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Amid brainstorming, some mundane worries

Delegates catch up with each other during a break at The Government Summit in Dubai on Monday. — KT photo by Juidin Bernarrd

Dubai — Several people attending The Government Summit in Dubai on the first day said they had been less than impressed by the way the ‘elite event’ was being organised.

Most of the attendees of the summit were UAE nationals, and belonged to both public and private organisations. Khaleej Times caught up with some of them on the sidelines of sessions and many of them said that the place was extremely crowded and the parking facilities were “below average”.

The hotel’s parking facility was too small for all registered attendees and they had to park their vehicles in the Dubai Police Academy. Shuttle buses were provided for those who had to commute from the parking lot to the venue.

Though the exact number of attendees is still to be ascertained, front desk employees at the event suggested that it could be more than 4,000 for some of the events on Monday.

The three-day event will end on February 11. After every two sessions, a networking break is given when people could catch up with each other over coffee and knickknacks.

Though some of the attendees said the speaker sessions were intellectual and interesting, they had to stand through some of the 45-minute sessions because there weren’t enough seats for everyone in the hall. “Maybe next year, they need to move to a bigger venue, with an attached parking space,” said Mohammed Al Abbar, an employee of the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST). “I personally thought that the parking facilities were terrible,” said Al Abbar.

The registration tent opened at 7am and all attendees took free bus shuttle services from the Dubai Police Academy to the venue. Despite the best efforts of the Dubai Traffic Police to divert traffic, due to the size of the event, Al Sufouh Road was jam-packed. From 9.15am to 12 noon, the Arena and the Madinat venues were jam-packed with those attending the sessions.

“During the networking sessions and lunch break, things got worse because people didn’t have a place to stand or sit. We were just shuttling from room to room,” said Amal Khalid, an attendee.

Ahmed Hamad, UAE national, drove all the way from Al Ain to attend the summit. He said: “Apart from the parking issue and the crowd, I think it was reasonably well organised. This is my first visit to the summit and it is exciting to see so many intellectual people taking part in the event.

“But yes, it would be good if they could allot better parking spaces next year.” -dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com