LobbyPlanet » Tale of an Ordinary Week

Jun 04 2010

People probably think the week of a lobbyist is an endless sequence of meetings with important people discussing important issues, followed by cocktails with salmon-rich buffets, and wining & dining of even more important people.

It’s probably that way for some of them…but I’m glad to say, it’s not my case. This week was a great and a horrible one, as many are.

So let’s do a bit of good and bad game.

GOOD: I met some really fascinating people at the Brussels edition of the #140conf (some even laughed at my jokes and even if it’s out of pity, I don’t care).

BAD: my slides just did not want to display properly on the Mac of the organisers and when I put them on slideshare to ensure proper display, slidehare decided to crash on me on the day of the presentation.

GOOD: Tweeps found an alternative in 2 min (Scribd – thanks to @jacobchr ). End result at bottom of this post.

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GOOD: one of the companies I like most with people I think are both so nice and so efficient offered me a job.

BAD: being the freelancer I am, I turned them down.

GOOD: they took it well (I hope).

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GOOD: I got invited for lunch at the cabinet of Belgium’s Prime Minister (not with him, don’t get too excited).

BAD: it’s on 16 June and with elections on 13 June and him officially not wanting to stay PM, I guess I’m invited to the cabinet of the ex-PM.

GOOD: still made my mum really excited and prouder than whenever I meet anyone from the EU higher spheres.

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GOOD: I responded to three different consultations in the same week, and this multiplied by X different clients and in different languages (darn, I’m good)

BAD: I got a Dear John letter from one of those clients (actually was more like a Dear John laconic email Sent “from my Blackberry”).

GOOD: everyone seemed really sorry for me and said it wasn’t me: it was them (why does that sound vaguely familiar…hmm)