10 Stars for ICPhS 2011
The 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) in Hong Kong was unbelievably awesome. For all the wonderful things that happened within those five lovely days, I give this world event 10 stars.
1. The Venue
The first star goes to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), the venue for the congress. Nestled right at the heart of Hong Kong on Victoria Harbour, this magnificent building offers a perfect location and a spectacular backdrop to the grand congress. I loved this great feeling of grandeur and splendour. So mesmerized, I thought I was on another planet.
2. The Organizers
The second star goes to the organizers – the City University of Hong Kong, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, and the Academia Sinica, Taipei. These people handled the event so beautifully (I loved the time-keeping bells!). Held for the first time in Asia since 1932, the ICPhS would be remembered by all phoneticians from this particular part of the world. I definitely would.
3. The Participants
The third star goes to the participants who created such positive vibes to the event. I met a lot of PhD students who shared the same passion and fear, trying out our best to establish a ground in the phonetic research. I loved every single conversation I had with these enthusiastic students. Too much information, there came a point when I had to resist saying Hi to a new potential friend. Maybe later.
4. The Big Names
The fourth star goes to all the big names in phonetics, the Kings and Queens of Sounds, who were freely mingling in the conference room. I was trembling when I was introduced to Rachid Ridouane, my de-facto mentor (it’s still difficult to match his name with his appearance, haha). And each time I saw the other phonetic celebrities, I felt like screaming, like a crazy fan at the Oscar’s Red Carpet.
5. The Plenary Lectures
The fifth star goes to all plenary lectures that inspired my intellectual self. The speakers talked about things that I badly needed to hear – the robustness of speech perception, speech recognition, the interdependence of sounds and prosodies, phonological complexity, speech dynamics, linguistic phonetics. Yes, they made me feel like an idiot, but it’s the kind of idiocy that I mostly welcome.
6. The Oral Sessions
The sixth star goes to the many oral sessions that I attended within five days – 12 oral sessions with 6 different overlapping themes within a session. How I wish I could divide my body and attend all those sessions, but that’s how things get more thrilling, right? At the end of each session, I always felt so condensed with phonetic details. But I also felt so good and told myself, “Hey, I could do this too!”
7. The Poster
The seventh star goes to poster sessions that all hooked up my senses. I had never been to an event like this, so I got more excited each time I passed one poster after another. The whole environment was like a huge street market, except these people were selling ideas and methodologies. So casual and personal, I could privately ask anything I wanted, not worrying whether the question was stupid or not.
8. The Local Tour
The eighth star goes to the “touristy” local tour that I joined on the fourth day of the conference. Together with other excited conference participants, we blindly followed the overly-chatty tour agent to the Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay and Stanley Market. The tour ended splendidly with the Victoria Harbour Cruise, complete with buffet dinner and a symphony of lights. Kudos to the Hong Kong Tourism Board!
9. The Presentation
The ninth star goes to, ahem, my own presentation. It was scheduled, not only on the last day, but also towards the end of the final oral session (saving the best for last, I suppose, huhu). Well, it went so incredibly well. The audience was not intimidating at all. In fact, they were all so positively curious, supportive and helpful with tips and recommendation. I must thank John (my saviour) and Sister Noor Nayan (the only Malaysian at the conference besides me) for being there for me. Love you guys!
10. The Future
Finally, the tenth star goes to the future of my career. I met wonderful participants. I brushed shoulders with prominent scholars. I listened to (and got confused with) a lot of phonetic stories from so many great phonetic storytellers. I got professionally involved with an international community and joined their vast network around the globe. The colourful future is absolutely on its way. I think I nailed it! huhu
With Professor John Hajek, my super-tall supervisor (figuratively, too)
With Sister Noor Nayan, my only Malaysian fellow (we all boleh-lah, kan?)
Attending Sister Noor Nayan’s poster presentation (good luck for your PhD at Reading!)
Posing (timidly) with the Rachid Ridouane at the Victoria Peak
With fellow researchers and experts from Japan (they are seriously young and bright)
Yours truly, beaming and thinking … (PhD is sweet, too!)
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wow..incredible experience..!^^
Double incredible indeed