the Insider Digital Edition in PDF format - Stockholm School of ...

PEAK TIMEPeak Time from theOrganizer’s Perspective:By Who CaresOnce you are in the organizing teamof Peak Time, you have no clue how seriousall this would be. On the day whenyou are selected (in June), you have noidea what Financial Economics is (well,you have heard some stories from yoursenior fellows but anyway this is notthe same as going through all that hellyourself), you still don’t know what itmeans to fail a course and you have avery minor understanding how muchtime it will take from you. A three dayevent doesn’t seem so difficult to organize,does it?If God gave you 3000 Ls in the verybeginning, you would apparently bemuch happier. However, we had to startfrom -200. It’s a nice figure to start with,isn’t it? We are lucky that we had someacquaintances in the then Board of mysticalLeif Muten Foundation, whohelped us to spring out of the hole andstart from 0.Curious people were asking me whatwe do in our Peak Time meetings in autumnif the event is in May. Hah, guess.Fundraising is apparently the most funpart of the organizing. Especially if youare as successful in getting money asthe deaf in negotiations. I rememberSerious people are makingserious decisions: academicjury.Yahoo! Our team was selected! Out of45 applying teams, we were among thebest 16! Aren’t we cool? Now let us packour stuff and go to party for three days.Hell, CESIM practice round before thegame? What is that? Do we need it? Ittakes so much time to look it through…Ok, ok, we need to do it in order to becompetitive during the event and to winair tickets to Amsterdam (the land ofweed). I guess it’s worth doing it anyway…The Insider #3 (64), May 2004; Page 4All Four Seasons in 3 Dayswhen in December,when one member ofour organizing teamleft us, Mr. Head Organizerpessimisticallyclaimed that weare left in deep shit.At that very moment,our pocketswere as empty asthey are now.The most importantthing is not tolose one’s hope andkeep on trying. Atsome point of timeour guardian angel (ala Nokia Networks)remembered us and threw us 1500 Ls.It was a good start, which was followedby some other smaller sums fromsmaller guardian angels. We are rescued!...Though don’t forget coordinationof promotion, arranging cateringand accommodation, launching ofwebsite, printing posters and brochures,selecting participants, informingpeople around the Baltic Sea aboutthe event, reserving rooms, inviting celebrities,etc… And, by the way, FE, Accountingand Finance, and never-endingdeadlines… is there some time leftfor friends, rest, and“daily food intake”(©G.M.)?When the event wasjust a few days away,everything seemed moreor less fine. And it wentmore or less smoothly, ifwe don’t take into considerationthat FE reexamwas scheduled oneMay 6,ThursdayMoney is the essential part of organizing.Peak Time fromthe Participant’sPerspective:I’ve just found out that we will be livingin Park Hotel Maritim (4 star hotel)!It was a nice surprise, having in mindthat last year’s participants had to livein dorms with one shower for 12 people.Opening ceremony. Boring, except anice speech of Mr. Head Organizer.Banquet. Oh, that was good. SSE Rigastudents claimed that it was one ofthose rare occasions when the banquetthe day before the event, deadline ofEconomic Anthropology report was setduring the event (who cares that wescheduled Peak Time half a year before?),that some members of StudentJury and Professional Team refused tocome, and that brochures came 3 dayslater than they were supposed to.In one blink of an eye everything wasfinished. The very last moment of PeakTime 2004: organizers and some otherdevoted souls were standing in themiddle of the school’s yard and drinkingchampagne. What did we do it for?For bringing people from 4 countries(Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia)together, for making them competingfor valuable prizes (air tickets to Dublin,Madrid, Amsterdam or Sony CD players),and for showing them that theycan reach the peak. For experience, momentsof happiness, and for satisfaction.In other words, we did it for FAME andMONEY. And for the champagne in theend.Wanna Try?was not swept out of the table during 5minutes.Ok, an interesting guest lecture andsome nice tips about presentation skills.Though I was more interested in dinner,beer, and pub tour. I told myself thatI shouldn’t forget that I have to be atschool at 9.30 next morning but thatdidn’t stop me from drinking 4 beers…or did I drink more?