Another conference that came and went

So the conference that has kept us busy for the past few months has finally ended. We had a similar one 2 years ago, and I blogged about how exciting and exhausting it was. This time round, it was, well... a bit lacklustre.

I was looking forward to it actually, because it is the last major event of the centre that I would be part of and I remember how all of us worked so hard together to make it work for the last one.

The centre was only 2 years old then and it was to be the biggest, most international conference held at the institute for more than 2,000 delegates. I remember on the Friday before the conference, a few of us were still toiling away in the campus at 11pm to make sure everything goes smoothly during the conference. I had emailed the dean to ask if we could take the cab home and claim for reimbursement. He replied immediately and gave us his number in case we needed him. Shortly after, he sent out an email as a rallying call to the whole centre to remind us how far we have come as a centre and how he knows everyone is working hard to make that conference a success.

At the end of it, many of us went for the conference dinner at Sentosa where we dined at the beach, open-air style and accompanied by singing and dancing. We sat back and enjoyed ourselves while watching the crazy dean really let loose with his friends on the beach.

The closing ceremony then was rousing, with a touch of triumph, the feeling that we really pulled it off. There were high-fives, hugs on the stage and the deans couldn't stop smiling. This time round, it felt so uneventful. The auditorium was strikingly empty, and the ceremony was short and quiet. At the night safari conference dinner, there was only a handful of us but we were made to feel like second-class guests, because the bossy hospitality committee head (who is not from the centre) ensured that the paying delegates had priority in everything, from seating to food to the tram ride. There was a bit of annoyance and irritation all around, but I was still glad to be there, enjoying the cool night ride on the tram with my colleagues, ooing and ahhing at the lions, tigers, giraffes and elephants. It felt like a school trip with a bunch of excitable primary school kids, which is quite funny because some of them were actually the admin "aunties" (I use that term affectionately) . :)

Maybe because the dean is gone now so things are very different, but the centre is still a good place, with good people. As the dean himself said when he left, the centre has made a difference in many people's lives, including his own.