Just about now many of us will be receiving an email with details of the dates to mark our diaries for the late January '09 Sales Kick Off Meeting. There won't be an agenda yet because lets face it we already know what that will look like; three or four days of sleep deprivation, liver damage and death by PowerPoint.
The original idea for this type of event, nobody can argue, was a good one. i.e. Lets get all the sales teams from around the globe motivated and fired up to do it all again next year. In addition if we can get them all in one place we can convey the messages we want them to take to market ensuring that they all 'sing from the same hymn sheet'. Right?
Yes, great idea. But time and time again we put to one side that a few minutes of any presentation is about all any intelligent person can take in, and sales success is only ever partly down to new content. Instead we subject the poor delegates to evening mixer sessions on arrival, early bird sessions on day one, breakouts after a five minute coffee break, lunch en mass, followed by many thousands of PowerPoint's over the course of the conference.
And why Vegas? Well quite apart from being a 'fun place to be' its just about the most economical venue when your economies of scale get above 2.5 people from as many continents. I was once in Vegas for ten whole days with a vendor who shall remain nameless! There was induction you see, having just been acquired, a training course on - can't remember - and then Kick Off. One experienced colleague fained food poisoning just before check in at Gatwick. A very wise move indeed!
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