[originaltext]M: Tonight we have Chris Davenport with us in the studio. Welcome

M: Tonight we have Chris Davenport with us in the studio. Welcome to the program.
W: Thank you, Pat.
M: Now Chris, you’ve been working for the Canadian Export Development Agency for three years now. What does your job involve?
W: Well, my particular brief is Asian section—especially Japan and China. Now we work with Canadian firms explaining how they can start up or develop their export trade in these countries. One of my main responsibilities is to set up trade fairs so that our companies can exhibit their goods in these other countries.
M: Right. Sounds like a very demanding job. How do you cope with the pressure?
W: At first I didn’t. It was very difficult because there were so many new things to learn and I found especially that negotiating was the hardest. It was something that didn’t come to me naturally, but you get used to it.
M: What’s the secret?
W: Well, you have to be organized, especially well organized, but it does help of course that we’re part of a team and when the going gets tough we give each other a lot of support and help each other out. That’s important. I’ve just recently come back from Beijing where we sponsored an electronics fair there. We had a total of 55 stands and we had over 200,000 visitor.
M: Wow, it’s amazing!
W: Yeah. It was very successful but it did represent twelve months of really intensive preparation and, as you can guess, a lot of difficult negotiations.
M: Twelve months?! I mean is that normal Chris?
W: Well it does vary a lot. Beijing was a particular large trade fair and it did take that kind of time. But some of our smaller fairs, Canton for example, we had a small computering exhibition there in 1999. That took five months of planning. That’s ,not a hard and fast rule, but basically about six months, depending on the kind of product being, exhibited, the network of contacts we already have in the host country, the location, things like that.
M: Well I see that, Now tell me Chris, you’ve just got back from Beijing. Where to next?
W: My next trip is to Tokyo in a couple of weeks. We’re setting up a fair there to promote Canadian fashions and design. Fashion and design’s new market for me and also for the agency. It’s going to be a big challenge for us, but I’m really excited about it.
Questions:
27.What did Chris find most difficult to undertake when she started the job?
28.What help Chris to cope with the pressure?
29.How long does it usually take Chris m plan a trade fair?
30.Why is Chris excited about the fair in Tokyo in a couple of weeks?