I serve on the Executive Committee of the Northwest chapter of the American Medical Writers Association. We spent most of a year tweaking plans for the AMWA-NW Symposium, held each year at the beautiful Talaris Conference Center in Seattle's university district. As Treasurer, I dealt with the logistics of securing space, estimating head-count, and providing our speakers with needed support, including computer peripherals. There will always be a snafu or two, no matter how meticulous the preparation, but one was particularly ironic. A presenter spent the first half of the session trying to get her computer to interface with the projection unit we had provided. We secured another projector from Talaris with no better outcome. The name of the workshop? "Making Effective Presentations." Luckily, the presenter was finally able to work the problem out, noting that it might be wise to bring your own presentation equipment.
On the lighter side, the Executive Committee hosts a dinner at a nice restaurant for our guest speakers. We arrived at our destination on time and were the first of three large groups to be seated. Although we ordered first, we were the last group to be served. We enjoyed our time, reminiscent of a three-hour dinner stint on a cruise ship without the many courses. The restaurant manager was so apologetic that he laced our table with free desserts. We finished our evening sampling famous desserts with names as delightful as as they were delicious.
