We are honored to share a day in the life of one contributing member of The Turbomachinery Laboratory – Ashton Drollinger, Conference Services Director.
Ashton: I am the Conference Services Director for the Turbomachinery Laboratory, which means I assist various advisory committees to set up the programs for our symposia (Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia and Asia Turbomachinery & Pump Symposium), and set-up, maintain, and troubleshoot our registration systems for those shows. My fabulous student worker and myself are still fine-tuning the ever-changing process, but after about 4 years in this position, we do it with a finesse that only meeting planners can muster.
Generally, from 6:20-8:20am each morning, I am wrangling an 8-year old dancer and a 2-year old boy-wonder-off to their respective places in the world. Yes, there is coffee involved.
From 8:20-10:20am, I try to catch up on emails that have surfaced overnight and close out any lingering, small projects from the day before.
From that point until around 3pm, I tackle the big stuff; following up on meeting minutes, contacting people that may still need to turn things in, creating schedules, tinkering in the registration system… you know, the things that take the longest and are somewhat tedious to keep track of. Lunch is in there somewhere if I remember.
3-5pm finds me closing out emails and creating a plan for the following day.
After that, I shift back into wrangler mode until a never-too early bedtime of 8:30PM where maybe I’ll catch up on a book, podcast, or television show with the hubby – if I don’t fall asleep first!
I’m lucky to be a part of THE premier professional continuing education program, and look forward to furthering the practice of excellence of TPS & ATPS each day!
About The Turbomachinery Laboratory
The Turbomachinery Laboratorya center of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and a member of the Texas A&M University System, makes a vital impact in research, education and workforce development. Inside the laboratory facility, students and faculty team up to conduct industry- and government-sponsored research. At the laboratory symposium office, staff work to facilitate extended short courses and symposia, including the annual Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia (TPS).
