A Day As Program Director

Today was a very busy day. I woke up early and went to Holborn for an event. There were two events for Inside Government: “Financial Exclusion and Financial Capability: The Next Steps?” and “The Single Equality Bill: Developing a Fairer Britain For All.” They were both in the same venue, and I was basically Program Manager for the “Financial Exclusion and Financial Capability: The Next Steps?” event. I arrived and helped set up the badges for registration. I then set up the rooms for both events (set up the computer/PowerPoints, microphone check etc.) For the “Financial Exclusion” event, I had to format the PowerPoint so that videos would be able to play. I then met with the speakers and chair of the “Financial Exclusion,” and made sure that their presentations were up to date and then oversaw the entire day for that event. However, the venue overbooked the conference rooms so the rooms were very tight and not enough space for all of the delegates. I had to make many executive decisions to accommodate all guests and worked with the event coordinator at the venue to deal with the issues. I then made sure that the breaks (coffee/tea etc) and working lunch was organized and ready to go, and I also was in charge of the question and answer session in my event. We also had another problem – that being the room next to our conference room was quite loud and therefore, I had to work with the event manager of the venue to make it a suitable environment for all. After the event was finished, I received many complements about my work and organizational abilities.
I then cleaned up my room and worked the registration table until the other event was
completed.

I then returned back to the office, uploaded the PowerPoint presentations from my event onto a USB and then updated a survey from yesterday to take into consideration a speaker that did not attend the event due to sicknesses. I also worked with the Events Manager to help file a report of complements from today – the room size was too small, a cordless microphone that we requested was not present and took a few hours to get, the noise next to our conference room was disturbing etc. I also received some contact information of guests for the Green ICT Pre-Conference Dinner and thus I updated the appropriate spreadsheet.

On the way back to the office, our taxi driver was very informational. He told us the process of becoming a "cabby" and said that they have to go through a program called Knowledge which can take 4 years. Basically they ride on electronic bikes around London and memorize the roads. The roads are very different during the day and at night and they must know every place - especially when someone asks for a club on a second floor of a building. He also said that periodically, they have to do an "appearance" to make sure that they are presentable and they also test their temper and knowledge of the road - to the extent of what color the street is on a specific road. He was also saying that the taxis are custom made and very expensive because of their turning radius - the new taxis have 4 wheel turning capabilities - all four wheels turn. It was very interesting and he also said that the center of London is actually in Trafalgar Square.

I then headed toward Hammersmith to meet my program director. We took a nice walk beside the Thames River to a great pub and had a nice chat. We then headed back and I was going to get a haircut at Supercuts, but they closed already. When I looked to find my tube pass, it was not in my pocket - so either I left it back at the pub or someone took it. But I feel like no one took it because it was in the same pocket as my wallet and my wallet is still here with me. So I had to buy a new pass - but it was not that bad since I am almost finished with my time in London.

I returned home and doing some laundry. Tomorrow I have another event, and it is my last day as an intern with GovNet.

Cheers!