Neil: Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a difficult situation.

Vicky: Okay. There was a time when I was organising a conference here in London. It was a couple of months ago, and it was a really important conference. Anyway, what happened was one of the main guest speakers, who was due to give the opening address, had his flight cancelled and wasn't sure if he was going to make it on time. It was very important the participants were happy with the conference, and I knew they would be disappointed if he didn't show up. So I decided to try and find another flight for the speaker. After a bit of negotiating with a different airline, I managed to get him booked onto a slightly later flight. Unfortunately this meant that even if he came straight from the airport, he would still be a bit late for the opening address. I took a risk and hoped that he wasn't going to be delayed any more. As soon as he'd landed I contacted him, and when I knew he was in a taxi and on his way, which was about five minutes before he was supposed to be on stage, I got up on the stage. I then told the participants about the situation and I invited them to have some coffee and cakes while we waited, which I'd organised beforehand. Actually, they liked this, as it was a chance to network a little and get to know some of the other conference participants. When the speaker did finally arrive, it was actually difficult to get everybody back in the main hall. In the end I managed to keep everybody happy and ensure that the conference went as smoothly as possible.