The opening ceremony in O'night

Organizing an activity is never as easy as it seems, months and weeks of hard work and stress are usually well hidden behind the show. From the first meeting to the final rehearsal, each step is like placing yet another foot closer to the cliff - the clearer you see the sky, the more worried you get. Although there is stress that comes along with the work, there are other positive injections as well. The success of completing a show or activity is a joy, that can hardly compare with anything else.

Being the vice director general of the University of Macau Students' Union (SU), I've got many responsibilities. Unlike others, I decided to give up a part-time job so that I could devote myself to this post. Others may think I am so silly to work in the SU without any money, but I think I can gain a lot of experience that others will never get.

One of the events that I have taken charge of is the Orientation Activity which was held on September 20 this year. The purpose of that activity is to welcome new students and let students know more about our university and the SU. I used to think it was an easy job, however, it was not what I thought after I was in charge. Every time when I called up the committee for a meeting, there was always someone who was absent. For a meeting without enough committee members, the outcomes were poor.

There were also other difficulties that I faced besides manpower, such as managing a budget, finding sponsorships, contacting performers, etc. This year, since the Cultural Centre on our campus is under renovation, we had to find another venue in the Theatre Alegria. Disadvantages then came out. Many students who were not Macau residents found it hard to locate the venue.

A drama performance in O'night

As a result, fewer people showed up than previous years. We also needed to prepare some interesting games so that all students who came to see our show could participate. Preparing games is not as easy as you think. The games should be attractive for our target audience, and the rules of the games should be easily understood. Also, it is better if the games can let students understand more about our university and our students' union. We had actually prepared many games and finally decided to adopt two in our meeting.

Some committee members did not have any experience in taking part in organizing an activity; so being the chairman of the activity committee, I needed to follow the progress each working unit was making. For example, the public relation department didn't know how and when to post sponsorship letters and invitation letters, so I always needed to remind them. I also needed to keep an eye on poster and banner designs to make sure they were perfect ones. I had got lots of stress and pressure, I had had a nightmare about the budget of the activity.

Hong Kong singers, Sun Boy's and Kenny Kwan answering students' questions

On September 19, the day before the show, we arranged a briefing with all the helpers, however, some of them didn't show up. On the show day, many accidental problems occurred. For example, we suddenly found out that some materials were not enough. The helpers who didn't show up in the briefing didn't know what to do. Therefore, we needed to rerun the briefing and the rehearsal again.

Although it was very tough to organize an activity, I had lots of fun. When we worked together for a large project, we felt that we were really hanging together. Students enjoyed the show so much, the atmosphere was very good especially when the Hong Kong singers were performing; almost all the audience stood up cheering their names. After the activity finished, we had lots of applause and felt really proud of what we did. This is something that we couldn't gain outside the students' union, and we couldn't gain after we graduate. I believe that it is a good and useful experience to be with a students' union committee organizing different kinds of activities. Also, there are 40 sub organizations in UM, each holding its activities all during the school year. I hope you will enjoy the university life by joining all kinds of student associations and organizing activities yourselves. And you will see how much you will gain afterwards.