UCA Convention

It was exciting to learn that we’ve been selected to present in the UCA Conference. Bad news was we only have 1 week to prepare for the presentation material to send to the UCA board and write up speech script and recite it with my partner. To make the situations worse, I was about to go on a cruise ship with limited internet connection to resources that I used to be able to reach out. Our UCA team worked on this project for so long. My teammates helped gather all information from various student member leads for CHEER activities. Oliver and I worked so hard to write up the UCA survey essays and earned us into the top 30 organizations to go to Las Vegas. I can’t let us down. At that moment, I realized that I must rely and work with my teammates more. We need to work separately and later put all the works together for the final show!

When we came back home from the cruise, it was only 2 days before we set off for Las Vegas. My teammates Daniel and Rachel got the board ready, and Daniel sent the board to my home. Oliver emailed me that presentation PowerPoint was ready and also copy was sent to the UCA board. What a teamwork! I picked up the printed brochure from the store, and I felt that I am totally ready for the trip.

After long drive, we arrived. There’re already a lot of conference participants in the hotel. I started to feel nervous seeing so many people, especially since I knew I needed to speak in front of them later. During the conference, our main task was to set up and stay at our booth to greet visitors and share more about our organization. This gave us the chance to introduce our mission, explain what we do, and answer questions from people who wanted to learn more. The event was long and, at times, exhausting because we spent much of the day standing, speaking with visitors, and staying engaged. Even though it took a lot of energy, the effort was worthwhile because we met many new people, connected with different groups, and discussed possible partnerships. These experiences helped us build stronger relationships and understand how others are working toward similar goals.

However, while sitting waiting for people to come, I began to doubt the purpose of waiting to speak with others especially because nearby students from other organizations were playing on their phones and some visitors seemed bored and disconnected. I stopped questioning myself once a reporter who had visited my booth earlier in the day stopped me to compliment my presentation and speaking skills and asked to interview me when I was about to enter another conference room. I felt that my hard work earned me this opportunity and indeed opportunity is always ready for well-prepared people. I am so happy to help promote CHEER and our spirit of volunteering to a boarder audience.

Later, we learnt that we are actually one of the top 12 organizations which was granted the exciting opportunity to present our work to the whole conference audience. We’ve practiced during the 2 days between breaks in the booth duty. Our transitions within speech became smoother and smoother as we ran through our routine each time. There’re over 300 audience sitting in the big conference room when we arrived. I am so glad that Oliver and I performed calm and confidently even if we were assigned as the first team to speak. Practice paid back. Although we did not win the final top 3, the experience was still valuable because it allowed us to socialize, make new connections, and increase public awareness of our organization. Overall, the UCA Conference was a meaningful experience that helped us grow, network, and share our work with more people, even though it required a lot of time, energy, and dedication.