Danny's Revenge

Some years ago, I accepted the invitation to make a plenary presentation at the major English teachers conference in Taiwan. All expenses paid. The organizer had asked me to send my PowerPoint slides to him so that my presentation they could be set-up in advance. I did, but took the precaution of carrying copies slides with me on a USB device.

Almost the first person I saw at the conference was a friend from Singapore, who was looking distraught. She had sent her slides in advance, and, trusting the conference organizer, not carried copies with her. That morning, when she arrived for her presentation at the designated lecture hall, her PowerPoint slides were nowhere to be found. Her presentation was ruined.

I actually had two tasks at the conference, a seminar in addition to the plenary. When I arrived for the seminar, I found a hall filled with about 150 people. Although a laptop computer was available, the projector for the PowerPoint presentation was not. A Taiwanese friend, Aiden, made a few quick calls but no projector was forthcoming. Perhaps used to such glitches, Aiden had brought her own small portable projector to be used at her presentation later that day. So, while a member of the audience in the front row balanced the projector on his lap, I managed to conduct the seminar. Because the projector was close to the white board, the projection was small, not visible from the back of the rectangular shaped hall where the seats were at the same level.

I was furious. After the seminar, I made a beeline to the conference organizer Danny Tsoi and, in the presence of a few others, berated him for the poor arrangement. He replied that I should be “like Aristotle”, able to present from memory without any PowerPoints! I reminded him that I was conducting a seminar, not making a speech. In berating Danny in the presence of others, I had broken a cardinal principle of Chinese etiquette: never make others lose face.

My plenary talk was the next day, in a large auditorium seating about 300 people. After I arrived, the audience began drifting in, and soon most seats were taken. But, the laptop at the dais would not connect to the overhead projector. Once again, Aiden came to my help, calling various people responsible for these matters. Two technicians finally arrived, and demanded a cash payment from me for the use of the projector! Aiden made more calls and the technicians finally did their job. All these negotiations were in Mandarin, a language I did not speak. 

Meanwhile, a formally dressed man was standing nearby, seemingly indifferent to what was going on. Finally, 20 minutes after the scheduled start, I was introduced to the audience by the president of the English teachers association, who turned out to be the man who had stood by nonchalantly! By the time the plenary began, after the long delay, most of the audience had left the auditorium.

Danny got his revenge!