Chapter 30: CHAPTER 30
Denril Communication Centre, South Husan.
"Good morning, Madam," Eddy greeted, taking off his dark sunshades as he moved close to the secretary.
"Good morning sir, how may I help you?" The secretary answered, only taking a brief glance at him.
"I'm Edward from Affid group of companies, I'm here to see the manager in respect to the World Developers Conference hosted by the firm a few days ago."
The secretary looked up at his face sharply after he finished speaking. Her fingers left the keyboard of the computer she was working on, and she rested her back.
"From the Affid Group Of Companies in Bethanna?" She questioned. The man nodded in reply. She frowned after his confirmation. "You called yesterday, and we told you to wait until we fix a time with the manager. We're yet to do that, and I'm sorry you can't meet with him now. Your meeting has to be rescheduled."
"Why don't you tell him I'm here first before dismissing me?" The man asked.
"I arrange his schedule for the day, and he'd be mad at him if I'm trying to fix something now." She replied.
"Why don't you try? You may be surprised to know he's expecting me."
The man sounded so confident, and his audacious look tempted the secretary to pick up the phone. Her gaze lingered on his face for a while before she dialled and put it close to her ear.
"Sir, one Mr Edward from the Affid Group Of Companies in Bethanna is here to see you." She said into the phone, her heart pounding as she feared to be scolded by her boss.
"Please send him in, I've been expecting him."
She was surprised to hear the reply, and she quickly looked at Eddy's face. He was smiling down mischievously at her.
"Right away, Sir," she replied in low tones and ended the call.
"Good morning, sir," Eddy greeted as he walked into the office.
The man on the seat got up to receive his guest, and he stretched out his hand for a handshake
"Welcome, Mr Edward, I wasn't expecting you this soon," the man replied as they shook each other's hands firmly. "Please have your seat," he said and watched as the man took his seat before sitting. "So, would you like to have some coffee?"
"No thanks, I'd rather want us to go straight to business." Eddy replied.
"Your wish, sir, let's get started."
"Like I said in the mail and on voice call, I saw videos and pictures of the World Developers Conference hosted by this establishment a few days ago. It's a pity I only saw it after the event. We from Affid Group of Companies would have loved to participate."
"I truly do wonder how you missed the advertisements. It was publicised on several Network TVs of different countries in the world. I'm sure the publication was done well in Bethanna, which is a neighbouring country to us," the manager replied.
"Yeah, I'm sure it was. It's sad that we missed it," Eddy replied. He changed his position and rested his elbow on the left armrest. "Well, no regrets, we've been able to purchase some of the videos from the conference, and I've listened to a bulk of them already. The revelations are quite amazing, and the level at which programming is taking over the world and its systems is astonishing."
"I agree with you," the manager cleared his throat. "The exact reason the world developers conference was held was to foster growth of programming and developing firms and products."
"You're right," Eddy said and leaned forward. "I already stated in my mail that we need your partnership in organising a similar conference in Bethanna. We are building a programming school for the world in Bethanna, and before it is launched, we will need to sensitise the public on issues surrounding the program."
"Yes, I read that in the mail, and I asked to see the documents."
"Here," Eddy pulled out a file from his bag and placed it on the table. He opened to the middle and stared intently for a moment before passing the file to the manager.
The manager went through the documents for about eight minutes before he spoke again. "This looks great. However, our legal team would still have to look into it." he said and closed the file. "Can we get a copy?"
"Yes, that's your copy." Eddy replied.
The manager picked up his phone and made a call asking his secretary to come into his office. She came in one minute later, and he handed her the file and asked her to send it to one of their offices for the team to go through.
"I'd also like to find out how you gathered the audience for the conference, sir," Eddy continued after the manager was done with the secretary. "We would like this to guide us in choosing ours too."
"We sent out invites to others, and some others applied and were approved after we went through their necessary details." the manager replied.
"Was the offer thrown to the public?"
"No, it was only published publicly. We didn't invite the public. Throwing the invitation to the public would have given us too much crowd to deal with. We also would have had to go through several applications to select. We drew up a list of companies to invite, after which we stated in the advertisement that the offer was only opened to programming and developing firms. So, we only had a maximum of five delegates from each programming firm from all over the world."
"And did you keep records of all attendees?"
"Yes, we did. We formed a team and made them in charge of crowd and access control. They worked with the event centre team and controlled access on the day of the event."
"Is there a way we can make use of your database to send our invitations too?"
"Ermm… You mean using our records to make your invitations?"
"Exactly."
"That's kind of huge," the man squinted. "Is it really necessary?"
"It would make us focus on a better audience."
"It would be quite difficult, we are responsible for the personal data collected from our attendees, it won't be right to let them out."
"I'm aware, sir, and that's why we are seeking your partnership. If you agree to partner with us, it becomes our event, and it would not be an issue to make use of the database. There would be no issue of mistrust of your company by the attendees."
"You're right, but if that's the case, we need to discuss further. I thought what you needed was just our support for your event."
"No, sir, that's why we clearly stated it as a Request for Partnership. I'm here and ready to discuss your terms."
"No, I think you should tell us what you want to offer us first. If we grant you this partnership you long for, what do we stand to gain? What are you offering us?"
Eddy looked down to bring out another file. He placed it on the table and turned it to the man. The manager stared at his face for a moment before he opened the file.
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