by Paul O'Brien
Monday 06 November 2006
Spoke at an APSE Northern Region seminar on shared services today at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The session I was involved in was with two good friends Steve Cirell from Eversheds and Cllr Ron Scrimgour from Angus.
I opened the session with a context setting slot and despite having delivered this presentation before felt a bit flat. However Steve, who is going through a divorce at present, picked the mood up by telling delegates how he had taken his 9 year old daughter shopping at the weekend for a Barbie Doll. The sales assistant offered him a Showjumping Barbie at £39.99, an Outdoor Barbie at £39.99 or a Divorced Barbie at £399.99. When Steve enquired why the Divorced Barbie was so dear the sales assistant replied that it came with Ken's car, Ken's boat and Ken's house..................boom,boom! Ron closed the session with a valiant attempt to get through 37 slides in 20 minutes.
Overall the event appeared to go well with plenty of good discussion in the workshops in the afternoon.
