I was appointed to be the emcee for my company’s event –
Appreciation Dinner, aka D&D. I was under tremendous stress as I had to do
the entire event in Mandarin. Not that I don’t speak that language, but it’s a
lot more challenging than in English. To make matters worse, my Big Boss wanted
me to say things which are, to me, hypocritical. Like how much heart have been
put into the things that the company has done, the investments she put into
making new crystal awards, blah blah blah. Okay, let’s put it this way, wanting
me to say things which I don’t believe in, it’s just no-go for me. But how can I
do it too?!
So for 2 weeks, I really sat on my duties. I didn’t know how
to script it in the way she wanted me to. When I finally started on it, I
somehow still managed to distract myself with other unimportant tasks. So it
took real long for me to come out with the final draft.
Then again, there’s no final draft.
We had to get prepared and ready by 4pm, yet at 2pm, the Big
Boss still wanted to add and change some event segments. That means, the event
schedule couldn’t be confirm, and my script would still have to tweak! I was so
stressed out, I was feeling so sick in my tummy. I was from almost prepared to
totally unprepared. I was rigid, I admit, but it’s in Mandarin! Hell man, I needed
to script every word properly because my Mandarin wouldn’t be that fluent if I’m
unsure what to say, simply put.
Initially, the Big Boss wanted me to rehearse my emcee
script with her. But thank God, I took her last minute changes as an excuse and
she just left it to handle it myself. The last I wanted to do was to rehearse!
OMG! It’ll be definitely awkward. Not that I cannot handle criticisms, but I knew
rehearsing with her, she would have her inputs, and her inputs would really
screw everything up for me. It would really screw my brains and stressed me out
further.
I was so stressed about everything that I even forgot to
pray to calm my nerves. However, I felt a sense of calmness overwhelmed me
during the entire event. There were even more last minute changes, I somehow
managed to cover it up, and people who not know, probably didn’t realize
anything out of norm; other than our own team who’re running the show, of
course. I felt totally empowered, mysteriously. And finally when the night
wraps up, I was so washed out. My back was aching, my feet were sore, and my
brain’s fried.
The last minute changes made my Project Manager, aka my
Events Assistant, super pissed about it. Yet, I could be like cool about the
changes. I guess I simply just went with the flow, and pretty much act upon
circumstances. And I was just blown away by my own coolness, when I thought
back of how I reacted. I could even turn around and consoled my colleague who
was so red mad with the many impromptu arrangements.
I don’t know how I did it, but I did.
I’d received raving feedback from my fellow colleagues
about my real cool composure and was impressed how I’d performed as an emcee. I
was flattered that they didn’t notice how much I was trembling inside,
especially when the event started. And they were rooting for me to be the emcee
for the next company’s event. Oh Good Lord, I really don’t wish to go through
another time! Once, and that’s it.
Well, I’m kinda happy how all turn out for me and my office
team and for the rest of the colleagues. And most importantly, the entire event
is behind me now. However, there’s an “evaluation” thing pending with the Big
Boss. Coz’ she feels that we need know what’s good and not, so we wouldn’t
repeat the same mistake the next round.
Like seriously………..
