ABSTRACT
The presentation began with informal introductions of the team members by the presenter. The presentation itself was flawlessly delivered, thanks to the endless practice they had put in. But about 20 minutes into the presentation, the Minister himself, with an entourage of other officials, walked in. When he realized what was going on, his demeanor turned unpleasant. Angrily he asked the Americans to start the presentation from the beginning again. They complied and started over. Again, the presentation was going well until about 10 minutes later when an aide arrived with a message for the Minister that he delivered to him in hushed tones. Not wanting to anger him again, the American presenter stopped to wait until the message was delivered, but the Minister signaled for him to continue. He did, but a few minutes later, a number of audience members were talking among themselves. By this time the American was very frustrated, but he slogged on and finished. At the end, when invited to ask questions, the Minister’s only comment was to wonder why the Americans had focused so much on the technical details-why had they told the Mexicans so little about their firm’s history?
