1 March 2017
Over the last few weeks, in addition to removing sock fluff from webinar scripts and remembering about further processing, I have been attempting to organise some events. Organising events is what I do best, it seems. Other people turn up to my events to be erudite and entertaining speakers, and to be erudite and entertained audience members, and my job is simply to make sure they all arrive at the same place and the same time and that there is something for them to drink when they do. So, I have been organising the next EPO proceedings course, and a mock hearing, and a seminar on recruitment best practices, and several discussion events for Mental Health Awareness Week. I have been organising a meeting of the IP Inclusive steering committee, which is supposed to be steering the diversity initiative into a properly structured something-or-other, so long as it can agree its own structure first. I have made a start on a launch party for the new Careers in Ideas website. And I have helped to plan a Women in IP webinar. It is true that for some of these events, my organisational input extends no further than begging someone else to do it all for me. Ms Sear would call this Delegation, of course, but that is because Ms Sear draws up proper Project Plans and so is qualified to delegate; I am not qualified to delegate because most of the time I do not even know what it is I am delegating let alone when I need it done by. Also Ms Sear does not weep and sniffle while she delegates, which I think is a bit of a giveaway, smacking more of desperation than of management. Nevertheless, there are events being organised, some thanks to me, and some thanks to the people who could not stand the weeping and sniffling any more. And the net result is that my inbox is constantly full. Which is a bit of a challenge, now that my husband is back at work and I am in sole charge of Domesticity Management. The Domesticity Management is also the source of much weeping and sniffling, only there is no one around to hear it. The Women in IP webinar is most definitely being organised by other people. This is good. Or rather, it would be good, except that what the other people have organised is for me to co-chair it. So amongst other things, I am going to have to read up about Being a Workplace Ally. I suspect that Being a Workplace Ally is not something that will ever come naturally to someone like me, so there may need to be some bluffing involved. And sock fluff, of course: that goes without saying. The Mental Health Awareness Week events are also being organised by other people. This is good too. And important, because mental health is a major issue in a profession like ours. I defy anyone to be a patent attorney without suffering from at least some kind of mental health problem. It is not natural to have a to-do list that extends to Christmas 2021. And it is certainly not natural to have to think about concepts such as poisonous priorities and the problem and solution approach. For most of us, weeping and sniffling is part of the job description. I would not be surprised if some attorneys had a separate hourly rate for it.
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