Heavy Breathing...

What can I say but AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH! :(

On Friday at 10am, I was scheduled with a 5 minute slot on a conference call, that included the top brass from HQ in the US and various European dignatories.

I had carefully prepared my little speech, had some nice little slides prepared, which were copied onto the global draft for all to view.

This was me, showing my old colleagues that I'd moved up in the world, my 5 mins of corporate fame.

Thing was, no one had told me that the call had been changed to 9am....

At 9.30am, I finished my cup of tea and thought I'd make my way to the toilets before I read over my notes. As I was walking down the corridor, I saw someone running towards me. He stopped in front of me and said "You're on now!"

Panicking, I sprinted back to my desk, grabbed my notes and ran into the little office where the guy had come from.

From the speaker phone, I heard the dreaded voice saying, "...and now over to the UK..."

The next five minutes, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole!

I heard a voice that didn't sound remotely like mine rushing and not speaking properly, my throat was drying up and I had to ignore my trembling hands holding onto my notes...

However, after about a minute, my hammering heart slowed a beat or two and I started to talk a bit more normally. I only had a vague idea of where I was up to with my slides and perhaps I ended a tad abruptly.

The guys in the office I was in said I did a good job...but I wasn't convinced.

With some fear, I went round to my old department to see their post-conference reaction - they were smiling...was that a good sign?

Apparently, as I had been running, I was out of breath and it sounding like I was PANTING on the call! Oh noooooo!

I received an email from the European Director saying well done, which was encouraging.

However, it seems I'll be remembered for the heavy breathing...

Dammit, a chance to shine and I blew it! :(

Still, at least I didn't wet myself....