A Wonderful Evening

On Wednesday, March 16th, RDI sponsored an evening honoring the New York Chapter winners of the “Store of the Year” contest. The Haworth Group generously accommodated RDI for the evening in their beautiful showroom opposite Grand Central Station.

Although the awards were formally presented last January 10th, this occasion afforded an opportunity for each of this year’s local winners to give the membership a short presentation of their project that would outline the project brief and how each solution came about.

Each of us was asked to create a PowerPoint, and each presenter was limited to ten minutes! Ten minutes is tough, and I agonized over how to tell the story of Bloomingdale’s Santa Monica without belaboring any one point. I usually outline in my head what I’m going to say, and I never want to be guilty of reading from notes.

The most difficult part of the evening was finding out that I was “up first” – ! I really didn’t relish being the opening act. But that sudden rush of near stage fright and anxiety was quickly dispelled, and I proceeded with a far more spontaneous talk than planned.

The retail group attended and, to our great surprise and delight, our client Jack Hruska of Bloomingdale’s made a rare public appearance just to demonstrate his support. That small gesture was the greatest compliment to Mancini•Duffy.