was a great feeling). You only realize what you have achieved if you see it all listed, and feel the collective positive feedback and gratitude. So that was quite a start!
From Solar Energy Foundation, Jim, Bambi, Kat and Dolma were present, which meant a lot to us and there were so many hugs, some tears, great and thoughtful presents (we got a solar lamp!!! And tons of chocolates and other nice things - they are defiitely the best!!!) that I'm not going to go in details.
The press conference with Jim and me as representatives for SEF went quite well too, very relaxed atmosphere despite the presence of many cameras and even Channel 4. Darren, the MD of SAP Philippines, was spot on and did a really great intro (you just have to like his Australian style), then Yasar gave an emotional and personal intro to the Social Sabbatical, followed by the teams' introductions. You have to acknowledge that some people are just naturals in the spotlight - Priscilla was awesome, Jim his usual charismatic self (and had his great moment when the light went out for seconds and he had his solar lamp ready - can you believe it? Lots of jokes of him having arranged that along with Mark's roaring laughter followed. I think we all had a great time - I generally have the feeling that meetings (even press conferences) in the Philippines are so much more fun. People laugh a lot, have a story to tell, acknowledge and react to each other, listen carefully, make funny side remarks, create a relaxed atmosphere where everyone can easily admit insecurities or mistakes. It's really remarkable and I hope we can take home a bit of this spirit. Enough talking/writing, here are the pictures: