Monday, 11 August 2008

Tender presentation

Herts CVS’s presentation team gathered at 9:00 at the home of Ann Jansz (CEO of Stevenage CVS and the voluntary sector’s representative on Hertfordshire Forward, the county LAA). Ann and I were joined by Laura Cronshaw (CEO of St Albans CVS and chair of Herts CVS) and Jacquie Hime (CEO of North Herts CVS and “Responsible Body” for the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium). We put the finishing touches to our presentation, rehearsed handovers and talked tactics: I thought we made a formidable team.

We arrived for our 11:15 presentation at 11:00 and had to wait around in the foyer until after 11:30 when we were taken to deliver our presentation. After introductions, it was explained to us that we had wrongly been asked to give a 45 minute presentation and allow 15 minutes for questions. We should have been asked to give a 15 minute presentation and allow 45 minutes for questions. Could we please keep our presentation as short as possible? Obligingly, we ran through our carefully prepared 45 minute presentation in just 25 minutes.

After the presentation I expected a thorough grilling on our proposals. After all, this is serious business. But we faced only a few questions that were desultory rather than searching. This apparent disinterest concerned me greatly but I kept quiet. After emerging, we four CVS Musketeers congratulated each other on a splendid performance and we all went our separate ways.

I headed off to Watford for a meeting of the Watford and Three Rivers Health Inequalities Fund at the Multi-Cultural Community Centre.

After this, I had intended to stay on for an evening meeting on volunteer mentoring for Hertfordshire Youth Connexions. Around 5:00 it dawned on me that I was utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to escape home. Des Reid, one of our Youth Connexions Personal Advisors, agreed to “host” the meeting in my place and I gratefully headed off home.