Tuesday 2 December 2008

Credit Crunch - Come out smiling!

Tonight Clive Gott and I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at an event organised by Elmwood Design for their clients.
www.elmwood.co.uk

We followed Rick Bendel, Marketing Director for Asda. The evening was held for clients of the very successful Elmwood Design and the theme was 'Credit Crunch - Come out Smiling. What's the best way to get through the credit crunch? Tighten your belt and wait? No. The successful ones will be those that think their way to the future, not trim and cut themselves out of it'.

The venue was their trendy premises in London 'comfy Chesterfields and a Wi-Fi bar in Soho'. Around 50 professionals and Elmwood staff enjoyed drinks and a lovely buffet before Rick advised us on some survival tips - brace yourselves for a couple of tough years but be true to yourselves, keep things simple, cut down on wastage and be creative.
Read about Rick here http://www.asda-press.co.uk/pressrelease/57

I followed with a brief outline of my story of survival and recovery - NO Powerpoint slides - just me! I explained how the first signs of stress can lead to depression and how in retrospect I wish I had realised as maybe I would not have been so poorly in the long run. I shared some of these signs and how they may be evident in the workplace under the current stressful times. I also suggested a few techniques to help improve mental wellbeing. My tip was also not to give up and I explained how I had got the booking for tonight - I had wanted to attend a 'Go Global' event in Harrogate a few months ago but was told it was full. I tried a few days before the event - full. So I turned up on the day! As I had guessed there were some 'no-shows' so in I went! At a seminar on marketing by Jonathan of Elmwood Design, I introduced myself and he said he wanted some speakers on mental health!

Clive finished the evening off in his usual humorous style! www.clivegott.com He also explained how depression had struck him down, but also that he had recovered. He related one of his greatest challenges climbing a mountain and elaborated on how we all can achieve our goals if we have Belief, Motivation and Support.

For me tonight was a challenge as it was my first 'solo' venture into the corporate world and it worked judging by the feedback! I used Clive's theory and it worked!

The team at Elmwood were delightful - a very happy team! Thank you to you and your clients for making us so welcome.


www.hanzak.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This really was a brilliant talk Elaine and Clive gave practical and useful advice both entertaining and informative I would love to hear the full session and we will be keeping in touch at Elmwood! Thanks so much.