What a delightful surprise when we received the news that OCBC Bank had invited Johan Speaking Academy to open up a booth in one of Malaysia’s biggest and highly anticipated book fairs of the year, the Big Bad Wolf book fair! A few days before the grand opening of the Big Bad Wolf Book Fair, Johan, Cherry and their intern Ben went on a site recce to the venue of the book fair, the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre better known as the MIECC. A few other bosses and soon-to-be exhibitors like us were brought on a short tour and a short briefing by a representative of OCBC Bank. It was truly a sight to see as we all surveyed an empty but vastly huge hall that will be completely filled to the maximum very soon. Fatin briefed each exhibitor regarding where will their booths be on the actual day, how many plug points are allocated and where they will be.
One day before the grand opening of the Big Bad Wolf Book Fair, Johan, Cherry and their intern Ben proceeded to the MIECC to set up and assemble all that is needed for the big day. Roll ups rolled up, the mini booth was assembled, the huge 3D backdrop with Johan Speaking Academy’s logo was installed, portable tables were set up, including all materials like magnets, speakers, microphone, and sales kits. It seems like everything is going as planned, Johan, Cherry and Ben left after completing the set up.
The Big Bad Wolf Book fair was truly a blast, despite having a microphone stolen before our first day, it couldn’t stop us from continuing to work hard and press on towards promoting our programmes and classes to potential customers. We had two different activities for kids who came to our booth. Firstly, we had a photo booth that had a variety of different props which included, funny head wear, cute eye wear, and elegant masks. When kids take a picture and post it on their Facebook while hash tagging Johan Speaking Academy, they are given a RM 50 discount voucher, which includes a Johan Speaking Academy magnet for the kids who participated. The kids can also do a mini presentation speech on our mini stage with one of our choice scripts. By doing this, they are also entitled to get a free RM 50 discount voucher and a Johan Speaking Academy magnet. Several parents came over to our booth for enquiries regarding the different programs for their children of varying ages to learn the fundamental skill of public speaking.
The kids from Johan Speaking Academy’s various branches throughout the nation also made a splendid performance with their speeches, presentations, and story-telling on the weekends that followed, and they all did such a great job, it caught the immediate attention of the visitors to the Big Bad Wolf Book fair, and soon it became a crowd of over a 100 people that were also attracting the attention of many a passer-by. The parents were so proud of their kids who did a marvellous job on the stage. Thank you OCBC Bank, thank you Big Bad Wolf, and finally thank you kids and parents for your support in helping us to be a better platform for young people to be empowered by the gift of public speaking! Thank you all!
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