Entrep Con

Last June 23, 2006, Friday, the top twenty senior students of the UPHS attended the entrepreneurship conference held in Waterfront Hotel. I was very privilege to be one of them.
We had a few minutes for our first period but then we were pulled out by Mrs. Norren to leave the school for the said event. We left with Mrs. Baltazar. We arrived in the Arctic 2 of Waterfront around 8:30 AM. Just when we have seated around a table, a Waterfront staff came and requested us to move out of the table. Other students of other schools were allowed to sit around a table but we were not! Some of us transferred to another table. Unfortunately, there were no enough chairs for all of us so the others just stood up. We waited for a long time before we were given seats with cover. We were then asked to stay at the sides. Just when we felt comfortable, another Waterfront staff requested to switch our covered seats with uncovered ones for they were intended for the VIP’s. This was the time when I felt that we were the least priority of the event.
We waited for an hour and a half and around 10:00 AM, the conference finally started. There were a lot of speakers who were presidents and managers of different successful companies. Each of them was given around 30 minutes to speak stories of their success and give inspirational talks. Some of us were given morning snacks by a staff but when the food he is serving was all served, he said that he would be back to give food to the others. But then, he did not come back! I have not received anything that morning.
Lunchtime that time, our group was divided into two. Some ate outside the hotel’s premises while the other half, including I, ate at the Kiosk, a cafeteria in the hotel’s parking area.
We came back to the hall at 1:00 PM. We continued to listen and entertain ourselves with the power point presentations. Because we were bored, we decided to make coffee. I do not usually drink coffee but because they were free, I had a cup. In a short while acfter we had coffee, we were served with afternoon snacks. This time, I had my part.
After having the food, we slowly went out of the hall and went back to school. It was a general cleaning day. Everyone was supposed to clean. But we were glad for being exempted in the cleaning.
It was indeed a memorable experience. Eventhough we were not accommodated that well, we just look at the good side that we were given the privilege to attend such an informative conference for free. Other schools were invited and some were made to pay. We learned many things about business and entrepreneurship, which may be helpful in our future.
In the end, I learned to always look at the bright side of any experience.