Tag Archives: speaker

Arnold Schwartzenegger’s boring speech (Rousse)

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Dreamaticus

Two of my Polish colleagues had commandeered my office while I was on long-term sick leave. My desk and other belongings were now all squeezed into a dark corner. I hoped that this was a temporary measure and that I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged admin, Arnie Schwartzenegger, Arnold Schwartzenegger, basement, boring, campus, children, club, colleague, corner, couple, desk, dull, Easter, famous, floor, foundry, friend, gauge, guest, gym, hill, holiday, Hollywood, kiss, library, married, melt, mould, mountain pass, office, parquet, Polish, presentation, rover boat, school, sick leave, snog, space, speaker, speech, staff, temperature, university, walker, work, worker | Leave a comment

Contempt for media mogul Rupert Murdoch (Rousse)

Posted on September 14, 2017 by Dreamaticus

When Rupert Murdoch was announced as the keynote speaker only three of the newly-appointed staff stayed in the room. The rest marched out in protest, displaying their utter contempt for the media mogul.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged contempt, keynote, media, modul, protest, Rupert Murdoch, speaker | Leave a comment

Conference barbed wire and a baby (Rousse)

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Dreamaticus

I dished out advice on how to live a healthy life to my young charge as we walked along Edinburgh’s Queen Street. From here we were catching a bus to a conference. She listened patiently as I highlighted the value … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged advice, baby, barbed, calorie, conference, Edinburgh, exercise, eye, gym, health, keynote, membership, newborn, Queen Street, scratch, seat, skin, speaker, view, walk, wire | Leave a comment

Mostly unknowns at the online information relaunch (Rousse)

Posted on August 27, 2016 by Dreamaticus

They tried to bring back the annual international online information meeting, but it just wasn’t the same. A couple of unknown academics from an equally unknown university were supposedly in charge. They didn’t seem to be coping very well. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged academic, audience, auditorium, delegate, ginger, hair, hall, Indian, information, keynote, man, meeting, Online, relaunch, speaker, talk, university, unknown, women | Leave a comment

Katie Price takes to the water prior to speaking engagement in Liverpool (Rousse)

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Dreamaticus

Katie Price (aka Jordan) and I lapped the swimming pool together. I wondered whether (her) fake boobs behaved differently from the real thing (mine) when in water, but from my vantage point it was not possible to tell, and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boob, breast, company, conference, engagement, fake, haulage, Jordan, Katie Price, keynote, lap, Liverpool, money, pool, road, speak, speaker, water | Leave a comment

A reluctant speaker at the Melrose Chamber of Commerce (Rousse)

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Dreamaticus

I went into hiding again. I really did not want to give a presentation to the Melrose Chamber of Commerce.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged chamber, commerce, hide, hiding, Melrose, presentation, reluctant, speaker | Leave a comment

No room at the office (Rousse)

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Dreamaticus

I couldn’t fit into my office because it was overrun by PhD students and the keynote speaker of their forthcoming doctoral colloquium (AB).

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged colloquium, doctoral, keynote, office, overrun, PhD, room, speaker, student | Leave a comment

An audience with James Herriot (Rousse)

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Dreamaticus

When I heard the exciting news that the guest speaker was James Herriot (or, more precisely, James Alfred Wight) I altered my plans so that I could stay a bit longer at Sighthill and meet the famous veterinary surgeon turned … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged all creatures great and small, audience, author, chat, chatter, connections, dead, death, Edinburgh, guest, James Alfred Wight, James Herriot, minder, plans, Sighthill, son, speaker, talk, vet, veterinary surgeon, voice, weak | Leave a comment

A missing slide deck (Rousse)

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Dreamaticus

Although they said that it would never run again, I found that the conference was actually meeting in secret, and I was an invited speaker. In the break on the last day I went up to the podium to upload … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ballroom, break, coffee, computer, conference, deck, forget, hall, invited, lecture, meeting, missing, podium, pose, presentation, seat, secret, slide, slides, speaker, stop, tracks, waltz | Leave a comment

Victim takes refuge in medieval tower as gunman runs amok on university campus (Rousse)

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Dreamaticus

XY deliberately failed to acknowledge me at the start of his presentation. It was obvious that the had audience members noticed this. To lighten the mood, I said jokingly “What about me?” My colleagues found this hilarious. Unfortunately the speaker … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged acknowledge, aim, amok, attacker, audience, bed, campus, colleagues, corridor, corridors, documents, false, fire, gun, gunman, interruption, joke, loaded, medieval, office, presentation, rant, room. ill, safe, safety, shoot, shot, smile, speaker, staircase, stairs, tower, university, walls, work, yellow | Leave a comment