Today we presented our final documents to the entire Ipe staff. Everyone attended; and we even had some special out of town guests who were observing the CSC process and activities for the first time. To make it even more special, our meeting took place in the newest part of the Ipe building. In the past year, an additional space was added to Ipe’s main building in preparation for the day that Ipe Atelier launches its clothing line. Daniella designed the space and requested that it runs on solar power. She did a wonderful job with the design. There are visually appealing arches in several spaces and natural lighting coming in from multiple sources.
Hajira, Leslie, Paul, & I had a Plan A and a Plan B
regarding the morning presentations. We
set up an LCD overhead projector and put up make-shift blinds to darken the
room. We used a blank white wall as our screen. If the LCD overhead projector didn’t work,
then we had handouts to share with our audience. Lumia and Aline attended and were
instrumental in translating and sharing all of the details to those in the audience who spoke
mainly Portuguese.
Our audience attentively listened to both presentations
covering the proposed HR Framework and a Business Plan for Ipe Atelier. To review all of the content and answer
questions, we took about 2 hours.
In celebration of our final presentation to Ipe, we went to
an Arabian restaurant in downtown Uberlandia. Toni, Guelherme’, Paulho, Ruthyene, and Aline
all came. This was not a restaurant that
you pay one price and eat as much as you can.
You pay per kilogram. You select
whatever food you like, and then you have a member of the restaurant staff weigh it for
you before you return to your table. The
variety of food was definitely different than Recanto and Dina Restaurante; 2
of our favorites.
Interesting Shops & Signs Seen on the Way to the Restaurant:
Images of my Food Selection at the Arabian Restaurant:
When we returned to Ipe, some members of Ipe’s staff were
able to visit with the CSC Team without interviews, documents, and deadlines
looming on the horizon. For me, I still had
two documents to complete: "CSC Knowledge Transfer v6_Ipe.xls" and "IBM
CSC Value Realisation Baseline v2.0_IPE.docx”.
These were required by IBM’s CSC HQ team and will be used to assess the
success of CSC Brazil 14. (NOTE: Every CSC Team in Uberlandia was required to submit the same 2
documents for their projects.)
Later Thursday evening, Lumia’s mother and father invited us
over for dinner. Lumia and her sister
(Lorena) came by at 8:30 to pick us up.
When we arrived, Lumia’s entire family was there to greet us. They were all very welcoming to us and
treated us like royalty. Aline and
Renato, her boyfriend, also joined us arriving a bit later than the CSC Team.
While Lumia’s father tirelessly and methodically prepared a
wonderful meal and an incredible dessert for 14 – 15 people, our conversation
covered the usual international topics: family, work, sports, travel, and
children. Throughout the entire night, the Massa family's hospitality was exceptional. Our long dining table adjoined
a beautiful outdoor, open courtyard. The
night was a bit cool, so the night air kept us all comfortable. After a wonderful dessert of lava cake and
vanilla ice cream, Renato / Aline and Lumia drove all of the guests back to the
hotel in 2 cars. What a splendid ending to a
challenging and tiring day!
#ibmcsc brazil
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