Delving into the Past and Talking about the Current.

I attended my first ever formal meeting on the 27th of July. When I entered the room, Elena, Scott and Lisa were already in discussion about the proceedings about the symposium.

I was utterly lost then. I had no idea whatsoever about the event that I volunteered myself into. But I had to act quick - I mustered all my attention into making sense of the discussion, and made mental notes so that I could piece two and two together. Right then, I was thrown into the reality that the event is real, and it's happening, and it will involve a lot of commitment and dedication to achieve.

But yet, it was still a vague idea to me. I was diligent enough to get a rough idea, but not the entire picture. And back then, I was attending the meeting as a volunteer for Elena rather than as an intern, but I'm counting this first meeting as my start date because it's all work too.

The meeting ended after all the agendas on the list were touched upon. I was given my first ever task, which is to gather contacts from universities around New Zealand and Australia to participate in the Cool New Asia symposium.

It was very basic data work, of which I had no problems with dealing.

Back then, I figured the task at hand and my vague ideas were enough to pull me through till the team had spare time to give me an in-depth knowledge about the proceedings of the symposium.

Fast forward to August, 2011, I officially sealed the deal with Elena to fully commit to the proceedings of the symposium. On the 17th of August, I had a meeting with Valia and Elena to sort out my responsibilities for the event. I was given the responsibility to handle the promoting and publicity of Cool New Asia and I am required to liaise with the relevant Asian communities in New Zealand. I was to engage the target audience and hopefully secure their interest in our event. Also, I was to oversee the entire proceeding of the event and ensure everything runs smoothly and successfully and to give assistance wherever needed.

I came into the meeting empty-handed and unsure, and suddenly I was laden with so much responsibilities that are so new to me. New yet exciting. I enjoyed the mobility that my supervisor gave me in my work, but at the same time, I was very unsure of myself. How will my daily correspondence with the relevant people go? Would I be able to handle corresponding with the relevant people myself without too much babysitting by my supervisor? I didn't want that, but I was really intimidated. It was an ironic feeling. Perhaps after I actually start getting out and about, I will feel much more confident about my given responsibilities. I attribute this lack of confidence to my previous employment experience. I was involved mainly with my family business and I was always under strict supervision by my brother, and his inherent brotherly responsibility was to monitor his little sister in everything she does, including work in our office. Obviously, I cannot afford the same luxury when I'm out in the real world, but I am ever grateful for his prior guidance. And I look forward to the day where I can tell my brother, I'm finally doing things on my own! And I also look forward to seeing the progress of my work going far.

And this is how things got started.

Stay tuned for future updates about my work progress!

Yahui~