Part 1

The content of the lectures

Red Carpet Worthy event management (Holly Cybulski) 03/05/2017

The lecture was about event management. Ms H. Cybulski shared her
experience in this field and gave some tips on how to organize a quality event.
When organizing event, first of all, should be set the goal of particular event.
The organizer should consider as many as possible unexpected circumstances
and be prepared to face with them. Very important is to treat everybody at the
event as a celebrity, so everybody is satisfied. When organizing event, it
should be worth something, there have to be ROI, something in exchange. She
told about interesting experience stories that she has seen and worked on, for
example when you prepare 10 % of unexpected costs, where they could go/be
spent.
Retail channel management (Dorthe Bohlbore) 04/05/2017
Ms D.Bohlbore come from Denmark and told us about the importance of
omnichannel on the current market. There are single channel, multichannel,
cross channel (includes different channels that start to work together, e.g. Vero
Moda- if you bought a good, then you can return it at any retailer that sells
Vero Moda products). And omnichannel that needs a lot of technology to
recognize you as a customer, for example, recognize customer when he enters
shop. On lecture where discussed challenges that appears on the market, e.g.
now mostly huge stores can afford to appear in physical store, what small
shops could do to compete. How structure of the business should be changed
to make customers happy.
Language policy and communication in a multilingual society (Aruba and its
languages) (Kitty Groothuijse) 04/05/2017
During the lecture Ms Groothuijse told about Aruba and its languages, how
they appeared on this island and what consequences they brought. Aruba was
a Dutch colony and has 4 spoken languages. It is a constituent country, where
in theory equal, but the government belong to another country. The official
language of the education is Dutch, however there are 3 more active
languages: Papiamento, Spanish and English. In Aruba at work speak language
of the business owner, where at the first place is Papiamento and second
Dutch. Papiamento consists of many other languages; this language is easy to
learn and people of Aruba want to make it as main language of the country.
However, Dutch is the language of institution (education), but only 6% of the
inhabitants speaks it at home.

Short reflection on why you chose each topic

Red Carpet Worthy event management

I chose this presentation, because I always had interest on how are those
amazing, huge events organized, what does it cost to make one (not only from
money point, but in other resources). For me it was very interesting to meet a
person who is active in this event field and how this kind of person look like
as an unreachable celebrity or simple person.
Retail channel management
Probably in the future I will consider opportunity to start my own business and
open shop, for this reason I found interesting to listen about current situation
of the retail market. I wanted to get knowledge about possible channels and up
to date information about them. Moreover, I think Denmark is strong country
and people who come from Denmark could share interesting information about
their experience.
Language policy and communication in a multilingual society (Aruba and its
languages)
When I saw the topic saw the opportunity to listen about cooperation of the
languages in the world. I thought that lecture will be about global language
policy and business communication in diverse society.

What you learnt from the topic as presented here

Red Carpet Worthy event management

Treat every guest as celebrity;

Pay attention to tiny details;
Think of unexpected circumstances;
Measurable objective;
Return on event;
10% rule- preparing for unexpected;
Research on details of the event (who attend, participate, what will
make guests happy, etc.);
Host each guest;
Have a great team that helps to find hole in organization;
Have measurements that shows if mission is accomplished.

Retail channel management

Omnichannel includes several sales channels;

Omnichannel is all about recognizing customer, use database of the
customer;
This recognition could be made through apps, that has history from
different channels;
Speciality stores will survive;
Customers are becoming more intelligent;
There is transparency in prices;
There should be built customer experience online & offline;
Synchronize customer experience;
Omnichannel concept is 7P`s;
Beacons are used to unify customer*offline*online.

Language policy and communication in a multilingual society (Aruba and its

languages)
 Aruba has 4 spoken languages;
It was a colony from the Netherlands kingdom;
Many historical activities influenced its languages;
Dutch is the official language of the education and administration;
People suffer from previous normative;
Aruba is very open and bilingual country;
The best way how to help people to get quality education is to make it in
Papiamento.

Apply your critical reading/listening skills

Red Carpet Worthy event management

What a text says The way the events are organized and
what issues during this organization
could appear.
What a text does The speech tells how much event
manager should think of details and
where should be payed the most
attention.
What a text means That event management is one of the
most stressful jobs and person that
works it should be always on the
stirrup.

Retail channel management

What a text says This topic is about different kinds of

retail channels.
What a text does The lecture helped us to see the
importance of omnichannel and its
influence on current market.
What a text means This means that we should build up
better connection with our customers
and be available online and offline.

Language policy and communication in a multilingual society (Aruba and its

languages)

What a text says The lecture was about the languages

of Aruba and their importance in this
country
What a text does The speech provides us information
that let us think of the importance of
 being able to choose things yourself
from the point of view of the people
who are basically the users.
What a text means The core of this presentation is to
show the importance of Papiamento
language, and how people suffer from
the Dutch language.

