Poor Expectations and a Great Comeback

We were all in our formal clothing, most of us feeling uneasy about it. The first day couldn't have been more boring. After checking us into Humber College, MITACS arranged for an Opening Reception somewhere in downtown Toronto, where we were expected to socialize. Maybe they wanted us to realize that we are bad at this, and should do something about it, which brings us to the next 4 days of workshops.
After the first day experience and from previous year's experience, I was almost certain that the next few days would be torture for us. But against all odds, the workshops did manage to impress us substantially. The major positive about the workshops was that they were interactive in nature. It kept us busy and thinking. We were taught how to present and advertise ourselves, how to manage and plan projects and some psychological stuff. We solved puzzles, presented consultancy plans,  made Lego-kit windmills, designed business cards (mine said "we deal in dark matter") etc. The instructors were excellent communicators too.

On the second day, there was an assignment for each table to come up with one point that is essential for a constructive conversation. Vishnu's group said 'good listener'. Next was our turn. I was the speaker of the group. We had written down some points, but didn't have one single phrase. We were looking at each other undecided as to what to say or which of the points to choose, when suddenly Irene whispered 'reciprocation', and immediately I faced the instructor and repeated "reciprocation". And then I thought "What?" and the instructor repeated my thought "What?"...I realized what was coming up, and said 'reci-pro-ca-tion' once again to buy some time...."Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that?", he said with a smirk across his face. Somehow I managed the moment, by making up stuff then and there: "It is the method by which... umm... when a person talks, the other person reciprocates.. umm...  that is...umm... he shows agreement to what the other person is saying." And then I glared at Irene.

I must also add that I did not agree to some of the things they taught - be it the way of differentiating people on crude psychological bases and behaving accordingly with them, or be it the overemphasis on alertness. They had a fancy for tricking us with purposely mis-spelt words in unexpected contexts, to drive in the idea that we should always be watchful. What they didn't realize is that if we were to be so watchful all the time, it would hamper our concentration. In terms of reading, this translates as 'it would take ages to read anything'.
And while the windmill did get built in the stipulated time, by the 3rd attempt, it was more because of familiarity and practice than the planning that we were taught. However, the planning techniques involving time charts and money charts are important and can be useful in large projects.

My room in Humber College

Among other notable events, on the penultimate day, there was a fire alarm, that made us evacuate the building through emergency exits. There were many fire brigades and firemen all over the place, only the fire was missing. After about half an hour, we returned to our respective workshops.
Inbetween these workshops, we had some good, and some okayish meals in the same Chestnut Conference Centre. Sometimes there were speakers over lunch, and on the final day there was a panel discussion.

I chatted with Ed and Lorena a few times. They had seriously done a great job in arranging everything  including this Industry Week and making it a great experience for everyone. Although I have one grudge against them, for not giving us permission to go to Wonderland, and instead forcing us to Niagara Falls and a Winery. In fact they should have informed this to us earlier, because had we known this, we could have gone somewhere else during the weekend when we had gone to Niagara. They also arranged for a government event, again expecting us to socialize. Some did, but I believe all the high profile people went home with the idea that there is some kind of a serious food situation in India. Everytime when snacks were being served, like a bunch of famine starved people the students would come and jump into it from wherever they were, irrespective of who they were having a conversation with.

There was a visit to the Parliamentary Building too, where I did not pay much attention to the details. And then there was an enjoyable Boat Cruise and final celebrations on the Ontario lake, giving us the great downtown Toronto view once again. The whole programme ended with certificate distribution to all the students and a photo session amongst the MITACS fellows that continued forever, even after we left.