My Speech: A moment to remember

It was raining again, as it happened in all the previous days. But even while raining, Madrid is still lovely. This is why last night I was walking on some of the main boulevards, just to relax and think, after a hard day (ok, I admit it, I was also checking the marketing mix on the high streets of the city). The day was really full: Meetings with some of the top Spanish companies, active in Romanian market, an interesting discussion with the economic counsellor of Romania in Spain, mr Constantin Ene, my speech in the conference, the interesting approach to markets by the other co-speakers, the questions of the people after, an unexpected meeting in the end of the programme and more…

The conference was organized by many companies, I would spotlight Reed Midem (organizers) and Financial Times newspaper (media sponsors). So, in the session regarding Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), there was a lady talking about Russia, a lady coming from REAS (I understand that it is a company in the group of Jones Lang LaSalle) comparing the 12 capital cities of CEE, myself talking for Romania and then 3 gentlemen. The first one presented to us Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, the second one revealed to us the secrets of Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania and the third one who explained to us how the group of Raiffeisen Bank functions in all the CEE.

So, try to imagine the picture: All the technocrats talking with numbers, having done an excellent presentation, with figures filling the screen all the time, explaining to us everything by comparing and analysing etc (All of them did excellent work, but especially the lady from REAS amazed me with her work). And between them… a Greek talking about Romania. Figures? Almost none. Graphs? None. Comparison maps? None. Nothing that complies to the usual standards of a presentation in this level of international conferences.

Everything was different from the beginning, as I was introduced to the audience by the economic counsellor of Romania in Spain, mr Constanin Ene. An experienced diplomat, who described with few clear words to the people the main frame of Romanian economy. He actually gave me a canvas, so as to be able to present my thoughts on it. I chose to speak without using the steady microphone, but to have it on me, so as to be able to move, to walk while talking. My structure of speech includes 2 main categories: Very few words about the economic figures of the country and after a number of questions (questions that usually all the foreigners have about Romania and the investments here) and my answers. I always make some word mistakes during my speech, because nothing is written, except the questions. More or less the questions were:

- «How does the system work in Romania?»

- «Is there safety for investments?»

- «When are they going to start receiving the big bulk of money from European Union?»

- «Is it too late to invest in Romania?»

- «What is the current situation in the residential market?»

- «What is going on with the Malls, the shopping centers and the retail market in general?»

- «What is the current phase of the industrial and office segment?»

- «Is it worth it to invest, or the high investment opportunities belong to history?»

- «What are my choices for 2008?»

- «What growth should I expect for my investment?»

- «Which cities have the biggest investment potential? Why should I invest in them?»

- «Why doing business in Romania is more interesting than in other Balkan or eastern countries?»

- «Ok, if I decide to proceed and invest in Romania, what should be my next steps?»

- «How sure can I be that my investment will be secure, by either investing in Bucharest or in any other city?

- «How can I find the best partners and the best service?»

I answered to these question, walking on the stage (the cameraman wanted to kill me I guess). As I always say, “if noone threw lemons and tomatoes to the stage, at least you were not THAT bad” and I didn’t see any flying objects targeting me, a good sign indeed. My whole approach is based on the reality that an average Romanian person experiences every day and this makes me use words that describe his thoughts, status and future.

In the end, plenty of people came to talk to me, asked me for a meeting etc. But for me it doesn’t matter the number of them. What DOES matter is that I saw there (as I met at my stand too) people mature, who know what they want in Romania, who have thought carefully about it and they have a plan to achieve.

With all these thoughts, I “woke up” having walked really far from the center… Thank God the metro stations are everywhere in Madrid…

PS. If you are interested in, send me an email to info@more-group.eu and you will receive a dvd with the speech. It will also be uploaded here in the next days.