May 11, 2007
Ahoy there, Guru has been busier than David Hasselhoff in an episode of Baywatch, attending the HR Forum on board the Aurora.
It has taken some time for Guru to find his sea legs, having first turned a darker shade of blue as the boat set sail. Guru, however, was not the only one.
When Guru attended the first seminar of the day, he was gratefully entertained by the speaker's uncanny enactment of a drunken sailor, as he worked through his speech, swaying to and fro as he spoke about eyeball-to-eyeball personal contact.
Back to back meetings and a rocky, patchy sleep later and Guru has already begun to questions his stamina to go the distance at this HR conference marathon. But the weather has finally settled down, along with the English Channel.
Guru has immersed himself in a wide variety of seminars tackling a number of diverse subjects while anchored off the Channel Islands. Guru has even picked up a few wonderful nuggets of knowledge, stretching past HR business.
For instance, it is a fact that there are 52 Lego bricks for every person on the planet. Moreover, Guru is learning new words at these seminars everyday, like "flexibleisation" which he hasn't yet learnt how to spell, but likes the sound of.
Guru has also been taking part in a number of role playing exercises (a good gym substitute whilst at sea) to poke fun at his own shortcomings within the HR industry.
Yours Truly has been privileged enough to see former 'Dragon' and entrepreneur, Doug Richard, who provided the opening address, and he was hoping to add the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who is holidaying on a yacht not too far away, to his star spotting list.
But let it not be said that it is all work and no play onboard the Aurora. When a number of people are put on a splendid cruise ship for three days and provided with limitless credit, fine wine and good food, things often get out of hand come the witching hour.
However, Guru has not seen any evidence of this so called "love boat" stigma that might be attached to such a forum, and quite frankly, he is too tired and has to get up early in the morning.
