Today was the first day of our conference, it was mostly smooth-running. I was in charge of the control panel for the presentations. Though most presenters had a remote control, I still needed to get their presentations on-screen, advance slides when the remote signal failed, toggle to holding slides, plus play videos and background music etc. Felt like a technician!
It was a long day. We had optional rehearsals scheduled for 7am so I was actually awake by 6am to get ready and have breakfast.
Skipped lunch, because I didn't really want to mingle. I was supposed to host one of the breakout rooms but managed to convince the first presenter to make the introductions so I didn't have to speak to a roomful of strangers! The pool was next to our meeting room, and there were actually people swimming with the 10 degrees weather! Brrr...
All too soon the conference tracks were over and it was time to get ready for dinner at the cave. Traditional musicians greeted us upon arrival, a red carpet was laid out all the way inside.
There were pretty lights and lanterns dotting the cave and I managed to make friends with two customers from Indonesia and Malaysia who were going to be at the same table. Helped them take photos of themselves but I felt bad for them because later on, all the emceeing was in Mandarin.
The dinner entertainment programme was packed back-to-back with cultural dances, singing and even an acrobatic duo. It was a tad too much and at times felt a bit getai, there was hardly any quiet time for networking or meaningful conversations. The dancers were all pretty though, am sure the male population had fun!
At the end of the evening, we were invited onstage table by table to pose with the dancers. My table was first and last, because halfway through the stage nearly gave way from all the weight on top! It was built on stilts over some water and rocks and I don't think any load testing was conducted beforehand! There was a collective gasp from the audience when the stage tilted, thankfully it didn't completely collapse!
The only downside about the dinner was the food. Despite having a food-tasting session, somehow the standard dropped instead of improving. The salmon main course I understand was undercooked and cold, and my 'vegetarian lasagna' turned out to be 4 slices of tofu with a side of vegetables. Eeew. My boss confirmed she had actual lasagna the day before, for some reason the chef changed the dish without informing us! I felt so cheated because I was all geared for pasta.
On the bus back, I was tasked with counting the number of passengers on my bus and one of my colleagues kept distracting me by recounting aloud. The customers were highly amused by this, some more I was the only female onboard.
Once back at the hotel, we had a quick team meeting, I was tasked with setting up some last minute discussions for tomorrow, one of which I need to attend at 7.30am! Another early start!
It was a long day. We had optional rehearsals scheduled for 7am so I was actually awake by 6am to get ready and have breakfast.
Skipped lunch, because I didn't really want to mingle. I was supposed to host one of the breakout rooms but managed to convince the first presenter to make the introductions so I didn't have to speak to a roomful of strangers! The pool was next to our meeting room, and there were actually people swimming with the 10 degrees weather! Brrr...
All too soon the conference tracks were over and it was time to get ready for dinner at the cave. Traditional musicians greeted us upon arrival, a red carpet was laid out all the way inside.
There were pretty lights and lanterns dotting the cave and I managed to make friends with two customers from Indonesia and Malaysia who were going to be at the same table. Helped them take photos of themselves but I felt bad for them because later on, all the emceeing was in Mandarin.
The dinner entertainment programme was packed back-to-back with cultural dances, singing and even an acrobatic duo. It was a tad too much and at times felt a bit getai, there was hardly any quiet time for networking or meaningful conversations. The dancers were all pretty though, am sure the male population had fun!
At the end of the evening, we were invited onstage table by table to pose with the dancers. My table was first and last, because halfway through the stage nearly gave way from all the weight on top! It was built on stilts over some water and rocks and I don't think any load testing was conducted beforehand! There was a collective gasp from the audience when the stage tilted, thankfully it didn't completely collapse!
The only downside about the dinner was the food. Despite having a food-tasting session, somehow the standard dropped instead of improving. The salmon main course I understand was undercooked and cold, and my 'vegetarian lasagna' turned out to be 4 slices of tofu with a side of vegetables. Eeew. My boss confirmed she had actual lasagna the day before, for some reason the chef changed the dish without informing us! I felt so cheated because I was all geared for pasta.
On the bus back, I was tasked with counting the number of passengers on my bus and one of my colleagues kept distracting me by recounting aloud. The customers were highly amused by this, some more I was the only female onboard.
Once back at the hotel, we had a quick team meeting, I was tasked with setting up some last minute discussions for tomorrow, one of which I need to attend at 7.30am! Another early start!
No comments:
Post a Comment