I have been
to Dubai airport before but I have never spent any time in the city before. As
you probably guessed from the title of this blontry, that changed this week. I
was there with our Vice President for Marketing for a conference of educational
agents from Africa and the Middle East.
So what does
such a conference look like you wonder? Well picture a great hall filled with
tables each with four chairs, two on each side. At each of these tables sat
representatives of a college, university, or educational service provider (passport
assistance, student loans, relocation services, etc.). When the conference
started, representatives of one agency would meet with representatives of one
university (or other provider). In 25 minutes a voice would come over the loud
speaker that five minutes remained and then at the hour or half hour an alarm
would sound and people would change their seats. It was kind of like speed
dating except the agents didn’t just move over one table. They would have to go
to wherever in the hall their next appointment’s table was located.
For all of
that, things were well organized. Prior to the conference we were able to
indicate the agents with whom we wanted to meet. Likewise, the agents could
indicate the colleges, universities, and providers with whom they wanted to
meet. The organizers processed all of that and arranged the half hour
appointments over two days. In the entire conference we only had one no show.
We also had two of three agents with whom we did not have appointments who came
to talk with us. Some of the contacts seem especially interesting. We won’t
know until we go through the process of getting them brought online and see how
they actually work. We want this year to expand our network of agents in Africa
and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East. We think there is the opportunity to
get many more students from both areas if we can remove some barriers and get
the right representatives.
We were kept
busy from 8:00 in the morning until 10:00 at night. I didn’t have much time to
see Dubai but we did have a couple of hours the afternoon before the plane left
(I got back home at 5:30 in the morning :-(. A long day for sure. In any case,
here are a few pictures I took of Dubai from my hotel room, from a dinner we
had one night as part of the conference, or during the couple hours of driving
around.
Room with a view:
Dubai at night:
Burj Khalifa - The world's tallest building:
Jumeirah Mosque:
Burj Al Arab Hotel (can't really tell from this angle; it looks like a billowing sail):
Dubai skyline at dusk:
Dubai is a
stunning place. We also had wonderful weather while we were there. I am afraid
that in the summer, it would be a different situation!
The other
major event of the week happened Thursday night. Rae got home! Yay! By next
week perhaps she will be over her jet lag.
Namaste
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