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This post is courtesy from our Product Manager, Evangelos Gikas’s blog, Mobitalk
I travelled to Rio de Janeiro last week to join our team of MiX Telematics representatives at the SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) International Conference. We had a stunning exhibition and certainly made our presence felt.
Below is a quick recap on a more personal level as to how the week went for this weary traveller. For those of you who are firm believers in the “picture = a 1000 words” mantra, can skip my drivel and click here!
Saturday
Quite an early start to the day – not ridiculously so, but I know it is early if I am up and my 2-year old son is still sleeping. My parents take me to CTI airport for which I am very grateful. Two notes to self… (1) This reminds me of a lifetime ago of school runs and (2) that the next time I travel I should do it properly and arrange for an airport transfer.
The flight to Joburg flies past (no pun intended) and I even manage to squeeze a good 40 minutes of sleep in. The rest of the way is pretty much travel as travel can be. Expect for the part where I get a migraine on the way to Sao Paolo and succumb to nausea. SAA staff weren’t very friendly nor helpful and quite unhappy about the way they treated me. If I wasn’t feeling so sick I would have been more upset. Have angry thoughts of doing some ventriloquist act with the word b-o-m.
Get to Rio just fine but pretty much whacked. Have a transfer to the hotel and after about exactly 1 minute on the road, I can’t put on my seatbelt fast enough. Weaving skills second to none leaves me with no comfort. Don’t think vehicles have indicators as a standard feature in Rio and the absence of road lane markings doesn’t help either.
Sunday
4am. Wide awake. Time zones messing with me a bit. Have a great room with a fantastic view. Looking out over Barra Beach. Think this is the first time I have been upgraded to anything during travels, courtesy of the guy working the night shift at reception.
Make my way over to the Windsor hotel where the conference and exhibition will be. Locate our stand and meet the guys for setup. The LCD screens arrive and now it is starting to look like an exhibition!
Go for lunch to Porcau – nice place indeed. Is a Brazilian style buffet with heavy emphasis on meat. Enough red meat there to make any South African proud.
One last round past the exhibition and then off to supper which unsurprisingly consists of more meat! I take it easy on the beef and make vegetarians everywhere proud. Off to bed, hoping for sleep to consume me for as long as possible.
Monday
4am. Noooooo. Not funny. Try to force myself to sleep. Why won’t you sleep! All systems go for the exhibition. Was a bit worried there for a moment on the VGA cables for the LCD monitors, but the organisers sorted it out in time. The first couple of customers start coming through as the conference has its first break. It gets quite busy and can’t be helped by be very impressed by the knowledge of my colleagues. Mental note to self: the sales guys are always dealing with customers and really have so much knowledge about customers and how they use products. Also use cases and examples a plenty! So the learning for me – get them involved where possible.
I manage to do some sightseeing in a visit to Sugarloaf Mountain. Get to go with our CEO and his wife and it really is great to share a personal experience with them. And it doesn’t get much better than a helicopter ride from Sugarloaf that takes us over the Maracana stadium, around Corcovado (twice!) and over the scenic beaches Rio is so famous for. My first time in a heli and a fantastic location and view to mark my debut.
Tuesday
5am. Getting better. The exhibition is in full swing. Am quite impressed with how many people pop into our exhibition. We also do a couple of demos and go through our product range in some depth with a few customers. I am reminded of how enlightening it can be to listen to what customers have to say.
Cultural evening for all exhibitors and delegates planned. Everybody is bussed in for the event. Very nice venue, and of course there is ample food. The entertainment is a bit weak. Not sure if we were expecting too much, but if that evening was about showcasing the best of South Africa, I would have demanded a much stronger showing. Leave at 22:15 and fall asleep on the bus. Wake up to find colleagues standing over me with cameras. What can I say… exhibiting is hard work.
Wednesday
6am. Starting to feel human again for the first time. Last day of the exhibition. Still quite a bit of foot traffic around in the morning and then starts to slow down after lunch. Catering at the conference has been pretty good and extremely efficient on all three days. Pretty tidy operation run by the organisers.
We go to Leblon for some supper. Then off to a place with some music recommended by our waiter at the restaurant. Wow. Surreal. Some real-life Samba in action and some other weird dancing I would rather forget. It was a meeting between Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and the split’s on the dance floor. Pretty active but weird.
Thursday
Going to be a long day and night. Leave for the airport at 9am and travelling across time zones again. Five hours is not too bad, but it is just enough to leave you uncomfortable.
Friday
Home! Finally home. Very glad to be back – got this feeling even as we landed in Johannesburg. Then on to Cape Town and ecstatic to see Lesley and Alexander. Only been a week but feels like it’s been a lot longer. I guess this is usually the point where a nugget of wisdom or dispensing of helpful hints would be shared about my journey. Only… nothing comes to mind. All I can wrap my mind around is the vague memory of my own bed, and to ease through the weekend… for Monday will come all too soon.
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