10 Presentation

Sir Charles had left a message for me in my email. ‘I will be in a meeting all morning and you need to get everything ready for the presentation which is to be given in the boardroom of Makepeace Investments at 2:00pm. When you arrive just tell reception that you are to prepare for a presentation to Gareth Makepeace and they will sort you out. No need to take the projectors or screens or anything, they have everything you need, just take your laptop and a dozen copies of your report, I will see you there.’

Late morning I gathered all my belongings, changed into my new blue silk dress, refreshed my make up and brushed out my hair so it was hanging loose in waves and I was ready to go, feeling on top of the world. I was amazed at how I now looked. Only a few weeks before I had been a typical early-twenties lad, a bit shy, a bit small, but now somehow with a bit of makeup, a new hairdo and some decent clothes, I had turned into an attractive stylish young woman. Carol had been right, seeing my lacy underwear set when I changed gave me a lot more confidence in how I looked and made me much more certain that I would be able to carry it all off.

“ Hey Dani girl, you look a million dollars, they are bound to be impressed, go and wow them.” Chloe gushed as I was leaving, “ Show them what us girls can do if they give us half a chance.”

It did not take long to get everything set up in the boardroom of Makepeace’s offices for Sir Charles and do a dry run of the presentation to make sure it all worked ok with their equipment and I was ready to roll, when Gareth Makepeace came in looking a bit uncertain.

“I have just had a message from Charles, he is involved in a big snarl up on the M25 and doesn’t know when he will get here. I suggested that we reschedule for another day, but he stressed that speed is of the essence and would like you to make the presentation, after all he said that you had done the research, written the report, and compiled the presentation, so you probably know more than him what you are talking about. Before I call the others in, are you comfortable with that? I would rather cancel it than have a poor presentation which will reflect badly on Charles and me as well as knock your confidence for the future.”

“ I’m not really sure, I am not mentally prepared to do it, I am not used to lecturing such important City high-fliers.”

“Look here, they are just all normal people, take away their fancy suits and their superior business faces, and they are no better than you or me. Charles said you came across really well on your dummy run to him yesterday. Just imagine that you are doing it just for him again, or remember how you gave the presentation of your final-year dissertation to your classmates and tutors at university and imagine yourself back there. Charles has great confidence in you and I am sure that it will all go well. There has to be a first time for you, this may as well be it, I promise I will not let any of them bite off your head, they are all quite personable really, although on the finance markets they can be quite ruthless. Are you up for it?”

“ Please give me five minutes to compose myself and make myself presentable and then bring them all in.” I quickly escaped to the Ladies, double checked my hair and makeup and that my dress was smooth and wrinkle free before Gareth and his colleagues all came in.

“ Gentlemen, i offer apologies from Sir Charles, there has been a major accident on the M25 and he is caught up in a massive tailback. He has asked that you allow his Executive Assistant, Danielle Jenkins, to act on his behalf. Please be kind to her, she has only had five minutes notice of this, although I am assured that it is all actually her own research and report. Over to you Danielle.”

Taking a deep breath, clearing my throat and scanning my audience who all looked reasonably friendly, I started my presentation.

“ Good afternoon gentlemen, as Mr Makepeace has just said, I apologise for Sir Charles’ absence and hope that you are happy to put up with me instead. Although I cannot claim to have the experience and gravitas that he possesses, I believe he won’t mind me saying, and I am sure that you will agree, that I am a lot more easy-to-look-at presenter than he ever will be.” which raised a bit of a chuckle and nobody seemed to take offence at it.

“Before I go onto the official presentation I will tell you what started this off. I am sure that few of you, if any, are regular readers of celebrity gossip columns. If you did read them you would know that “Future Entertainment PLC’ have a programme-making subsidiary, ‘Media for All’. The gossip columns are linking several big-name stars to appear in a new drama series to be made by MFA, and they are in deep negotiation with at least two of the major streaming services to contract to show the programmes. If some of these negotiations bear fruit, or even only one, they stand to make a lot of money. Even if they don’t, the profile of MFA is going to soar, and their share price will take off too. I will now take you through the financial background and performance figures of FE and MFA and hopefully you can agree that they should be given serious consideration for investment.

A half-hour later after they had all listened intently, I closed the formal presentation and threw it open for further detailed questions, all of which I managed to deal with comfortably, and was just wrapping up when Sir Charles walked in.

