Seminars

On Wednesday I attended a breakfast seminar. The name of the seminar was "WSIB Early & Safe Return to Work (ESRTW) Draft Policies Breakfast Briefings". My expectations were not particularily high for a fun and exciting time but I was not prepared for what was to come. I have been attending these kinds of seminars for over 10 years and this one blew me away.

The seminar was held at the Ramada Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn). I was kind of interested in seeing this place because I worked as a banquet waitress when I was 15 in the same hall. To my surprise, and later my horror, the place had not changed in 30 years!

Registration was for 8:30 and the seminar was to begin at 9:00. I arrived a tad early. There were only a handfull of people there. The first thing the woman said was there had been a misunderstanding and the hotel had not yet brought the breakfast treats and they had only set up for 45 instead of 60 attendees. Shortly after that they announced that the washrooms were out of order on our floor and we would have to use the facilities one floor down. It didn't take long for me to realize that I would have to get my coat back because the hall was freezing! People began to arrive.

They started to warm up the overhead projector and realized that it was too small and not everyone would be able to see. The woman who would be the presenter announced that they didn't have the proper microphone that she was used to. She tried to make due with what they had but clearly was unable to hold the microphone up to her mouth for it to be effective!

Shortly they announced that the washroom facilities one floor down were also out of order and we would have to go to the main floor.

9:00 am came and went. They announced that they would begin soon but were waiting for about 10 people who were late. This was very quickly becoming a nightmare. We finally began around 9:15. About 10 minutes in, the hotel put out the bagels, muffins etc. The presenters decided we would take a 10 minute break to get our goodies! Now we were closer to 9:45 when we finally began the seminar.

They called for another break just before 10:30. I left.

I will be requesting a refund for the cost of the seminar but it left me considering how many resources were wasted with 60 people sitting through this horrible farce for the better half of a day!