Hi All!
Been about 2 weeks since i last posted updates and what an eventful 2 weeks it has been. Those who have been following my posts would know how i sort of lamented about the mundane tasks I've been assigned to do in the past, not for this past two weeks.
To start off, I've been busy helping my colleague with an important upcoming event which is our 25th Annual General Meeting. For reasons of non-disclosure, I would not be able to disclose too much about the event itself, but as I've discussed in my previous post, getting involved in the preparations of an event, especially a large-scale or important one definitely requires much more effort than simply turning up and being involved in the event on the day itself as a staff. Almost every detail of the event itself falls under the team's responsibility. RSVPs, Co-ordination with the other departments, assigning of roles to other staff, etc etc. Being involved in the preparation work for such events has certainly allowed me to appreciate the efforts and difficulties of event professionals and staff.
Despite the work and effort required, the end result(s) of a successful event (particularly a large-scale one) is immensely rewarding as highlighted by the recently concluded Singapore Prestige Brand Award (SPBA), which was co-organised by ASME and Lianhe Zaobao, almost the entire ASME staff were involved on the gala dinner night itself and since this was the 10th edition of the awards, it was naturally more grand than usual and involved more work as compared with previous editions (so I was told).
Our day begin at 9am with the packaging of the goodie bags and this was the physically most exhausting and labourious phase of the day. I've never seen a goodie bag that is packed with this many items before in my life, I'll let the pictures do the explaining (there were 850 goodie bags packed by the way).
(Hard at Work: Packing the 850 goodie bags for the event and guests)
(There were 24 items in each goodie bag and while i didn't weigh the completed bag itself, it probably weighed at least 10kgs each, no exaggeration!)
After spending nearly 6-7 hours just to finish with the packing of the goodie bags, we were finally on stand by for the main event itself. My first exciting and perhaps surprising encounter at the event came while i was directing attendees for the dinner at the entrance. I saw a familiar looking face, it was Dr Tan Cheng Bock, presidential candidate in the recent presidential elections along with his wife attending the event on behalf of a company. This came as quite a surprise to me as his name wasn't on the VIP list and i wasn't expecting him to attend. I approached him and directed to the event and true to his image, he was humble and polite while thanking me for my help, seems like a real nice person, no airs about him whatsoever.
(The sign which greeted all the guest entering the ballroom)
The event and dinner then proceeded at around 7.30pm with guest of honour Mr Tharman, Deputy Prime Minister (as well as minister for finance and manpower) making his way in at around 7.45pm and the event lasted all the way till around 1030-1045pm. In the midst of all that I was doing a host of thing from registration to lining up prize winners to distributing trophy boxes. Tiring, but satisfying and well worth the effort. Besides, other than the experience in such an event, we were also given a half day off the next morning! Yeah!
(Taken at around 4pm, 3 hours before the event started proper, note the staff from the events company setting up various equipment and settings)
But that wasn't the end of the week though, as the next afternoon we were once again back at work busy preparing for not one but two big events coming up next week: our 25th Annual General Meeting and a Charity Movie Night event. Stay tuned as I'll blog about it next week after the events ^_^
Signing off,
Nick
