About eight months after joining the Grade, I
received a surprise call from the CEO of Branch
Administration and Resource Management Unit.
I was invited to take up a month-long posting
under the Celebrations Coordination Office
(CCO) for supporting “the meeting celebrating
the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to
the motherland and the inaugural ceremony
of the sixth-term Government of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region” (25A
Celebration). At first, I was hesitant about
taking up the posting as I was new to the
Government and the present workplace. Then
I asked myself, “why not challenge myself with
this special posting while other EOs might not
have a chance?”
On a sweltering June day, I started my one-month
journey at the CCO. I was assigned to
work in a team being tasked with drawing up
the seating arrangements for 25A Celebration
held at the Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre (HKCEC). Filling up seating plans with names may seem to be a tall order,
as it needed a lot of planning, organisation and
political acumen to get the task accomplished.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
What complicated our tasks was the COVID-19
epidemic, as its development was not easily
predictable. It frustrated our efforts to plan
effectively and created significant hurdles to
key project milestones. As our work had to
be delivered before the D-day, we worked
side by side till very late hours to get all the
tasks successfully done. The esprit de corps
and camaraderie cultivated in between was
invaluable.
Apart from drawing up the seating arrangements,
our team was also assigned to help set up the
venues for the flag-raising ceremony as well
as the inaugural ceremony.
I therefore had to stay at a
“closed-loop management
hotel” like other government
colleagues working in
the HKCEC for the 25A
Celebration and get up at
1 a.m. on 1 July to head for
the HKCEC, which were
interesting experiences.
On the day before the flag-raising
ceremony, a typhoon
was approaching Hong
Kong and the weather forecast said that it was
much likely to rain during the ceremony. While
we had certainly prepared for that, I did hope
that the ceremony could be held at the Golden
Bauhinia Square. Miraculously, the sky turned
clear shortly after daybreak. The flag-raising
ceremony was held smoothly as planned.
Although the work at the CCO was challenging
and hectic, I am so proud to be part of the team
and get a first-hand taste of event management
work though I was new to the Grade. I also
treasure very much the brilliant teammates I
met and the friendship I gained at the CCO. I
firmly believe that the friendship will last much
longer than my posting at the CCO.