CONVENTION REPORT' 2000
In the words of Convention Director

Living up to the traditions, So~Safe organized a gigantic Annual Convention'2000 on a grand scale between April 20 - 23, 2000 at Regent Plaza Hotel & Convention Center, Karachi. Over 150 SAFIANS from all over Pakistan were in attendance and all the 17 So~Safe branches were represented in this annual affair. For the first time an international participation was witnessed in a So~Safe convention as high officials from So~ Safe Iraq, So~ Safe Ghana, So~ Safe Indonesia, So~ Safe Iran, So~ Safe Nigeria, So~ Safe Syria, So~ Safe U.A.E. and So~ Safe Oman attended the event.

The four-day affair started with Extensive Managers Workshop, which consisted of four sessions spread over two days. The first session was titled as Leadership in Action and was conducted by a prominent and seasoned trainer Mr. Rasheed Zuberi in a very professional manner. The gentleman who had a long association with multinationals as its chief also had the rich experience up his sleeves. During the course of his four-hour presentation, he very ably imparted the basics of leadership and was able to leave an impression on the participants.

The post lunch session, Presentation and Communication Skills, proved to be the real show of the day, as the coach Mr.Salman Abideen,although very young but commanding proved his mettle by bringing the participants to their toes with their constant involvement. The session was very artistically segmented with a series of role plays, mockeries, case studies and groups presentations and the trainer never seemed to loose his grip on the subject. In the evening the visiting delegates were escorted to various markets of Karachi for a shopping spree, then to sight seeing of town and finally to the bay side restaurant of Beach Luxury Hotel for dinner in an absorbing environment.
The second day began with yet another interesting session on Effective Marketing. The faculty was a leading educationist, the Dean of Iqra University, Mr. Bilal Rashid who finished up with an excellent presentation on the topic. Lots of marketing gimmicks were shared and some secrets of the trade were revealed. The four-hour session proved to be a great source of information for the Managers as they acquired new stuff for their marketing plans.

The Extensive Managers Workshop concluded on the most entertaining yet most informative session on Art of Negotiation which was conducted by none other than the Chief Executive of So~Safe Water Technologies, Mr. Sultan Mahmood who is also a qualified trainer and a Prime graduate of Jaycees International. In his unique style of training Mr. Sultan gave a tough time to those who were getting drowsy after a heavy lunch through workouts and games. He exhibited the true qualities of a trainer and not for a single moment any participant was short of interest in his presentation.

In the later part of the day a visit to the Pakistan Air Force museum was arranged and the delegates enjoyed the ongoing floral exhibition. Eventually the day was called off at Salt N Pepper (Village) Restaurant where the traditional Pakistani dinner in a typical rural environment was offered to the delegates, which was enjoyed to a great extent. Exchange of gifts took place amongst the delegates and the foreign delegates left the restaurant with loads of ritual gifts from almost all the country wide branch managers of So~Safe.

The start of third day witnessed an impressive Opening Ceremony of the convention, attended by over 300 SAFIANS. The highlight of this ceremony was the uniformity of dress, as each and every individual was attired in elegant looking So~Safe T-Shirts. The gathering was addressed by the Convention Director Salman Siddiqui, Director Planning Tahir Chaudry, Chief Executive Sultan Mahmood and concluded on a vote of thanks from Co-Director Ilyas Ahmad. Afterwards the floor was again passed to the Chief Executive Sultan Mahmood for a seminar on Product Orientation. He began in his usual style and gave the delegates a time to remember with an icebreaker game, carrying a touching message. During his presentation, Mr. Sultan discussed the So~Safe product line at length and his lecture on UV Sterilizer (870) was very informative. The foreigners showed their keen interest in the presentation with their inquisitive participation.

The seminar entered into its second stage after the lunch break when our Director Swimming Pool Mr. Naveed Khan gave a comprehensive presentation on Swimming Pools. His high tech presentation, which was based on multimedia proved as a source of great knowledge for the delegates about this aspect of water treatment. Mr. Naveed was highly appreciated for his effort, as very selected information about swimming pools was available to SAFIANS prior to this seminar.