Sunday, January 25, 2004

Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference - Day 3

Barely woke up for the first keynote speaker of the day (already missed one morning seminar) after the night of partying. I had to wake up for this one though, because it's Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada! He spoke about MS's vision for the future years to come, and how we are to be part of it. How do I become part of it? I applied to MS so many times, only to get turned down for an interview all those times. Ugh.

After lunch we had the second TechPanel for the conference, in which they discussed BioEthics that is currently a hot topic in world politics. They focused on the patenting issue of genes and organisms, which was very interesting. However, the moderator didn't seem to facilitate discussion between the panelists - their opinions are often disjointed and didn't really bring the true issue on the table. I was quite disappointed at the result of the panel.

The ThinkTank event that followed the panel was an interesting concept but fell short of my expectation also. The original idea is for a smaller group to discuss issues surrounding technology, and have the ability to speak with industry leaders for more insight. What it turned out to be was just them talking and us listening - just like a smaller lecture. There was virtually no interaction between me and other delegates at the table, which was something I had been looking forward to.

The conference ended with a banquet at the end, which was the usual affair and good times were had. I found that the most valuable thing at this conference is the chance to network, speak to different people from different schools, and get more exposure in the technology sector. I went clubbing with a couple of friends I met at the conference after the banquet was over, and bumped into a friend while she was clubbing with her co-workers. What a coincidence! Just to think how many clubs there are in downtown Toronto, and the chances of me bumping into somebody.. haha.

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