Which questions did you ask? What was the answer?

Red Carpet Worthy event management

What are characteristics of the successful even management
professional?
Person who is working in this field should have these characteristics: Flexible,
creative, thinks big picture, punctual, resourceful, manage expectations, etc.
Does family suit this profession?
Of course, yes, but it could be difficult, because when you have to organize
one valuable even, you are fully intro it.
Retail channel management
Businesses, for example, supermarkets, when using client cards and
are allowing to use the same cards for another business, for example
tank stations, are they acting legally?
Actually, this is controversial issue, because then is transferred data of the
customer from the business to another and this is not 100% right.
Language policy and communication in a multilingual society (Aruba and its
languages)
Is it important to know all 4 languages or you can live freely with one?
If you know Papiamento you have no problems to live, work there, but you
have problems with education- here you need to know Dutch. So, there is
necessary to know at least two of them to feel yourself as a part of the culture.

Part 2
- Which information given by the author struck you as particularly
true?

According to Richard D. Lewis, They are, of course, used to foreigners in

large numbers being on their soil [].
In 2013 ethnic groups in Latvia included: Latvian 61.1%, Russian 26.2%,
Belarusian 3.5%, Ukrainian 2.3%, Polish 2.2%, Lithuanian 1.3%, other 3.4%.
(Factbook, n.d.)
 As Richard D. Lewis observes, Culture Values- arts (especially singing).

Latvia nation is called ` the singing nation`, almost every inhabitant in Latvia
was a participant in choir or any other group. Moreover, one of the most exciting
and important festivals in Latvia is Song Festival where participate choirs and
folk dance groups. (Global, n.d.)

Men expect to pay; this is a matter of pride, said Richard D. Lewis.

Manners of having dinner express that men are the ones that shows his
appreciation and power by paying for the dinner. (Canada, 2014)
- Which information given by the author struck you as not true?

According to Richard D. Lewis, A famous saying in Latvia goes like this:

We measure our cloth nine times, but we cut it only once.
The correct version of the saying is `Measure seven times, cut once`, moreover,
this is Russian expression and not Latvian. (Speake, 2009)
- Which information that is important in this culture is missing?
The language and culture of Latvians was severely oppressed and that is why
one of the core values of Latvia is its own independent language- Latvian.
Latvians are very proud of their language and still develop it. The language is like
a child that is carried and taken care of. (Priedkalns, 1994)
Latvian Latvians are not pleased to be compared with Russia, since regained
independence Latvia and Russia has quite complicated relationships, this fact
has influenced the attitude of Latvians against Russians. The important fact that
Russians are part of Latvian culture is sharpening this situation. (POIKNS, 2015)
Latvians are very close to nature, they feel its flow. This is influencing their state
of mind. Latvians are very proud of their nature, national parks, forests, lakes
and rivers. There is developed moral, spiritual and aesthetic value of the nature.
Nature (in poems, tales, etc.) was inspiration when Latvians stood against Soviet
Union. (Schwartz, 2006)
- In what way is the author biased according to you?
In my opinion the author is often pointing out the emotional issue of Latvians,
that they are not emotional, strict and not open. I would say that probably this
was issue of the Soviet generation, however, now younger generation is open
minded, ready to help and likes to communicate.
There is bias that Latvian Latvians are mostly rural oriented, this is true and
maybe this is one of the reasons why they are very cautious when talking to
others or taking important decisions.
(Lewis, 2005)

Bibliography
Canada, G. A. (2014). Cultural Information - Latvia. Retrieved from
www.international.gc.ca: https://www.international.gc.ca/cil-
cai/country_insights-apercus_pays/ci-ic_lv.aspx?lang=eng
Factbook, C. W. (n.d.). Latvia Demographics Profile. Retrieved from
www.indexmundi.com:
http://www.indexmundi.com/latvia/demographics_profile.html
Global, C. (n.d.). Latvia Guide. Retrieved from www.commisceo-global.com:
http://www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides/latvia-guide
Lewis, R. D. (2005). When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures.
POIKNS, J. (2015). Latvia and Russia: a complicated relationship. Retrieved from
visegradinsight.eu: http://visegradinsight.eu/latvia-and-russia-a-
complicated-relationship18052015/
Priedkalns, J. (1994). LANGUAGE AS THE CORE VALUE OF LATVIAN CULTURE.
Retrieved from www.jstor.org: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43211870?
seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Schwartz, K. Z. (2006). Nature and National Identity After Communism:
Globalizing the Ethnoscape. University of Pittsburgh Press.
Speake, J. S. (2009). The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Retrieved from
www.oxfordreference.com:
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199539536.001.
0001/acref-9780199539536-e-1418