Trending Topic - Management Novel Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos

Thursday, August 20, 2015 | 83 days until the conference | 153 registrations
‘Meditating, are we, Victor?’
Upon hearing Jacques Lodewyks’ deep voice, Victor VanWely quickly lifted his feet off the radiator. He turned his leather desk chair so abruptly, he had to hold on to the top of the desk to stop the chair from spinning out of control.
           His guinea pig, Napoleon Bonaparte, gave a loud wheek from his cage in the corner of the office.
           ‘Jacques, what a pleasure,’ Victor said. Meditation, if only he could. Perhaps it would inspire him to find the ultimate solution to his troubles. The director of the National Society for Rodent Professionals was facing the biggest challenge yet in his career.
           ‘Coffee?’ asked Victor.
           ‘No thank you,’ Jacques said, placing a hand over his heart. ‘Doctor’s orders.’ He ignored the chair Victor offered him, took a celery stick from his coat pocket and stuck it through the bars of the guinea pig’s cage. Napoleon eagerly tugged the treat into the cage and began nibbling away at it thoughtfully.
.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Friday, Augustus 21, 2015 | 82 days until the conference | 155 registrations 
The next morning, Victor went into the office early. He was convinced he would be the first one there, but Casper was already behind his desk, his face flushed with hard work, fervently typing away on his keyboard.
           ‘Stressed?’ he asked.
           ‘Aren’t you?’ Casper replied. ‘Do you have any idea how much we still need to get done for Rodentia?’
           Victor sighed. ‘I know. As soon as Martine comes in, I would like to have a short meeting.’
           ‘A meeting? I really don’t have time.’
           Victor gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and went into his office. Behind him, he heard Casper call out: ‘and Martine certainly doesn’t.’
           Casper was his only full time employee. He had been working here longer than Victor and dynamically tackled communications. Casper also organized the annual National Spring Conferences. These had become a matter of routine, and with roughly one hundred participants on average, he could easily manage alone. However, Rodentia was a completely different ballgame. As of a month ago, they had therefore hired backup, in the form of Martine. She managed logistics in order for Casper to be able to fully concentrate on marketing and communications, contacting the speakers, recruiting sponsors, and the press. For weeks now, Casper had been trying to arrange an interview with Instinct, the most respected trade magazine for pet professionals. So far it had been in vain. The journalist kept insisting a conference was not newsworthy, which made no sense to Victor whatsoever: after all, the program was incredibly interesting, wasn’t it? 
.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Friday evening, August 21, 2015 | 82 days until the conference | 157 registrations
‘Hey, digi-illiterate, how’s things?’ Dick was practically inaudible, with all the background noise drowning out his voice on the phone: laughter, music, clinking glasses.
           Victor looked at the clock. It was five thirty, he had half an hour before he was supposed to meet his friends at the Crippled Horse. He never missed after-work-drinks on Friday.
           ‘I tried WhatsApping you, why don’t you have that?’ Dick said. ‘Anyway, the weather’s great, so we met up an hour early. We’re outside on the terrace.’ He whistled into his phone, Victor winced and moved the phone away from his ear.
           ‘You should see all the eye candy passing this place.’
           ‘It’s pretty busy at the office,’ Victor began, noticing Casper through the open door, who was peering intently at his computer screen.
           ‘Oh, come on, live a little. You’re the boss, aren’t you? Delegate, man! It’s pretty much the first thing we learned to do at our MBA, and that’s over twenty years ago.’ Dick’s voice suddenly sounded far away. ‘Yeah, go on’ Then he spoke into the phone again: ‘We’re on our second round already, take a break. It’s the first time, since the end of the holidays, we’re all together. Stella was asking for you already. I am ordering you a beer as we speak.’
.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Monday, August 24, 2015 | 79 days until the conference | 161 registrations
In the middle of a discussion regarding the color of the volunteers’ T-shirts, Victor noticed Casper’s eyes wandering in the direction of the door.
           He looked over his shoulder. Stella’s daughter had done her best to put on a businesslike appearance, but despite the toned down grey dress, he still saw in her the jolly little pig-tailed girl, who used to play in the café when her mother was on duty. Casper clearly saw something else entirely.
           She stood in the doorway, a little timidly. ‘Mister VanWely?’ Her long blonde hair flowed over her tanned shoulders. Pale blue eyes appeared when she lifted her sunglasses.
           Casper nudged him and whispered: ‘Who is that?’
           Victor ignored his question and walked over to the young visitor. ‘Catja, come on in.’ He ushered the young woman into his office to talk undisturbed. He had had a long phone conversation with Stella over the weekend, during which she had urged him to take good care of her daughter.
           Catja sat down on the chair she was offered and looked around. ‘Nice office, Mister VanWely. I really appreciate you taking the time to meet with me.’ 
.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
 Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Thursday, August 27, 2015 | 76 days until the conference | 165 registrations
Victor stood, pondering, by Pooky’s cage. Tomorrow, he would have to report to Jacques. Since the chairman’s last visit, there hadn’t exactly been a run on registrations for the conference. It made sense. They’d been working hard, but the fruits of those labors wouldn’t be reaped till later on. Bam! Victor thought to himself.
           The invitations now boasted the following call to action: ‘Share your Road to #Rodentia15.’ Casper had made the final decision on the T-shirts (red, so the volunteers would be easy to spot) and press releases were created for various types of media (‘Rodents: blessing or plague? Rodentia 2015 seeks the confrontation’).
           Catja had been very busy working on her social media research. Every time Victor walked past, there was something on her screen drawing his attention. She had shown him how Twitter and Facebook worked, and helped him create a Facebook profile for himself. His first friendship request was to Dick, who accepted within five minutes. On Dick’s profile, he noticed his friend had been awarded Food Marketeer of the Year a few days before. Victor decided to send him a postcard. Catja also showed him Instagram. Her photo with Pooky had received a lot of likes. Victor had to admit he was rather proud of that fact, despite the resistance he felt towards the impersonal nature of social media. Although Pooky didn’t look too good. No wonder, because the water, in which Victor had dissolved the vitamin C tablets, had been left untouched. This would require more drastic measures. 
.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
 Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Thursday, August 27, 2015 | 76 days until the conference | 165 registrations 
Once they had all returned to the table, Catja presented her plan of action.
           ‘I’ve modeled it to the example of PetFoodies.’ She showed them a slide containing all of the social media icons, plus the NatSoRoPro logo in the center. ‘You already have a Facebook and Twitter account. You can begin posting messages on there, preferably daily. Start by posting reminders of the conference, with a link to the registration page.’ She threw her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. ‘Besides that, we want more followers. The quickest way to get those is through advertising. That way you also get seen outside your current network on social media.’
           Martine leaned forward. ‘You said we also reach a lot of people if we get replies from within our own network. Isn’t that enough?’
           ‘It works, but it needs time. Especially in your situation, as you don’t have too many connections yet.’ She looked at Victor.
           ‘Indeed, and we’re in a hurry,’ he confirmed. ‘So advertising seems fine to me. Think big.’ Dick would be proud of him.
           ‘We’re going to aim the ads entirely at our target group,’ she explained. ‘And then there’s gift promotions and competitions.’
           ‘How will those work, exactly?’ asked Victor.
           ‘You invite people to like your page in ads. By doing so, they can win a free coke, or a T-shirt, for example. If the prize is interesting, such a message gets liked and shared a lot. That creates great visibility, as well as new followers.’.....
----
Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos
 Narrated by Kevin Stillwell