“ Gentlemen, i apologise for the deception, but Ms Jenkins deserved the opportunity to present her case herself, and I have been following the discussions on a video link next door. I am sure that you will agree that she has made her case well and confirm that I am prepared to pull together a consortium to take a major stake in FE and invite you to join with me. Please read the formal report with all the background and figures, and let me know. Finally I would like to thank Danielle for standing in at short notice, and I am sure that you will have found it a lot more pleasant presentation than having to stare at an old grizzled curmudgeon like me for a half-hour. Please join Gareth, Danielle, and me for informal discussions, drinks, and a buffet, next door.”

Despite being at least half the age of most of the others I mixed quite well and chatted to most of them and was surprised at how friendly, informal and relaxed they all were, and felt that if I was asked to do something similar again that I could easily cope with it.

When we left and were heading back to our office, Sir Charles asked me how much money I had available, and when I told him that after years at University I was fairly broke he was taken aback a bit.

“ I’ll make you an offer. Shares in FE are going to take off and you deserve to benefit from your work, I will loan you £25,000 to make a personal investment, you can repay it after the share price has taken off. Interest rates are minimal at the moment and I promise you that it will only need to be short-term, so treat it as interest-free. Obviously that is not a major investment in the scale of things and will go under the radar without any hint of insider dealing, but you should make at least a few thousand as profit. That is not a large sum for me, but I am sure that it will help you get a start on the ladder, are you interested? Over the weekend set up an account with one of the online share-trading companies, some of them are excellent and are used to dealing with small investors with very low charges and when your funds are cleared, buy as many shares as you can. By the way, you heard that I watched your presentation on video, well it was recorded. so there it is on a memory card for you with it all on. Perhaps your mother would like to see you in all your glory.”

“Thank you so much Sir Charles, I don’t think that you are a grizzled old curmudgeon at all, in fact I think you are rather sweet.” I replied without thinking, which brought a blush to the cheeks of both of us.

Back in the office, after Sir Charles had left for a meeting with his in-house analysts, Chloe insisted that I tell her all about the presentation and how well it had gone. She thought that Sir Charles had been a bit sneaky to have set me up like that, but said that it showed that the had a lot of confidence in me that I wouldn’t let him down. I got Chloe to take a few photos me all dressed up in my finery, added them onto the memory card, copied everything onto my laptop and posted the card to Mum.

I didn’t want to ruin my expensive dress on the train, so I changed back into the skirt, top, and jacket that I had travelled in that morning, left my hair hanging loose, as I was now getting to like the way it all bounced and moved, and left for the train home. On the way I emailed the photos to Mum and almost immediately got a call back.

“ Oh you look absolutely stunning Danielle, if anything you are even more beautiful than your sister, although she wouldn’t thank me for saying so if she ever found out. Next time you visit you must bring that gorgeous dress for me to see you in it.”

“I’m on the train Mum, I can’t really talk, I will call you later and tell you all about what happened today, but are you still happy with everything that I am doing?”

“ If it is good for your career, and you are happy to keep doing it, get on with it, it is your life, and looking as you do, nobody is going to know any different are they?. Bye darling, speak to you later.”

Back at the flat, after a quick change into leggings and a sloppy jumper and hanging up my dress, I had to go through the story of the whole day for Carol’s benefit and after a takeaway pizza which she had pre-ordered, we sat and watched the video of the presentation together.

“ You were brilliant, you had them in the palm of your hands, I couldn’t have done that. Mind you, I am sure that being lectured by a smart attractive young woman was a bit of a culture-shock for them, but it worked for you. You need to learn how to use your feminine charms and wiles a bit more, they can really help you get your way with men ! Let’s put on a film and just relax with a glass of wine and a bowl of popcorn. It’s been a big day for you, you need to unwind, What do you fancy doing this weekend?”

“ I called my landlord earlier on in the week and agreed to move out by the end of the month, which is next weekend. I told him that I had been transferred up to the Midlands office at short notice and that my sister Liz would be going to the flat to clear out my things and clean up. It has only been a short time since I have been Dani, but I am looking and acting more and more like a girl, and I don’t think that I could quickly switch back just for a day or two. I’ll clear out all my things tomorrow and go back next weekend to tidy up, leave the place clean, and hand in the keys. it will be a big help if you have the time to come with me.”

“ Leaving the place clean and tidy, rather than just moving out and leaving a mess behind, the girl mindset is really taking you over.”

To be continued