So...CUTC 2008 Pretty Much Sucked | Mind of a Young Undergrad Entrepreneur

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Jan 13, 2008

So…CUTC 2008 Pretty Much Sucked

CUTC2008 crap like bird crap

My apologies to my peers who were volunteers at the Canadian Undergraduate Technology Conference ‘08, but the conference was really really bad. The atmosphere of the event felt very “last minute.” The delegates were rude, clique-y and anti-social. Presenters, who are the main attractions and contributors to the conference, were only given t-shirts as prizes. This made me feel both embarrassed and a bit ticked off. Also, the TechExpo blew too. It was suppose to showcase emerging technologies, but instead was an open-floor for companies to promote themselves or recruit undergrads.

Well, that was my one minute rant. Any longer might be considered to be offensive (not that it hasn’t ticked off the volunteers already.

A t-shirt as a prize? Wow, I want to be a guest speaker for this event again!

- Peter Kao

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Natasha Pounder 11 months ago 1 point
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Hi Peter,

I am sorry to hear that CUTC 2008 was a let down for you. As for the t-shirts, yes, it is unfortunate that we were unable to give the speakers a better prize than a t-shirt; however, this has also been the tradition over the past 9 years.

As for the TechExpo, have you been in the past? We at CUTC do try to encourage sponsors to bring up and coming technology, however, we the organizing committee are unable to FORCE our sponsors to bring it.

If you believe that you could help make a difference to CUTC 2009, then I encourage you to apply as an executive/organizer; we are constantly looking for enthusiastic students who want to make a difference to our organization.

Thanks,

Natasha Pounder
External Co-Chair
CUTC 2008

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http://www.cutc.ca

Peter Kao 11 months ago 1 point
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Hi Natasha,

Firstly, had I have known my rant would reach the chair (co-chair) from CUTC I would have made some adjustments to the pictures posted...

Now about the conference: I couldn't help but feel like the event was setup as a career fair. This was especially true for the TechExpo but you are right about not being able to enforce your sponsors. So I guess the issue lies with the sponsors' intentions for the conference. It was probably difficult in finding sponsors, but I think the CUTC staff should make it clear to sponsors that it is, indeed, a Technology Conference and not a place to nab experience-hungry students.

Another issue is the overall presentation of the event. Big things are always made out of smaller things. There were many small issues that made me feel like the event was poorly orchestrated. For example, the resolution of the pictures in the CUTC booklet that came with the delegate package were inadequate. You could clearly see pixelation from the pictures which I suspect is due to simply scaling a small picture. Another issue has to do with branding and the perceived presence of CUTC. Basically, there were none. There were no banners with the logo or the name of the event in any room - not even the main room.

There are a bunch of other points I have, but I would rather speak to you (or someone from CUTC) privately instead.

You can reach me here: http://peterkao.com/contact/

Best regards,
Peter Kao

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Natasha Pounder 8 months ago 1 point
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Hi Peter,

Please e-mail me at my personal email :o)

Natasha

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