At its recent Logistics 07 event in Birmingham the Chartered Inistitute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) graciously invited the press. Commercial Motor decided to attend only the second day where we felt there would be more operational infomation. In retrospect this was a good move as apparently key note speaker Sir Clive Woodward unceremoniously ordered the press out of the room before he addressed delegates.
Unfortunately there were only two journalists there, one of whom worked for the CILT which was presumably paying Woodward's bill. As a result he told one poor reporter to leave the room. Several delegates asked me whether I had been there, adding that they found his behaviour rude and offensive. "It's not as if there was anything in his speech that couldn't have been reported," more than one commented.
I didn't see any other reporters on the second day - perhaps the humiliation had been too much for the original chap. All in all, such behaviour makes one question Woodward's suitability to deliver a speech on 'Winning in business' - for most of us I'm sure courtesy ranks pretty highly with customers and suppliers. Luckily it did not detract from the quality of the other speakers at the conference.