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21 Apr 2017 Today, my CEO asked me to pass her the files on the organisation of the Family-Friendly Employers Award Scheme. The Council Chairman has requested increasing the number of applications for the next exercise! Last exercise, we had a one-week maratho of adjudication interviews for around 2 700 applications. How can we ever hit 3 000 or more?

28 Apr 2017 The CEO gathered us for a brainstorming session today. Honestly, I don’t like brainstorming sessions. It is merely an occasion to make us forget about rules and regulations!

8 May 2017 Seniors endorsed therecommendation to introduce a Grand Award, and a new award for Outstanding Practices. Both of the awards would have quotas in order to keep the number of finalists forinterviews manageable.

18 May 2017 The Council endorsed the framework today! Thank God! The discussion was smooth and the meeting ended on schedule without affecting my cooking class after work. Some home-made cookies are timely for CEO and me to cheer us up before the start of the challenging tasks: to draw up an agreement for inviting government B/Ds to join the new “Outstanding Practices” award, and arrange quotation exercises for appointing the organising and marketing agents.

25 Jun 2017 The magical power of the fresh cookies clearly faded, as CEO started chasing me for the Award Scheme publicity plan today. During a discussion with colleagues on the choices of celebrities for our new API this afternoon, I found myself knowing none of the pop singers they suggested.

14 Aug 2017 The CEO came to my workstation today with an “exciting” idea: A chartered event in a local theme park and distribute tickets to the winners! Ummmm…

18 Aug 2017 As instructed by the CEO, I have conducted a pre-tender market research by calling the local theme parks. The idea is not impossible, but the estimated cost exceeds HK$1.4 million. A departmental tender exercise is required.

25 Aug 2017 Before I realised, CEO has obtained the support from seniors, who further suggested that we hold the entire award presentation ceremony in the theme park! So… are the cartoon characters presenting the awards to the winning companies?

3 Oct 2017 CEO asked me to prepare a PowerPoint deck on the Award Scheme for her. She is going to pitch the new “Outstanding Practices” Award to Departmental Secretaries at the upcoming DS Seminar.

7 Nov 2017 The CEO briefed the Council on the theme park idea today and received unanimous support. She instructed me to start preparing the tender document and draft submission to seek funding approval from the Controlling Officer. And this would be the very first time for the Government to hold a chartered event in a local theme park!

31 Jan 2018 The CEO was finally satisfied with my drafts. An invitation for tender was issued today and a tender briefing would be conducted next week.

23 Feb 2018 Surprise! Only one offer conformed with the tender specifications and essentialr equirements but it exceeded our funding limit. I immediately reported the case to the CEO this afternoon and she pulled a long face.

26 Feb 2018 The CEO asked me to get the relevant SPRs to her and to work out an event timeframe to identify the day of the final call for venue confirmation.

5 Mar 2018 The CEO sought the Controlling Officer’s approval to appoint a negotiation team for tender negotiation under relevant regulation. She needs to be familiar with the procedures for conducting negotiation.

15 May 2018 After almost two months of painful negotiations and meetings, we have successfully reached a good deal and received the approval of the Departmental Tender Committee today. The venue for the Award Presentation Ceremony is now fixed. More importantly, we received over 3 500 applications, including a few from government B/Ds, by the closing date.

2 Aug 2018 I have almost gone mad over the past two months. I have been fully occupied with meetings with the Organising Committee, conducting adjudicating interviews, preparing for the event management quotation exercise, inviting the officiating guests, sourcing souvenirs for distribution to event participants…to name a few. Another difficult task is to work out a ’seen to be fair’ plan for distribution of theme park tickets. How does ten options sound to you?

4 Oct 2018 After an exceedingly picky technical assessment, the event organiser was finally appointed. The CEO asked me to arrange a tripartite site visit as soon as possible. I hope my days ahead would become happier after the appointment of event organiser.

26 Oct 2018 I was being naïve. The appointment of the event organiser means I became a mediator between the theme park management and the event organiser in sorting out many operational details. Backand-forth discussion on displaying banners in the park, early opening of the theatre for rehearsal, and distributing souvenirs, etc. areconducted before reaching an agreement. Though busy, I am beginning to enjoy being a part of this big project!

15 Nov 2018 The CEO has chased me for the webpage design. To achieve a paperless ceremony, we will put the rundown online for participants to read by simply scanning a QR code.

30 Nov 2018 The ceremony is only a week away. The event folder was passed to the officiating guest today and it seems everything is on track. Now I have to prepare a briefing for 20 volunteers (as ushers for VIP guests) next week.

9 Dec 2018 The event was so successful! Thanks to our Facebook post to remind participants to be aware of the cold weather and bring umbrella with them, participants were fully prepared for the weather. The participants were very excited to see the cartoon characters during the ceremony. Our paperless rundown as well as the lucky draw prizes (which were fast passes for selected rides) were highly praised by participants for being environmentally friendly and thoughtful. Even though I was exhausted when I left the park at 11 pm, I treasured the opportunity to be a part of this event. I believe it will be the highlight of my EO career.