A Day at MARKET DAY 2016

Preparing all the kuihs and karipaps before the members arrive

Our "BIG FIRST" (event), Market Day, was held on the 24^th of February 2016. It was the first ever official event of the year! Our fellow committee members had begun prepping from very early on before D-day. 

The night before the event, we got together and prepared the flyers, goodie bags, receipt books, petty cash and many other materials ready in anticipation for the event. After the briefing, the factory work and a couple of laughs in between, we called it a night and geared up for the next day.

The next day, the committee got up very early (6am) to prepare the food (kuihs & karipaps) and all the other items and materials needed to be transported over to the booth. Everybody helped out diligently and before we knew it, everything was set up and ready to go.

Ex-comm Faisal and secretary Hong Wee in action
handling the registrations.

Inside the tent, it was really amazing to see the committee members and volunteers in action, NON-stop, making sure the registrations flowed as smoothly and as fast as possible. 

Hong Wee (secretary) and Faisal (ex-committee) were in-charge of the registrations. They were constantly penning down the names of the members and collecting fees which went on like wildfire. 

Ashley Chiam (education conv.) and Ying Ying (VP) were also on their toes, reminding members to get their student ID & phone numbers ready while simultaneously guiding the members throughout the registration process. 

Volunteers worked hard passing on the ‘kuihs & karipaps’ and the goodie bags to the registered members. 

Ying Ying (Vice P) too busy until can't see her face D:

Ashley Chiam (education con.) and her magic sign

NON-STOP!

The crowd started pulling in close to 10.15am. We were AMAZED at how quickly the sea of members arrived to the booth. Tons of people started lining up and our committee members got to work quickly. Slowly and steadily, the line got longer and longer and longer. 

 

The build up of the line :D

Meanwhile outside the tent, volunteers were enthusiastically going around promoting the t-shirts and the Instaframe to the members. Huey Fang (education conv.), Syazwan and Danial (marketing convs.) did a great job talking to members while they were queuing for the registration. It offered a good distraction from the heat and the blazing hot sun whilst facilitated the flow of the crowd. 

Though they were ROASTED themselves, they continuously and passionately conveyed UQMSA’s activities and directions. Our trusty president Luvesh, was overseeing the whole booth to make sure everything was running smoothly and engaging with the members as well. 

Trusty Presi Luvesh doing his thang :)

Syazwan in action :D fuyohs.

As the photographer for the day, I had quite a broad overview of everything which was going on. Observing and talking to the members was a very interesting process. There were a lot of familiar faces from previous years and loads of new faces, all keen in joining the club. 

It reminded me of my first time lining up as a first year, not knowing what the expect. The big crowd was a little bit intimidating at first, but the friendly committee members at the time, were very nice and managed to put me at ease. It was very comforting to have that sort of engagement as an anxious newbie when everything was still very new and unfamiliar. 

There is something very comforting about seeing the Jalur Gemilang in a foreign country. The freshmens who had just come from Malaysia, though from ALL walks of life, were all very keen in joining the club. The flag provided an immediate sense of belonging.

HAAPPY and satisfied registered members after tackling the long queue :D

OMAIGOSH SO PANAS D:

*REFLECTIVE PART* I was personally very touched over how dedicated the members were to the club. It was a really HOT Wednesday morning and UQMSA had one of the longest registration lines. 

Despite the heat, blazing hot sun and the long queue, members still patiently waited in line to register. 

I was genuinely impressed with the innate sense of patriotism Malaysian people actually had in their hearts for their country and how much of an importance it was to have a piece of home with them (MALAYSIA BOLEH!). 

Even students who were raised in Australia but were originally born in Malaysia, were interested to sign up. Several locals and other international students were also interested to join the Malaysian society because they wanted to find out more about our very diverse Malaysian culture. 

We officially wrapped up our booth at 3pm (even though Market Day ended at 2pm), due to the overwhelming amount of members who still wanted to register.

Being my first event of the year (as a committee), I learnt a lot about how much thought and planning (to the very last detail) is put behind the scenes for an event to run smoothly. There is a lot of systematic planning, dedication and hard work put into a single event. It is indeed interesting to see everything being put together and to just hope for the best at the end.

Fooling around while packing up :D

Handing out extra food to other clubs who were hungry :D

All in all, in was a really successful event. Everything planned played out rather smoothly, with a couple of improvisations here and there. 

IF I could describe the day in a word, I would say ‘IMPRESSED’. Impressed at both the dedication of the members and the committees. 

The committee members were not treating their tasks strictly as 'jobs', but were also genuinely integrating themselves with the people, hearing their stories, their backgrounds and putting everyone at ease. 

Finale wefie :D

More importantly, that sense of positivity and happiness within both the comms and the members was definitely KEY in making the event a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience for everyone.

Cheers to more successful events to come :)! 

Signing out, 

Tiara Wong 
Social Convener 2016 POV hohhoho