This site will look much better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.

Skip Navigation skip menu and banner
University of Wyoming

Nightmare on Pine Street


May 5, 2006 -- It's three o'clock in the morning and you have been lying in bed awake, tossing and turning since 1:30 AM.  Occasionally in the past, when this has happened, you didn't have a clue why you couldn't sleep, but tonight is different.  Tonight you know why you can't sleep because tomorrow morning at 7:30AM your supervisor is going to look you in the eye and ask you a simple question.  Is everything ready for THE CONFERENCE?

Mentally you again review everything you have worked on for the conference which you have so diligently organized and coordinated for the last six months.  You have been anticipating this day with mixed emotions (fear, exhilaration, fear, and more fear); it has been a real learning experience.  Initially, you began not really knowing what to do or where to start, but you learned fast that you had a lot of work to do.  You took the typical problem solving approach that you learned as a student and made a check list of tasks that you thought needed to be accomplished to answer the basic journalistic questions of Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. 

After several weeks of meetings with colleagues, numerous telephone calls faxes and e-mails to prospective presenters, you finally have the agenda roughed out.  You also have lucked out by barely reserving in time several of the meetings rooms that you needed for the general and breakout sessions.  You realize that you have just scratched the surface of the daunting challenge your supervisor assigned you.  Now you are working on several actions simultaneously, preparing a budget while coordinating meals, break refreshments, housing, transportation, presenter contracts, mailing lists, brochure design and duplication, abstracts, audiovisual support and the list goes on and on.  You feel the pressure of doing more with less time; you have your hands full!  You feel alone, frustrated and overwhelmed!

Then you remember that your first decision was to call the professionals at The Outreach School Conference Office and they coordinated all of those hundreds of conference details for you. You realize you were just having a terrible nightmare. Then a big smile appears on your face, you rollover on your side and fall into a deep relaxing sleep. Yes, everything is ready for THE CONFERENCE.

###


Back to CSE News Page
Back to CSE Main Page

For more information, please contact
Sheila Atwood-Couture at
(307) 766-5641 or satwood@uwyo.edu.