A Day at an M&A Conference

The company I work for sponsored a conference on M&A, and two speakers at it came from the management. In my position, I had to coordinate that everything will go smoothly, and that is everything is ready from banners and handouts, to the presentations.

Since it’s the first major conference I was involved in organizing, as the day came closer, sleep fled further. By Sunday I was stressed, exhausted and sleepless.

The beginning:
Monday morning came, and I was up by 5 am ready for the big day. Of course I had to look good, so I put my highest heels on. I knew I was going to regret it. And I did!
I reached the venue and started erecting the rollups and banners. I learned, the hard way, that being a female in Abaya and Sheila and high heels would not get me help from anyone, even though I asked!

The Models:
As advised by the PR agency, we had two Promotional Girls. These are two models who are supposed to usher the crowds into the conference and out in time.
The first girl, a Hungarian, was sickeningly beautiful. She was quiet as she didn’t speak much of English, and reminded me of a typical cold window model.
The second girl, a Syrian, was nauseatingly snooty. She turned out to be the model of a Fair & Lovely tv commercial. You could imagine my shock when she mentioned Fair & Lovely and thought it was the commercial I wrote about previously. It wasn’t. She redeemed herself when she attacked the product and the company. She is also the model appearing in Kiri cheese, the Jar commercial. She thought that she was famous. My mean streak came rushing to the surface. I asked her if ads and commercials is what she aims to do all of her life or does she want to be an actress or a presenter. I changed my mind about her after she responded that she doesn’t have the talent to act or to present and she hates the air headed presenters and wouldn’t be one of them. Apparently she wants to study Media before going into TV. Good for her!

The Shoes:
I solemnly swear I will not wear my nicest shoes which happen to be the highest heels to a conference again.
Even if Prince I don’t know who will be there!!
Soaking my feet for half an hour last night didn’t ease the pain. I had to come to work today in sneakers!!! And it’s not even Thursday!

The Rollups:
If I see another roll up I might just throw up!
I better get ready to do so tomorrow as we have a corporate photo shoot and the roll ups will be there! URGH!


The French Guy!
Tired, pissed off cause no man would help me with the rollups, and in pain, I walked down and waited for my car at the reception. A guy with a big smile walks up to me. Of course I totally ignored him. (Hiba this guy was close to Shrek than to Walker but he was RED not green!). He comes up to me and says “Cadeau?” I look bewildered! He points at the corporate brochures in my hand and repeats “Cadeau?”. Maybe I should have given him one, but I felt very possessive of those brochures and stupidly said: “No, we had a conference upstairs”. He replies “Why Company?”. I said: “Do you mean which company?” and I told him the name. He goes oh I don’t speak English, only French. I go oh well I could only say Bon Jour! He then asks me if I’m Emarati.
When someone asks me this question, I usually answer no I’m from Hadramout. I knew the red frog wouldn’t know it so I said no I’m Yemeni.
He goes Oh Yemeni! Beautiful Yemeni! Beeeeauuuuutiful Yemeni!
I knew that the men who didn’t help me with the roll ups, wouldn’t budge to get this guy out of my face, so I quickly walked out of the hotel and prayed that the car would come then.
My prayers were answered!

I wonder why a drunken French will flirt with me, while a good looking Arab in Saudi gear wouldn’t even look at me!
I mean really…what a life!
It’s as painful as the shoes!